AWS acquires Cemgraft

Cemgraft is a highly successful business in its own right, having grown rapidly to a £14m turnover in just seven years. Cemgraft are specialists in printed circuit board surface mount technology having invested significantly in BGA and micro BGA capabilities at their site in Greenham near Newbury. They have the level of equipment normally only found in the major multinational contract manufacturers. In addition to highly automated PCB assembly lines, Cemgraft also has a dedicated rapid prototyping department, and offers complete box build manufacturing and product support on behalf of their clients. They have significantly reduced the time to market for there customers through this process. They are already in the top ten for low to medium volume and operate in the specialist markets such as data storage, advanced security and anti terrorism devices.

This addition to the AWS Group means total group annualised turnover is approximately £30m going into 2007. This now pushes AWS Group to the top as a contract manufacturer and with its growing list of services it can rightly claim to have moved into the electronic manufacturing services category (EMS)

The main AWS site at Newcastle under Lyme is the centre of excellence for complex integrated box build and assembly for the group and already has three SMT lines that directly feed its production, two of which already place BGAs. They have built a good reputation around quality and flexibility, mainly in the low to medium batch sizes, Cemgraft now offers them the latest technology.

Cemgraft’s five production lines can produce highly complex and concentrated boards with upwards of 72 BGA and micro BGA. The Greenham site becomes the centre of excellence for PCB manufacturing within the group. “These machines give us maximum flexibility for manufacturing, they also have exceptional placement accuracy; and best in class set up time which puts us at the cutting edge in our markets”, said Jamie Maughan who is the Plant Manager at Cemgraft. He added “They also have full in-line Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) which means we build in quality. Cemgraft also has specific equipment and resource dedicated to a rapid prototyping centre within it’s Greenham site. This “Fast track” centre is specifically designed to provide fast turnaround and rapid prototyping of development boards and units.

The acquisition of Cemgraft by AWS Group follows the prior acquisition earlier in the year of Jantec Electronic Services . Jantec are specialists in repair /refurbishment, for rail and road infrastructure and also have low level design and manufacture for clients with low volume/niche electronic products. With three UK sites in Bedfordshire, Berkshire and Staffordshire, the Group can now boast good UK coverage. AWS Group also works with partner companies in Slovakia, Tunisia India and now with Cemgraft in Malaysia.

Paul Deehan, Chief Executive of the Group said “Cemgraft is a strategic acquisition, which drives us straight to the top of the electronics technology tree. When combined to our other businesses and partnering arrangements we have a comprehensive portfolio of capabilities and services that’s second to none. Customers in our markets want the latest technology, to be taken to market faster than ever before, with 6σ quality, and they want more services that support their products through the whole life cycle. I am only responding to my customers needs”.

Advice on both acquisitions was provided by teams from Birmingham-based Jasper Corporate Finance LLP and lawyers Cobbetts. David Tucker at Jasper Corporate Finance, who is also a non-executive director at AWS, points out that the deal highlights the impact of market trends.

“It has long been recognised that the trend of increased focus on core businesses, which has been accelerated by global competition, has encouraged many companies to sell non-core businesses”, he said. “These transactions show the other side of the coin in that outsourcing complex areas is continuing to grow. The combination of these three companies will present a formidable proposition as a combined group, with a range of services from fast-track prototyping through to life-time asset management now available to all the customers of the enlarged group.”