Pennant is an integrated product support software and services company providing a suite of software solutions and technical services that support the design, development, operation, maintenance, and training of assets in defence, aerospace, rail, and other industries. The UK company is based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with sites across the UK in Manchester and Hampshire and globally in the US, Canada and Australia. Pennant provides simulated training systems to Boeing to support with maintainer and groundcrew on the new fleet of 50 Apache AH-64E attack helicopters.
Q: What is your UK footprint?
A: Pennant has around 140 staff in total, with over half being in the UK. All staff are based outside London, with Pennant's headquarters, since inception in 1958, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the Southwest of England. Other teams are based in Manchester, Northwest England with our smallest office in Fareham, Hampshire, Southeast England. All of Pennant’s design and manufacturing are carried out in the UK and our suppliers are UK based, wherever possible.
Q: How do you support UK growth?
A: Pennant has always been committed to the long-term prosperity of the UK’s engineering base and associated supply line. Throughout our 65-year history, Pennant has a proven record of utilising UK capabilities, including: employing apprentices local to our UK sites and supporting their education and training, including their university degrees; employing UK university students; using specialist sub-tier UK suppliers; purchasing raw materials from within the UK; exporting the majority of goods and services outside of the UK and supporting UK primes at home and abroad.
Q: How does your company/team exemplify excellence?
A: At Pennant we work to a set of core values, defining the way we act as individuals and as a business. Our core values are Innovation, Performance, Quality, Respect and Teamwork. We hold the ISO9001:2015 certification. Furthermore, we have a dedicated Innovation Team, which undertakes extensive research and development to ensure our products continue to fulfil our customers’ current and future requirements.
Q: How do you support the early careers pipeline?
A: Pennant’s apprenticeship scheme is a real asset to the company. We successfully run this scheme in conjunction with local colleges in the Gloucestershire area. Over the last three years Pennant has taken on seven apprentices.
Q: Can you outline investments made to support your work with Boeing?
A: We have invested more than £1m in acquiring new facilities and upgrading existing facilities to support our work with Boeing, as well as investing in targeted staff training to ensure we have an optimised skillset in the delivery team.