THE UK’s car industry is continuing to drive forward, with North-East firms key components in the acceleration.

Latest figures show monthly national production stands at more than 132,000 vehicles, representing a significant rise on last year.

Critical to a cog in the regional wheel of those statistics is David Cann.

As general manager of Mecaplast, in Peterlee, east Durham, he is overseeing the firm’s growth after a career spent focused on the automotive sector.

It’s a livelihood that has taken the former builder’s yard worker across Europe.

Time spent divided between Sunderland-based Nissan and TRW, which operates a steering system plant in Houghton-le-Spring and an electronics operation in Peterlee, was followed by work at wiring harness company Sumitomo.

Stints in Paris, Eastern Europe and Morocco followed, and he’s now at plastic door mouldings and mudguards maker Mecaplast, which has just invested £6m to double turnover to £22m and boost employment numbers to about 170.

The 52-year-old, from Bournmoor, near Chester-le-Street, said his career started slowly but quickly gained forward motion.

He said: “The story goes back quite a long way, back to when I left school when I was 16.

“I started as an apprentice maintenance technician at Royal Ordnance, in Birtley.

“I completed that but unfortunately the company was downsizing so I was left out on a limb.

“I ended up in a builders’ yard, which was not very pleasant.

“For about four or five months I did that while looking for an opportunity to come along.

“Finally, I got a position in a small engineering firm, where I was a machinist, a fitter and basically doing a bit of everything.

“It was a good little company and I worked there for four years.

“It was during the latter stages of my career there that I noticed an advert for a company starting up in the North-East, which went by the name of Nissan.

“I was a supplier quality assurance inspector, and it was a real eye-opener in terms of how the company did business.”

After leaving Nissan, Mr Cann went to TRW as a quality engineer, before working as a manufacturing engineer and senior manufacturing engineer.

His move to Sumitomo, a wiring harness company working with Japanese companies such as Nissan, Honda and Toyota, was enhanced when bosses gave him the opportunity to work in Paris.

Spending two-and-a-half years in the French capital, he supported Renault as they started their alliance with Nissan, looking at ways the two could work together.

His career also took him to Eastern Europe, including Romania and Slovakia, before time in Morocco supporting a new factory build, working on finding land and investment.

The Nissan theme continued when took on a role with Valeo, which provided parts for the original Nissan Qashqai before the car maker revamped the model late last year.

So how does Mr Cann look back at his achievements so far, and just how strong in the UK car industry going forward?

He added: “It’s been 28 years in my automotive career and I’ve been on every rung of the ladder on the way up; there haven’t been any shortcuts.

“However, that gives me a very good understanding of the areas of the business, the people and their feelings at every level, and a good insight into the man-management requirements of the business.

“The UK industry is strong, and stronger than other European countries.

“It is positive, and at Mecaplast we are positioning ourselves ahead of that expected further growth in the next few years and looking to increase turnover to £30m.

“The UK is competitive, the work ethic is as good, if not better, than anywhere else, and companies have a good line-up of products.”