Grant funding puts manufacturer on road for expansion

£400,000 of grant funding supplied by the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) and negotiated by grant experts at regional accountancy firm, Francis Clark, has allowed a Plymouth manufacturing company to put in place ambitious plans for expansion.

Applied Automation (UK) Ltd will use the grant to buy a new manufacturing base at Langage Business Park and develop it with a substantial extension. The current 23,400 sq ft building will grow by an extra 17,000 sq ft.

The business has operated for 23 years, but it is in the last three years that it has seen real expansion. Its main activities include the design and manufacture of automated solutions to many manufacturing challenges, and the design and manufacture of industrial control systems. In addition, it distributes a range of market leading industrial control and automation components and the MayTec range of profile aluminium extrusion products.

Applied Automation services a range of markets both in the UK and increasingly, overseas. Its customer base includes household names such as Becton Dickinson, Pall Europe and Honda.

Work on the new building will start in January 2010 and completion is scheduled for May of the same year. The larger premises will allow the business to grow to a £10m a year turnover from £6.5m at present. The company employs 56 members of staff and is committed to recruiting young people and providing them with tailored training and professional development via the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme.

Managing director David Rowe commented: “The grant funding is essential to the development of the business. It allows us to implement our plans to the right scale and standard, securing our future growth for many years to come.”

David Armstrong, grant specialist at Francis Clark, said: “Grant funding is still a valuable source of capital for growing South West businesses, and Applied Automation is an excellent example of this. We are delighted to have supported David and his team through the process to a successful outcome and we wish them well for the future development of the business.”

Richard Hoskin from the RDA added: “We remain committed to supporting regional businesses with a strong plan for future growth in order to boost the economy. We are impressed by the expansion forecast by Applied Automation and the methods the management team intends to implement in order to achieve this development. We wish them well for the future.”