New Partnership To Provide Manufacturing Expansion for Needham Laser Tech

Needham Group employs 70 at its Whitchurch base in Shropshire has selected PP Control & Automation (PP C&A) as its new manufacturing partner, responsible for the assembly of its N-Lase range of products.

The agreement will see up to 10 laser systems being built every month at a dedicated production cell at PP C&A’s facility in Cheslyn Hay. Monthly volumes may rise to 20 units as sales increase towards the £10m mark.

Eventually, PP C&A will take on the manufacturing of the entire N-Lase standard range, including the N-Lase Desktop, Desktop Pro, Benchtop, Handheld, Workstation and Integrated Solutions models.

Aled Ellis, managing director of Needham Group, commented: “Our ‘USP’ is not in building the machines, but in developing the innovative uses and applications for laser technology – that’s where we come into our own and where we anticipate the real growth to come from.

“Once PP Control & Automation proved it could build the prototype machine successfully, it made complete sense to look at a more strategic arrangement, first starting with the Desktop and Desktop Pro models and then, over time, moving on to the rest of our range.”

Needham Laser Tech has handed over the complete assembly process, including management of the supply chain. Four people have been directly employed on the dedicated assembly line plus a wider support team covering engineering, supply chain and customer services.

Tony Hague, PP Control & Automation’s CEO said: “Our aim is to become a true partner in every sense of the word and to play an important role in Needham Group achieving its £10 million ‘laser’ blueprint, delivering capacity, efficiency and, as the relationship develops, innovation in design.

“The longer-term picture is that we will need to be in a position to build over 300 laser marking machines every year, something we can comfortably do at our site in the West Midlands.”

Quality guidelines have been surpassed and several efficiency improvements have been identified that could speed assembly up even further or give Needham Group designers the opportunity to modify standard models to encompass additional features.