Harwin – investing to compete internationally

Harwin design and manufacture world-class electrical and electronic interconnect solutions, supplying product designers and OEMs worldwide with standard and custom products.

The company has a turnover of £12 million and employs 140 people. To remain competitive in an industry which has well-established low-cost manufacturers in Asia, the company is constantly investing in updated manufacturing technology. The main drivers are capacity to meet orders, customer demands for the technology and for faster delivery, and cost. Even with batches as low as ten, it is necessary to use automated assembly systems.

Harwin design their own automation solutions and train their own staff to meet their highly specialised needs. Lack of flexibility is often perceived to be a barrier to investing in automation but Harwin design and build special purpose machines to meet this requirement. Without automated production the company simply would not survive.