CBI Confederation of British Industry : Devro and the EU

Headquartered in Moodiesburn, just north of Glasgow city centre, Devro turns collagen from the skin of pigs and cattle into useful products - including the casings for sausages, films for hams and ingredients for specialist medicinal products.Over time, we have grown into a large international business - with 2,200 staff, 75% of whom are in Europe - mainly in our plants in Scotland and the Czech Republic.

As a business operating in the food sector, regulatory compliance is critical to our business. We have to meet certain standards and comply with a large number of rules - but those rules are the same in every EU country. That means that, though our certification in Scotland comes from the UK Government, we are permitted to sell our goods anywhere in the EU. That creates a home market 8 times the size of the UK's: one set of rules cover 28 countries and 500million consumers without restrictions. Should the UK leave the EU, this situation would change for Scotland. Each shipment to the EU could require an export health certificate, adding cost and complexity.

Because we have a factory in the Czech Republic, when that country joined the EU, the ease of doing business improved dramatically. Now that regulations on both major factories match much more closely, it is not just within-EU sales that are made easier but sales to the rest of the world. We have a level of flexibility that we did not have before. Orders to Russia, for example, which is a very important market for Devro, can be fulfilled by either factory.

Movement of people is very important to our business, and EU membership makes this easier. Recently, we invested £15million installing technology in our factory in Glasgow. We had only installed this in one other location before - our factory in the Czech Republic. Because the Czech Republic is another EU member state, there were no visa or NI issues to complicate matters when we needed Czech engineers to travel to Scotland to advise on the installation. In contrast, moving staff around between non-EU countries - such as into China - can be costly and involve burdensome restrictions. Freedom of movement as a result of EU membership means international businesses like Devro save money and significant amounts of time.

Freedom of movement doesn't just help Devro on temporary projects, but also over a longer term basis. Our business requires expertise in a wide range of fields, including accounting, food technology, engineering and product development. We hire skilled employees from across the world, drawing on different knowledge and experience from people in Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, France, Germany and more to work in our Glasgow factory.

Overall, the standardisation and flexibility brought by the UK's EU membership has benefited Devro, making international business easier and less costly.

• Other business case studies covering how the UK being in the EU impacts them can be found here
• If you would like to contribute a case study on behalf of your business, or talk about any other aspect of our work in this area, please get in touch