Member Article

C-MAC SMT bounces back from Covid-19 to target £4m in sales

New automotive, electrification and medical opportunities are helping a specialist provider of complex printed circuit boards (PCB) and electronics assembly target a 50% growth in orders as industry emerges from the pandemic.

C-MAC SMT, which employs 28 people at its state-of-the-art facility in Warwick, has bounced back from the challenges of Brexit and Covid-19 to post impressive sales of £3.2m for the last twelve months, with initial projections suggesting the £4m barrier is in reach for 2021.

It marks a record year for the business and comes just 24 months after it was bought by Belgian-based C-MAC in 2018.

Under new ownership, the management team has shifted the focus from small one-off orders to concentrating on strategic customers that offer repeat business, a focus that has already led to a string of new client wins.

“I don’t think anyone has ever seen 12-months like we’ve just had,” explained Richard Halton, Business Development Manager for C-MAC SMT.

“From the start of the pandemic to this day, we have managed to keep the factory open, with the shopfloor switching to socially distanced production and office staff working from home. Despite all of these challenges and many of our automotive customers halting work for a period of time, we still grew turnover 29% in 2020.”

He added: “This has continued in the first quarter of 2021, with the car industry bouncing back beyond all expectations, joining some new wins in the medical sector – an industry rich in potential for our expertise in PCBs and electronic assembly.

“Electrification is a massive opportunity for us as well and this is why we are using our membership of the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN) to pool resources with the likes of Alucast, Brandauer and PP Control & Automation. Together, we have the complementary expertise to offer the OEMs and end users access to a single-source manufacturing solution.”

C-MAC SMT, which also offers X-ray inspection as part of its commitment to top level assembly and testing, has strengthened its offer for clients with re-accreditation to ISO9001:2015 and ISO:14001 standards and ongoing work towards securing ISO:13485, the medical device manufacturing standard.

This ensures it provides world class quality and environmental performance across all of the different markets it serves, with all staff given IPC-A 610 Class 3 training, which is the highest level of electronics assembly.

Backed by its parent company, the business is also drawing up plans to construct additional semi-clean assembly areas on the existing mezzanine, so that it can offer additional final assembly capability – reflecting a growth in enquiries for this requirement.

Richard concluded: “Brexit, at first, had little effect on our supply chain as the majority of our suppliers had all the necessary paperwork in place. However, during the last couple of months we’ve begun to see cracks appear and delays on components arriving to use from Europe. What would normally be two to three days has now gone out to three to six weeks delivery times.

“Hopefully, this will just be a temporary issue as 2021 is shaping up to be a very good year for C-MAC SMT, as we aim to reach £4m for the first time in our history.”

For further information, please visit www.cmacsmt.com or follow C-MAC SMT on LinkedIn.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .