Labour & Industry

Food & drink
Wirral has a successful and established food and drink sector producing many of the world's best known brands and products. Cereal Partners, Quest International, BakeMark UK, Sun Valley Nuts, Hurstwoods International, Burtons Foods and Manor Bakeries are just a few amongst many industries which have brought products such as Typhoo Tea, Cadburys Fingers, Jestives and Maryland Cookies to millions of homes worldwide.

Automotive
Over 700 automotive companies, including Delphi, Hitachi, Mackie Automotive, Conix, Jensen and Jaguar, are based in Northwest England. In Wirral, General Motors (Vauxhall) is amongst Europe's largest vehicle assembly facilities. Northwest England claims over 11% of the total UK's workforce, making it the third largest automotive area in the country. With labour costs amongst Europe's lowest and a large pool of available labour, it is no surprise that it is home to so many manufacturers and suppliers.

Communications
With more than 70,000 people employed regionally, Wirral/Merseyside/Northwest England is a principal location for key customer/communications services with around 100 companies forming a significant regional cluster of office based facilities.

Engineering
Engineering, and its related industries, continue to be major areas for the development of Wirral and the regional economy. Faiveley Transport, Dieline Rykel, Harbison Walker, Pfaff Silverblue, Mowlem and Goodwin Electronics are just a few of the companies continuing to develop the excellence of Wirral's traditional and hi-tech engineering skillbase. Added to this are the first rate training programmes and specialised training facilities in the area, such as The Laird Foundation, and the Laser Engineering Centre, all playing a part in the growth of the area's engineering skills.

Major companies in Wirral
There are many major nationally and internationally owned companies which have significant operations based in Wirral, all enjoy recognition within worldwide markets for products and services. These include:

• BakeMark UK - Netherlands
• Cereal Partners - Switzerland
• Dynal Biotech - Norway
• Epichem - UK
• Faiveley Transport - France
• FMC Corporation - USA
• Lever - UK
• Meyer Prestige - USA
• Pfizer - UK
• Qualitek Europe - USA
• Quest International - UK
• Stiebel Eltron - Germany