Steeldor: Pirelli Factory, Carlisle

In 1872, when Giovanni Battista Pirelli set up his elastic rubber company in Milan, he could scarce be aware that from its humble origin, the business would go on to become the fifth largest global tyre manufacturing company after Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear.

Now part Chinese owned, but Pirelli manufactures tyres in 19 factories based in 13 countries worldwide, which gave them a production capacity of 71 million car tyres in 2016. Two of those factories are based in the UK. One is at Burton-on-Trent and the other is the recently extended site at Dalton Road in Carlisle.