A £1m investment drive is set to help a Warwick-based electronics specialist almost double the size of its business in just two years.
SMT Developments, which offers electronic assembly services, has bought its existing building on Heathcote way in a deal that will see it add an additional 3,300 sq ft of capacity, a new clean room facility and the introduction of the latest pick and place technology.
Supported by a £165,000 Growing Places grant from Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, the move will also pave the way for a dedicated manufacturing cell to cater for up to £1.5m of new work from a client in the telecoms sector.
It is anticipated that this investment will help the 13-year-old company increase sales from £2.8m to £5m by 2015, with the creation of over 20 new jobs – including a number of apprentices – in the process.
Managing Director Phil Rowley, who runs the firm with his son John, explained: “We’ve had a major year of growth that has seen us pick up a host of new contract wins from both the UK and for customers supplying into the likes of Switzerland, Ukraine and the US.
“At the same time, we’ve been working on a number of long-term projects that, in the last few weeks, have finally put pen to paper on deals. This has the potential to change our business forever, which is why we knew we needed the certainty of owning our own building.”
He continued: “With the support of Coventry City Council and our local LEP, we have been able to secure the necessary funding to purchase our site and now have the peace of mind to embark on the installation of new machinery to increase our world class capabilities even further.”
SMT Developments provides total turnkey services from electronics assembly prototypes to fully tested total product build and can also offer solutions in PCB design and layout.
End users range from high-end autosport specialists and the automotive aftermarket to organisations involved in environmental monitoring, retail and the telecommunications sectors.
All of this work is carried out at its two factories in Warwick, which offer a combined floorspace of 13,500 sq ft.
The company, which currently employs 30 people, also holds IPC training accreditations for the electronics industry and is a signatory of the SC21 World Class supply chains programme for the aerospace and defence sector.
John Rowley concluded: “When I first joined the company from University in 2002, we were not even hitting £1m sales. With this latest investment we could well be touching £5m in less than 15 months.”
