As part of a planned business expansion, Northamptonshire-based Axon Automotive Ltd — a supplier of carbon-composite structural products and engineering services — has recently moved from its start-up location in Wollaston to a 45,000ft
2 factory site on the nearby Brackmills Industrial Estate, a key business and logistics hub.
This relocation, funded by parent company Bawtry Investments Ltd, is in response to a four-fold increase in business over the last two years. Export growth has been especially strong, particularly from sales to an increasing number of
customers outside the EU.
This rapid growth has driven the move to larger premises in order to expand Axon’s production facilities to meet both current and anticipated future demand. As a result, staff numbers are also expected to increase to around 200.
Managing director Chris Taylor said: “Following the recapitalisation of Axon with backing from our new owners, we have been able to accelerate our expansion plans to meet our ever-growing order book.
“The new Brackmills site gives us much-needed factory space to expand capacity and install a new in-line production facility; this is currently being built and should be commissioned by the middle of the year.”
He added: “In addition to expanding production, the new site allows us to substantially increase our engineering projects team to make us even more responsive to customer needs and to permanently house a demonstration line for customers to see our production technology first-hand.
“The move has also provided enough space for a larger research and development area.
“We expect to continue to grow organically, driven by securing new overseas OEM customers looking for lightweight vehicle production solutions.”
Axon’s carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite-beam-making process — Axontex — is now being used world-wide to manufacture super-lightweight vehicle chassis and structural components.
The CFRP-based system is for producing lightweight vehicle frames that offer high levels of rigidity and impact crash resistance.