This collaboration will assist potential clients in accelerating time to market, maximising output, and accessing value-added design and engineering through a comprehensive suite of production capabilities.
Should the anticipated growth materialise, the additional revenue will enable both companies to create new jobs at their facilities in Cheslyn Hay and Luton.
“Agritech has grown 20% over the last five years and is seeing lots of investment, with £919.1m of Innovate UK grant funding directed its way in recent years,” explained Garry Myatt, Sales Director at PP Control & Automation. “There is a surging demand for new technology and the PP x Jaltek partnership is set-up to streamline the path from blueprint to the field, working with innovators and companies to navigate the complexities around design, manufacture and funding.
“This collaboration is not just about assembling mechanical parts or circuit boards. It’s about providing the sector with the arsenal to scale up swiftly and sustainably, turning good ideas into the very fabric of agricultural innovation.”
PP Control & Automation, employing over 230 people at its 5,500m2 facility, has become an award-winning provider of strategic outsourcing solutions to over 30 of the world’s leading machine builders.
The company is a strong proponent of collaborations and quickly recognised the synergy and additional capabilities Jaltek could offer in contract electronic manufacturing, especially given its track record of helping start-ups and fledgling businesses take ideas from design concept to final product.
“We both share a passion for facilitating innovation and making sure the UK benefits commercially from new technology and ‘disrupting’ the status quo. In particular, Jaltek’s expertise in PCBA layout, fast turnaround new product introduction, test and final product assembly complements what PP C&A offer and, together, is a very attractive proposition," added Myatt.
Claire Mackay, Business Development Manager at Jaltek, added her support: “This is a fantastic example of two UK manufacturers joining forces to deliver a solution that a fast-growing market is looking for. There is so much innovation in this country, but a lot of the time it is commercialised elsewhere. We want to reverse that trend and feel agritech is the perfect sector for us to pioneer this new approach.”
PP x Jaltek intends to bring new partners into the collaboration, with a company specialising in pneumatic and electrical automation equipment set to join soon. Over time, this will evolve into a holistic supply chain, speeding up time to market and facilitating product launches for OEMs.
This initiative will strengthen an existing working relationship with WMG and international engagements with Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and the Simon Fraser University Centre for AgriTech Innovation (BCCAI) in British Columbia.
