Investment funds surface mount expansion

New investment leads to expansion for contract electronics manufacturer.

Long-established contract electronics manufacturer Proqual has embarked on a major growth strategy, following the purchase of the company by a new investor.

The three-year strategy, which will focus strongly on new niche markets, people development and quality assurance, will begin with a GBP 200,000 investment in new equipment over the coming months.

Among other benefits, the new plant will accelerate turnaround times by as much as 50%.

The company also plans to double surface mount capacity at its 1900m2 plant in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

Proqual currently employs 50 people and has a turnover of GBP 3 million.

The business now hopes to increase this by about 60% to GBP 5 million over the next three years.

Managing Director, Tony Coade, who bought the company last year, said: "Proqual is a very well-established CEM with a solid track record in the industrial, security, telecomms, process control and instrumentation markets".

"To achieve our growth ambitions, we must invest to offer customers the benefit of advanced technology, and ensure that the skills of our people remain at the highest level".

"To comply with rapidly changing legislation, we are also adopting lead-free processes".

To maintain its commitment to internationally recognised skills standards, Proqual employs an IPC-A-160 Class A instructor on site as part of the production management team.

All employees, from operator to senior management level, must complete the IPC-A-160 Worker Proficiency Training programme.

Many of the workforce have been with the firm since its inception in the 1970s and are among the most experienced contract electronics production technicians and engineers in the industry.

Proqual sees this skill and experience as integral to its increasing competitiveness, which has led to a number of new contract wins in recent months.

The investment in new equipment will also enable the firm to diversify into new niche markets, including traffic management and medical.

From its facilities in Gloucestershire, Proqual offers a complete end-to-end service and a capability in serving clients across the UK, Europe and the US normally associated with much larger CEMs.

This includes material planning, component procurement, design for manufacture and test, supply chain management, PCB assembly, in-circuit test, functional test and final product build.

The plant currently produces 7500 PCB assemblies per month, with a capability of placing 50,000 surface mounted technology (SMT) components per hour which it now hopes to double.

The production lines are capable of handling up to 120 entirely different runs each month.

Proqual has also developed a cost-effective new-product introduction service.

This includes prototyping, technical advice and design for manufacture and test.

Clients also benefit from a sophisticated flying probe fixtureless test system, which dramatically increases the speed of product testing on site.

Coade added: "We have to keep on innovating, both on behalf of our clients and within our own business".

"This will enable us to continue providing a highly flexible service offering which is not only highly responsive, but adapts to the changing needs of our industry".

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