Contact manufacturer has new image and services

Swansea Industrial Components has been providing electronic assembly and manufacturing services to some of the world's biggest brands for over 45 years.

One of the UK's leading electronic contract manufacturers - Swansea Industrial Components - has rebranded to SIC.

The company, which has been providing electronic assembly and manufacturing services to some of the world's biggest brands for over 45 years, decided on a name chance to reflect the evolving nature of its business.

"When I started the business 45 years ago we were primarily a wiring harness supplier in the automotive and white goods market", comments company founder and Managing Director Layton Roberts.

"However, the business has successfully evolved over the years, and we're now one of the UK's leading contract manufacturers - supplying over 466 customers in 36 different markets with over 14,000 product lines".

"But, while our services have improved with age, our brand image certainly hadn't".

"Our old name just didn't reflect our service offering and so we've decided to rebrand using an abbreviation that many of our customers and suppliers would know us by anyway".

The company is offering what it claims is now one of the most comprehensive contract manufacturing and assembly services in the UK, following the expansion of its manufacturing portfolio to cover all aspects of electrical and nonelectrical design and manufacture.

SIC is already one of the UK's leading and longest-established manufacturers of wiring harnesses and electrical subassemblies for the automotive, engineering, electronics and leisure/entertainment industries.

The company has now broadened its focus and capabilities to cover a full range of electrical and general contract manufacturing services, which it claims will offer significant cost savings and productivity benefits to all types of manufacturers - including startups in the high-technology and scientific sectors - that are considering outsourced manufacture as part of their business strategy.

US toy maker Mattel's recent recall of over 10 million children's toys in late 2007 demonstrates how precarious it can be to outsource production without ensuring sufficient standards and quality controls are in place.

"Historically, many UK manufacturing businesses have regarded outsourcing as a 'last minute' decision and as such haven't given enough consideration to the strategic business outcomes and efficiency savings they'd like to achieve from a manufacturing partnership", says Technical Director, Phil Hurlow.

"Invoice cost is all too often the one and only benchmark, and using this as a barometer instead of the total acquisition cost really doesn't indicate best value".

"Not only can we help businesses better understand the most effective and efficient ways of streamlining their manufacturing activities, we can now also provide a one-stop manufacturing facility and available workforce which is ready to work as an extension of a client's business", adds Hurlow.

"Of course, in today's climate this includes Low Cost Manufacture, but because we have our own partnerships in China and Egypt, we're able to offer our clients the efficiency savings of offshore manufacture, but in an environment that's well managed and relatively risk free for the client".

"So, if one of our clients has a stock issue or engineering change, they're not restricted to an offshore lead time as we can troubleshoot from our base here in the UK".

Although SIC's core business has always been the manufacture and assembly of electrical components and subsystems, the company has diversified considerably in recent years, in both the range of products manufactured and the depth of its manufacturing services - which now also include product design, manufacturing and logistics consultancy.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, electrical manufacturing output in the UK has been falling steadily since 2002, with the outsourcing of an increasing amount of contract work to emerging economies like China.

However, with wage costs in the far-east now rising, and with the complexities of long-distance relationships becoming a distraction to many, businesses are now beginning to see real benefits in returning their contract manufacturing work to the UK.

"Domestic contract manufacturing can deliver huge advantages - especially to small businesses or startups which do not have the capital to invest in their own manufacturing plant, machinery, facilities and workforce - or the inclination to conduct long-distance business relationships at a critical time in their development", continues Hurlow.

"We see these types of contract manufacturing services as being central to a revitalised manufacturing industry".

"Too much of this work has already been lost to the Far East, and we hope that by making our own facilities available to others, we will be able to keep more of this manufacturing expertise within the UK", he adds.

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