The Managing Director of one of Britain's leading laser manufacturers has been nominated in the West Midlands Leadership Awards 2022 in the category of Emerging Entrepreneur Leader. Aled Ellis, Managing Director of Needham Laser Tech has been nominated for the prestigious award after the unveiling of The Needham Group's £30m blueprint for expansion that will see more than treble revenues between now and 2025, with the possibility of creating 30 new jobs in the process.
"It's an extremely humble experience to be nominated for such a prestigious award and there are many talented individuals who have also been nominated," Aled stated.
Needham Laser Technologies is part of The Needham Group, a technology company based in Whitchurch, Shropshire that has two other subsidiaries, Needham Ink Technology and Needham Technologies Ireland. The Needham Group specialises in coding and marking equipment in the food & packaging and manufacturing industries, amongst others.
Founded by Roger Needham in 1962, the firm is looking to achieve this target by boosting export activity across its three divisions, increasing investment in marketing, extending distribution networks and developing the capacity to take on more bespoke projects.
The management team, now led by managing director Aled Ellis, is also eyeing several strategic acquisitions that will allow it to increase its capabilities in its core technologies.
“Over the last three years, we have invested more than £2 million in creating the platform for this next phase of growth and this includes doubling the size of our HQ in Whitchurch, a number of acquisitions, increasing our R&D facilities and, importantly for the local area, taking our headcount to 70."
Aled added: “Our newest business division is Needham Laser Technologies, where we have been selling ‘The N-Lase’ Laser Marking machines since 2019.
“The focus is on sharing our excitement for British laser expertise in a way that creates lifelong partnerships and develops new innovative uses for this technology.
“Our solutions are already on display in industrial settings, manufacturing and retail and this is just the tip of the iceberg. We genuinely believe we could sell an additional 300 lasers domestically over the next three years.
“We are also targeting international expansion, with plans in place to create a global distribution network that could deliver up to £7 million of annual revenue.”
This year’s event, set to be held at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham on March 31, will see winners crowned in 11 categories in front of the cream of the West Midlands business community.
