North Yorkshire manufacturer sees 400% increase in capacity with £250k tech investment

Contract Production Ltd has increased its capacity by 400% following a a £250k investment in new technology.

Based in North Yorkshire, Contract Production manufactures a range of sub-contract electronic products and printed circuit board assemblies for a wide variety of industries.

A recent investment and installation of an AM100 Panasonic Pick and Place line has enabled the company to increase its output by a 400%.

The new production line populates printed circuit boards and can place 30,000 components per hour.

Simon Norris, managing director of Contract Production, said: “This essentially, means that we now measure productivity in seconds not minutes.

“Thanks to the new production line we have added an extra 30-40 weeks of working capacity to the business annually; In time, that could see our work force go from 20 employees to around 50-60 which will be great news for the area.”

The new pick and place machine was manufactured in the Far East and shipped to the manufacturing base in Pickering at the end of 2017.

Simon added: “Obviously, the speed depends on the complexity of the circuit board or product we are producing.

“There has been a lot of talk about the UK’s stagnating productivity levels but this investment into Contract Productions shows there is opportunity and we can now deliver on much larger orders with improved turnaround for our customers that we could only dream of a few weeks ago.

“It is a major leap forward technology-wise and we are all very excited about the possibilities this brings for the business and our customers.”