A Leeds firm hopes to become a world leader in the manufacture of electronic precision measuring equipment thanks to fresh investment.
Instrumentel has attracted new investment from a venture capitalist and partnered up with Leeds-based recruiters, Manufacturing Futures, to take on more staff.
Instrumentel recently appointed five new members of staff – three engineers, an office manager and a project manager – and is looking to take on a further five, taking its workforce to 20.
This follows a large investment from Birmingham-based venture capitalist, Alycidon Capital Limited, alongside several large contract wins for the electronics manufacturer.
Instrumentel began as a spin-out from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Leeds in 2001.
Now based in the Leeds Innovation Centre, the firm produces products used across the automotive, rail and industrial industries in extreme conditions to give an insight in to operational performance – such as measuring the piston parameters in Formula One engines, and monitoring the inside conditions of nuclear waste containers.
The company recently secured a large contract to provide Melbourne Metro and a number of other operators with products to monitor the performance of train door systems throughout Australia.
The system is already used on trains across the world and is used to highlight when the door is about to encounter a fault so it be can repaired before a significant problem or cost arises.
Instrumentel’s chief executive, Dr David McGorman explained: “It’s a great time for Instrumentel and after working in a wide range of niche industries and areas, we are now in a position to expand into a number of mainstream markets.
“As part of this strategy, we are planning to expand the territories we sell our rail products into, with particular emphasis on Australia and the EU. We also plan to commoditise our F1 engine monitoring technology to enable sales to car manufacturers. The investment from Alycidon Capital Limited will help facilitate this as we increase our design and production capacity, along with improving our product support facilities.”
