West ideas factory Dyson will today announce a new recruitment drive which will see another 100 engineers and designers join the Wiltshire firm in 2013.
The news is a boost to the north Wiltshire economy and comes on the day the firm opens a £50 million facility in Singapore to manufacture its tiny new digital motors, which will power the next generation of Dyson products.
The firm took on 220 engineers to join the Malmesbury-based company during 2012, and plans at least another 100 to be hired in Malmesbury this year alone.
Already, the numbers of people employed in Malmesbury are almost a thousand more than before production of the firm's vacuum cleaners was transferred to Malaysia in 2002, with the loss of 800 manufacturing jobs.
Now the firm is going truly international, with a high-tech, robot-staffed plant in Singapore which will manufacture the tiny new digital motors that power Dyson's range of smaller and smaller products, from vacuum cleaners to fans and hand-dryers.
Last month the firm launched its first new product line for three years – a tap which also dries hands – and a Dyson spokesman said the new digital motors were key to the firm's future after Dyson was left unable to meet the demand for its new DC35 Digital Slim wireless vacuum cleaner last year. The firm said for every one it sold in the UK in 2012, it could have sold another four.
"The facility in Singapore will give Dyson greater control over intellectual property, and production processes and sits at the heart of our supply chains," he said.
"Most importantly, it will help Dyson meet growing demand for its DDM-powered technology. Dyson's cordless vacuums, powered by the Dyson digital motor, saw unprecedented growth in 2011 and 2012. Investing in this production line is allowing us to grow at home – we will be hiring 100 more engineers in Malmesbury this year to design the next generation of Dyson machines."
Sir James Dyson said the plant in Singapore would be a high-tech venture, with only a handful of workers tending to the robots building the motors. "Dyson engineers spent a year developing the lines, searching the globe for the most effective robotic equipment. This has allowed us to double our output," he added.
The expanding headquarters in Malmesbury will also see more people employed in other areas of the head office, including in customer services and logistics. Dyson's growth is impacting on the surrounding town, with the firm involved in the drafting of a Neighbourhood Plan to see new homes built nearby.
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