An Arbroath electronic components firm which had “fallen on hard times” has bounced back to double its workforce and win new investment.
Interplex PMP has been a fixture of the industrial landscape of Angus since 1968 but its future looked uncertain by 2010 when the workforce had waned and it had moved to three-day working.
Managing director Stephen Barlow was drafted in to run the Elliot Industrial Estate-based plant and his tenure has seen a major upturn in its fortunes.
The factory, which became part of the multinational Interplex Holdings Group last year, produces vital sensors and switchgear for blue-chip car manufacturers and also produces metal componentry for broadband connectors.
“When I joined in 2010, PMP was in a very dark place,” Mr Barlow said.
“We had fallen on hard times. There were 80 people working a three-day week and now we have 168 people here.
“We always had a good reputation and good service but we had just lost our way and the business needed leadership.”
One of Mr Barlow’s first decisions was to take the factory back to full-time production and he also refocused the operation on its core products and services including metal stamping, plating and insert and injection moulding.
The factory also has a highly automated assembly line and has developed a clean room manufacturing business.
The latest investment, part of almost £1 million that has been injected into the factory in the past 18 months, is a new plating line that is coming into service following a period of commissioning.
Accounts for the 15 months to June 30 2015 show the progress made with the business producing a pre-tax profit of £1.09m on turnover of £20.13m. In the previous 12-month accounting period, the firm generated pre-tax profits of £189,155 from revenues of £11m.
Mr Barlow said many local people were unaware of the firm despite being in Arbroath for generations and the fact they likely used Interplex PMP products regularly as they drove around or accessed the internet.
The company is now actively seeking new opportunities and Mr Barlow said the new plating line gave them the chance to grow the Arbroath operation.
“We have built a new platform and bedded that in,” he said.
“There is a lot of opportunity out there for us. We have seen a lot of our competitors fall away and some close and from a group point of view we are still the only plant in our peer group to stamp, plate and mould.”