Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Aston Martin in Newport Pagnell is going into mass production in unprecedented fashion.

In its 87-year history Aston Martin has made only 12,000 cars but its owner Ford has made investments in resources to facilitate production of 5,000 cars a year.

Ford also plans to double its number of dealerships to 200 to cope with the increased production.

With a limited marketing budget, Aston Martin says awareness will be developed through its showrooms and by astute marketing using the latest available technology.

It is studying ways of introducing webcams on its production lines at its Newport Pagnell factory so that customers can watch over the internet as their cars are made. Customers for the new Vanquish model could even be given passwords so that they can track the progress of their new cars.

Culina Logistics, which has a turnover of £30m, plans to double this by 2005.

Part of the giant Muller Dairy Group, Culina works for several famous food and drink manufacturers inclujding Tropicana, Danone and Kraft.

The company is actively recruiting logistics staff from warehouse operatives to senior managers.

Over the last year the hi-tech storage and distribution specialist has grown significantly and now has further expansion plans in the pipeline.

Milton Keynes has provided an ideal platform for growth in the logistics and warehousing sector, close to the M1 with 90 per cent of the population of England and Wales within five hours drive by HGV. Dozens of leading blue chips are now using the area as a main centre for their national operations.