Funding to transform North East circuit board assembly plant into £5m-revenue business

A manufacturer based in Ashington is set to become a £5m-revenue business in the next two years with the help of new growth funding.

Electronic assemblies maker Arian EMS Ltd was founded in 2017 and generated a turnover of £3m in its first full year of trading.

Now, the company is expecting sales to grow around 66% in the next 18 months following support from Advance Northumberland, which helped Arian secure £130k in grant funding from the RDPE Business Growth Fund towards the cost of production equipment.

Advance Northumberland also assisted Arian in expanding into a 16,000 sq ft factory unit on Wansbeck Business Park in Ashington.

Malcolm Humble, the firm’s managing director, has grown the team from a handful of employees to 42 staff in little over a year.

Richard Wearmouth, chair of Advance Northumberland, said: “Arian EMS Ltd is a fantastic success story for Ashington and Northumberland.

“Their rapid growth is a sign that manufacturing is thriving in our county and shows that when people decide to invest here that there are the skilled people to step up to the mark.”