Manufacturing Today Issue - 250 July 2026 | Page 168

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
17-seater minibuses. We don’ t do any of that now, but that’ s how the business was born. In 1998, we formed a partnership with Scattolini to supply their bodies to the UK market. The Ford One Stop Shop was born the same year and is an OEM program through which we build vehicles for the Ford network, sold directly through their dealerships. Another significant year was 2009, when VFS was officially acquired by the Scattolini Group, transitioning away from private ownership.”
Rather than attempting to do everything for everyone, VFS has always operated as a specialist volume producer running structured production lines, not a coachbuilder crafting individual bespoke vehicles. By focusing on volume, the company is empowered to move a significant number of vehicles through the plant. In addition, VFS operates two depots: the South depot covers approximately 230,000 square feet of manufacturing and
PRO

STEPTM

The UK’ s Largest Towbar & Towing Accessory Manufacturer
tow-trust. co. uk
Proud suppliers to
01827 717412 sales @ tow-trust. co. uk storage, and the North depot, which opened in 2017, adds a further 60,000 square feet. Although all products are manufactured at both sites, the North depot has become a specialist in Luton box van production. That facility was purpose-built when VFS won a significant contract from a competitor and needed the dedicated capacity to fulfil it.
Today, the company offers three core products alongside a range of special projects. For instance, the team works with the RNLI to produce all the organization’ s beach rescue and crew cab vehicles and builds refrigerated vehicles under the Scattocold brand launched in the UK last year. Traffic management vehicles are another key offering for VFS, who specializes in building the body and taking in the chassis to convert it into a commercial vehicle tailored to the customer’ s exact specification. For those vehicles, the body is produced by Scattolini before VFS completes the conversion. Everything else is designed and produced entirely in-house.
168