Memco Grows With European Production Facility
March 2008 saw the official opening of Memco Limited’s impressive new production plant in the Czech Republic. The 4000 sq m new building is sited in the southern Bohemian city of Ceske Budejovice – an ideal central European distribution hub allowing easy access to the motorway network.
Memco is the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of lift safety edges, and rapidly increasing product demand has led to the development of this purpose-built factory. Nearly all Memco’s production is now housed under one roof, effectively streamlining the assembly operations. There is now capacity to produce 3000 sets of detectors per week – increasing to 3500 from May 2008. Jan Doubal, Memco’s Production Director, commented: “We have been using production facilities in the Czech Republic since 1999, but this is the first time that manufacturing and assembly have all been brought together. We currently have 160 staff and will be looking to increase that figure to 200 over coming year.” The plant has space on the adjoining site to expand production facilities by a further 50% as and when demand outgrows the current production capacity.
Andrew Williams, Chief Executive of Halma p.l.c., Memco’s parent company, cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of this new facility. He warmly welcomed a number of local dignitaries including Jan Zahradnik, Chairman of South Bohemia District Council, Juraj Thoma, Mayor of Ceske Budejovice and Mike Moon, Head of Trade and Investment from the British Embassy in Prague.
All guests were taken on a walking tour of the new facility and had the opportunity to see the state of the art technology at work. All work areas are built to suit work flow patterns and individual products, helping employees understand how their individual contribution fits in to the overall product build. The management team are particularly satisfied with the working environment – air conditioned, well lit, wide aisles and modern high-tech machinery.
Peter Bailey, Managing Director of Memco, who co-hosted the event, expressed his thoughts on the new development: “We are delighted with the success of our continued investment in the region, and opening this facility is a great boost to our production capacity and efficiency. We originally planned this building to give us enough space for future growth into the next decade; however increasing business volumes may see a further expansion earlier than we expected.”
Local media extensively covered the event, and several emphasised the links that Memco could provide to the community and particularly schools in the area. Local education establishments area are keen to make sure that they are providing students with the appropriate knowledge for the world of commerce and Memco will be working with them to help build suitable learning modules.
Memco sits with sister companies Janus, TL Jones and E-Motive within the Elevator Safety Division of Halma p.l.c., a FTSE 250 company with an annual turnover of £350 million. In addition to a wide range of safety edges, accessories and emergency telephones for lifts, Memco also supplies lift displays across Europe, Africa and South America. Sister companies TL Jones and Janus ensure that the same extensive product ranges are on offer across Asia and North America respectively.
