{"id":545932,"date":"2025-11-03T09:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T09:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545932\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T09:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T09:11:12","slug":"wrightbus-transformation-showcased-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545932\/","title":{"rendered":"Wrightbus transformation showcased in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Bus manufacturer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themanufacturer.com\/articles\/right-cost-for-the-wright-customers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wrightbus<\/a> has hosted the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland to show its transformation from administration to a successful global business in just six years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Emma Little-Pengelly visited the factory in Ballymena to hear how the firm has grown from just 50 staff in 2019 to a global workforce of more than 2,300 \u2013 with 2,100 of those jobs in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive Jean-Marc Gales explained how revenue had leaped by 77 per cent in the past year thanks to efficiency savings and a full order book.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year Wrightbus announced the largest investment into research programmes in its history, spending \u00a325 million on the development of <a href=\"https:\/\/wrightbus.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multiple new products<\/a>, including a new coach, a six-by-two double-deck bus and the rollout of a repowered truck, with orders across the UK, Germany and Asia.<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Marc Gales said: \u201cIt was a pleasure to be able to show the deputy First Minister exactly how the business has gone from strength-to-strength to become a true market leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWrightbus has become pivotal in Northern Ireland\u2019s manufacturing economy, bringing thousands of good green skilled jobs to Ballymena, and supporting thousands more throughout the manufacturing supply chain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur ambitious growth plans mean this trend will continue, with more opportunities for young people as we build the workforce of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly added: \u201cI was delighted to have the opportunity to see and hear how Wrightbus has invested in research and development into zero-emission transport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a clear example of how navigating change and embracing innovation can drive productivity, support high-quality job creation, and strengthen our export performance, particularly in manufacturing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWrightbus is a business that has positively transformed in recent years.It is fantastic to see a local business selling world class products on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bus manufacturer Wrightbus has hosted the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland to show its transformation from administration&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[897,3181,1144,3695,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-545932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-jobs","9":"tag-leadership","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-sustainability","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115484995667977508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}