A DISUSED fabrication shed in Renfrewshire that once turned out nuclear reactors is to be swiftly converted to an electronics manufacturing plant employing 300 people by the end of the year. Projected figures should take the employment total to 560 within three years.
It will be one of the quickest conversions in Scottish manufacturing. Taiwanese electronics giant Hon Hai will work with current owners of the site behind Glasgow Airport, Mitsui Babcock, to have it operational by September.
Hon Hai is establishing a new subsidiary, Foxteq UK, to manufacture PC enclosures - the computer box or tower that contains the circuit boards, drivers, and memory.
The cost of the investment will be more than #15m, and will include a substantial Government grant.
Because of the rapidly changing requirements of computer manufacturers, Hon Hai wanted a site that could be operational within months.
It was directed to Babcock's by Locate in Scotland, the Government's inward investment arm, because the site already had facilities in place, including gas and water supplies.
A greenfield site, often fav- oured by inward investors, would have taken too long to set up.
The heavy engineering company Babcock, taken over by Japanese company Mitsui in 1995, has a great deal of spare capacity following substantial contraction in the energy market. The nuclear reactor market for power stations, for example, has died away in the UK because of a moratorium on nuclear power plants.
But instead of knocking down the empty sheds, Babcock decided to improve them and market the site as a business park. A number of small tenants have been attracted to what is called Babcock Park, near Renfrew, but Foxteq is by far the largest.
The PC enclosures will replace units currently being made by Hon Hai in China.
Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou said that setting up Foxteq in Renfrew would enable its major customers to be supplied more effectively. ''With this project we intend to make a significant long-term commitment to our Scottish employees, and therefore ultimately in Scotland,'' he added.
Although China might have cheaper manufacturing costs, being close to customers so that the company can rapidly adapt to design changes, and deliver quickly, is even more important.
The Taiwanese had also been impressed by the quality of work at its other subsidiary, Foxconn, at Erskine, which it set up two years ago.
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