AWS consolidates UK manufacturing

The capabilities of two satellite sites, AWS Newbury and AWS Biggleswade, have been incorporated into the company’s main 48'000 square feet plant at Newcastle under Lyme. The change comes due to increased business at its offshore plant in Slovakia as customers in the high-technology sector migrate work there in order to take advantage of the lower manufacturing costs in Eastern Europe. AWS Group CEO, Paul Deehan said:” We wanted to focus on our core competencies and concentrate our key capabilities within one dedicated UK site to provide the best possible product and service levels to customers while maintaining our highly competitive pricing structures. We have retained all the specialist skills in what is often legacy and experience-driven work and are now able to show customers our full end to end capabilities in one place. This change also enables senior management to focus solely on customers, rather than dissipating effort on the management of multiple and dispersed plants.” AWS has increased business at its facility in Slovakia, which offers low production costs, comparable with S.E. Asia. As global dynamics change, some customers are taking advantage of such competitive prices to re-shore contracts from Asia to Slovakia, as its proximity to European markets brings supply chain and other benefits. Deehan continues: “As an electronics manufacturing services provider, our business depends on the success of our customers operating in dynamic and challenging global markets. At AWS, we are keenly aware of this and our focus remains flexibility, customer commitment and the ability to offer competitive pricing.”