Contract Manufacturing I Profile
there. The UK has turned its back on manufacturing and with the demise of companies like GEC, Ferranti and STC the whole infrastructure that supported apprenticeships has vanished. That wont change overnight and someone has got to take on the financial burden and the time that’s necessary to recruit and train future engineers. Once you get to a certain size I think you have a responsibility to do something even if it hits the bottom-line. “Our industry is aging and we need
to develop our skills base and its only now, after the implosion of the financial sector, that UK politicians seem to be aware of a world beyond the Square Mile.” Boston obviously loves the industry
he’s in but he does give you the impression that he despairs of politicians who have spent the last 10- 20 years neglecting the broader economy while being swept along by the rather tarnished glamour of high finance. “There needs to be a fundamental
reappraisal of the role and respect afforded manufacturing and science in this economy. I don’t think politicians have a clue. Last year the talk was about an economic contraction of around 5 per cent. Most of the companies we deal with saw demand collapse by 40- 45 per cent. We had to go out and find a similar amount of business to just stand still….it was hard but we did it.“
Recession and recovery
CIL certainly did a remarkable job. It hasn’t just survived it’s prospered. I ask
Boston how, in the face of what has been the deepest downturn anyone can remember for at least 60 years, the company has been able to achieve this. “It hasn’t been achieved without
cost, we’ve certainly taken a hit in terms of profitability. In all honesty we simply got on with it. Our markets are global and that’s probably the key to how we’ve pulled out of the recession so quickly. If we relied solely on the UK then we’d still be in the doldrums. “It’s not all doom and gloom. Far
from it. One thing the UK is good at is start-ups and innovation. There are a lot of good small to medium sized businesses out there.” How different has this recession been
to those you’ve experience in the past? “It was the speed of the decline that
was such a shock compared to 1991, for example. Then it was spread out, this one just hit. In August 2008 three significant customers over a few weeks indicated a 40 per cent downturn which would hit in the first quarter of 2009. “Our customers were making
redundancies but they were urging us not to and we made the decision early on that we’d hold on to everybody. It may have cost us upwards of £300,000 but turnover has certainly recovered and for companies that did cut staff they’re now struggling to cope with demand.“ Communication - either with
suppliers or customers - is vital according to Boston. “We’ve started to run open days. The aim being to change the way customers
treat us and to educate the supply chain, you can’t work in isolation. And you mustn’t neglect existing customers. We need to be telling them that we’re investing and what new facilities we have to offer. “A lot of companies are just not
aware of the capabilities of companies like CIL. The depth of technology and the level of technical expertise we can offer has proven itself again and again. In our line of business you need to have a strong partnership with your customers. Not a day goes by without at least one client being on site. It’s about handholding at every level and that’s fundamentally changed the way in which we, as a contract manufacturer, are treated. In the past it was all about price, while now they ask us for our advice.
“The Executive Board has been set up
to drive this business forward. The opportunities are certainly there. For example, CoolLED is a design and manufacturing division that specialises in high performance LED technology and it’s been going from strength to strength. We’re able to offer a service from proof-of-principle design to complete working units for companies. In fact we’re launching a new product every 2 months.” As a private business CIL is always
having to take risks, review its decisions and learn from its mistakes, but then again as a privately owned business anything is possible and with the drive and initiative of the team headed by John Boston I think I’ll be keeping an eye on this particular corner of Andover.
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics April 2010 17
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