Michael Knight
Alan Anderson Manufacturing’s sales director, Michael Knight, highlights the company’s investments in PCBA capabilities, programming, procurement, logistics and people.
A recent Make UK report titled No Weak Links: Building Supply Chain Resilience opens: ‘Unrelenting pressure on company supply chains from increased costs and geo-political uncertainty is creating unacceptable lead times. For many manufacturers this poses a strategic risk to their business and, as a result, they are placing their supply chains under the microscope and adopting a range of strategies to manage relationships with suppliers at home and overseas’.
For UK-based companies, there are many reasons to keep manufacturing local or reshore. Firstly, it reduces lead times and improves product quality by bringing production closer to the end market. Secondly supply chain risks are reduced and impacts of tariff hikes/trade wars are mitigated. Local manufacture also means air miles and carbon footprint are reduced. Finally, keeping manufacture local provides domestic job opportunities, stimulates local growth and keeps the national economy healthy.
These are the key reasons why using a local, UK-based Contract Electronics Manufacturer (CEM) makes sense. However, industry’s needs change and CEMs must evolve too. This is why Alan Anderson (AA) Manufacturing was set up in 2022. As a new PCBA manufacturing operation, the company went back to first principles to consider what customers really require.
The result is a state-of-the-art facility under one roof. AA Manufacturing has invested £2M in PCBA lines employing the latest machines, improving throughput, reducing lead times, improving quality and reducing waste. Importantly, the new equipment has advanced protection mechanisms, creating a safer working environment. Other specialist equipment at the Hemel Hempstead factory includes selective soldering, conformal coating, AOI and x-ray inspection machines. AA Manufacturing also offers on-site device programming, £5M worth of IC inventory to offset shortages and an established PCB supply chain.
The company will price-fix and hold buffer stocks of completed assemblies and customers can see build progress in real time.
AA Manufacturing promises that every time it hits 65 per cent capacity, it will add further UK production lines.