A specialist company providing technology-led enterprises with the manufacturing expertise to bring their products to market is expanding into an innovation hub to realise its own ambitions.
Oneflow has moved into the Rural Innovation Centre at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire to grow the manufacturing operations and engineering services that it provides for companies needing to outsource production.
The company was launched five years ago by John Baldwin and Andy Taylor, who together have over 50 years of experience in the automotive and aerospace industries.
It started as a lean manufacturing consultancy and has now realised its longer term plan to become a manufacturer in its own right, developing over the last year as a sub contract assembly and engineering company.
Oneflow specialises in working with emerging companies to manufacture and engineer products that require complex integration and assembly, predominantly machines and instruments within the science and laboratory sectors.
Andy, who lives in Leamington, said: “We are able to provide a one-stop outsourcing solution, bringing together the design, supply chain and manufacturing which can be a real headache for small companies to manage, particularly when they are faced with the demands of growing sales.
“In outsourcing their production to us, our customers may require us to develop a product from an idea or prototype, or to simply improve an established design to reduce costs and increase performance.
“A lot of our customers are not manufacturers but are involved in science and innovation. They are growing themselves and need the flexibility that we can provide as a small and modern sub-contract manufacturer in the assembly of often low-volume and complex products.”
The company is on course to more than double its manufacturing operations this year and sees the Rural Innovation Centre as a platform for further expansion in line with the growth in manufacturing in the UK.
John said: “The Rural Innovation Centre provides us with the flexibility in terms of the leasing arrangements and the scope for us to expand into other offices here.
“Being based at Stoneleigh Park also puts us at the heart of the traditional manufacturing area of the Midlands and gives us the longer-term potential to move into our own premises on the estate.”
The Rural Innovation Centre, which is part of the Warwickshire Rural Growth Network, was created to help small firms within rural Warwickshire thrive by providing a range of serviced offices and free business support.
It is funded by DEFRA and led by Warwickshire County Council on behalf of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Liz Burkinshaw, manager of the Rural Innovation Centre, said: “The Rural Innovation Centre may not seem an obvious base for manufacturing but it has provided Oneflow with the space and flexibility that it needed as a modern sub-contractor within that industry.
“It shows that we can support small businesses from any sector and that is borne out by the range and number of enterprises that have already chosen to locate here.”
Cllr Alan Cockburn, portfolio holder for economic development at Warwickshire County Council, said: “The success of Oneflow and companies like it is of vital importance to the county council’s strategy to improve our economy in all areas of the county. Warwickshire has a large rural area and it is essential that we have industries based in these areas which offer opportunities for jobs and economic growth.
“We are really pleased to hear how well Oneflow are doing; long may it continue for them and other companies in Warwickshire’s rural areas.”