Precision Micro has announced the completion of a £5.1 million refurbishment of its chemical etching plant after a fire affected the site in August 2019.

The ambitious two-year plan has seen the facility grow by 10% (with further scope for future expansion). It also saw nine new process machines installed and the creation of a new Quality Centre of Excellence.

Managing a crisis

Maintaining business continuity represented a challenge, primarily because the fire – which was caused by an electrical fault – was contained in two production areas that were central to the core process of photochemical etching. Considered the heart of the business, the production areas were key in producing millions of precision-etching products every year, including safety-critical automotive components and high-performance parts for the aerospace industry.

Despite the setback of the fire, Precision Micro moved quickly to develop a crisis management plan that would see the company maintain business continuity during redevelopment.

Within hours of the fire, the team put into action what was required to ensure supply continued to reach customers with minimal disruption. This had to be achieved despite some specialist equipment being damaged in the fire. Firstly, the team established what could be salvaged to enable production to restart. After that, two industrial annexes were constructed within which all critical machinery was moved to keep the business moving to deliver services to customers.

Rising from the ashes

With business continuity and stability in place, work began in 2020 on the long-term refurbishment of the site. Not only did this process involve rebuilding damaged areas but also taking proactive steps to future-proof the business and further strengthen the service with which Precision Micro prides itself on.

This involved a £5.1 million investment in which the company reconfigured its processes to introduce more specialist machinery, increase space in the factory and build-in additional fire mitigation initiatives to de-risk any future repeats of the 2019 fire.

Elsewhere, the commercial team has been moved into dedicated offices housed within the iconic Fort Dunlop complex, freeing up further space for additional production and stock holding.

Mick Taylor, Commercial Director of Precision Micro, said of the completion: “To be able to get back to some sort of normality so soon after the fire goes to show just how committed we are as a business to delivering the very best levels of service to our customers, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. By acting so quickly, we were able to maintain production which meant our customers could continue to rely on us, even in the most challenging of times.”

March 2020 saw the first COVID lockdown, which slowed down the recovery process and added another setback for the Precision Micro team. However, Mick Taylor confirmed that this did not deter the team from finding solutions to keep the business running despite another challenge.

“Of course, we had to revise the timeline for our recovery programme, but we were determined not to let the pandemic affect our business when we had already made so many advances in the short space of time since the fire.

“How the team has responded to these challenges – backed by the support of a number of stakeholders including key suppliers – has been incredible. Thinking back to 2019, it was impossible to foresee either of these obstacles, but how our team has pulled together has been nothing short of inspirational. It’s this unbeatable team spirit which reinforces the resilience of Precision Micro, not just to keep the business running smoothly, but to do so in the most challenging of times.”

With the refurbishment now complete, Precision Micro is concentrating on not only delivering an even greater service for their customers through faster prototyping and higher volume production but doing so in a more sustainable way.

For more information, visit https://www.precisionmicro.com/