HEALTHY trading has led to a Thanet employer to start the New Year with the promise of more jobs in 2005.

Cummins Power Generations in Ramsgate will need around 70 extra staff to cope with a predicted 50 per cent increase in production this year.

Marketing manager Graham Baldock said a combination of new contracts and increased orders from existing customers had led to the expansion. The company, a global distributor of electricity generators, grew its workforce from 350 to 400 at the Manston assembly plant in 2004.

Ian Kirkpatrick, chairman of Cummins’ community steering committee, said the company will be looking to recruit in all sectors and is proud of its high percentage of staff from the Thanet area.

He said: "Cummins always tries to recruit locally. We feel it is important that an employer is able to put something back into the community working for it, and it allows us to build a sense of community in the workplace."

The company – a division of international Cummins Inc – is set to turnover £150m this year and still has space on the shop floor to expand by another 50 per cent. The £22m Manston factory was purpose built in 1998 when the compnay moved its operations from Sandwich.