A Telford company started in 2004 by two men armed with mobile phones and savings of £20,000 will achieve sales of £2 million this year, doubling its customer base in the past 12 months and creating 18 skilled jobs in the process.

David Piper and Mathew Turner (pictured, right with Mick Powell, HPE project adviser at Business Link West Mercia) set up Innov8es to provide rapid prototyping and low-volume plastics production to industry.

Starting from a 2,500 sq ft unit in Hortonwood, the company recently quadrupled its capacity by moving into an 11,500 sq ft unit on the estate to cater for its burgeoning business.

Innov8es now offers engineering solutions including product research, development and design, rapid prototyping, soft tooling, injection moulding, low-pressure foaming, CNC machining and complete project management.

Customers include global car brands such as Ford, Nissan, BMW and Land Rover as well as blue-chip manufacturers from a range of sectors across the UK and Europe. Future plans include opening an office in Germany by the end of the year.

Mathew said one of company’s secrets of success was literally going to the ends of the earth for customers.

“If needed, we will jump in our cars and drive to Europe or fly to the States to deliver a part – that’s what makes the difference,” he added.

A key element of Innov8es’ work is providing a fast turnaround of prototype components that must be as close to production parts as possible.

David, pictured, said: “We have developed unique processes which enable us to satisfy this goal, which means that manufacturers are able to bring new products to market much quicker, gaining significant competitive advantage as a result.”

But customer care is no glib marketing slogan for the directors and their staff.

David added: “Many companies have a stock solution which they try to make fit. We turn this approach completely on its head, listen to what the customer actually wants and needs and then supply the right solution in a one-stop operation from design right through to manufacture in-house.”

Last year the pair invested in their first CNC machining centre in order to exploit new markets, contacted Business Link West Mercia and enlisted advice and support from the High Performance Engineering project funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund.

This led to the acquisition of the industry’s gold-standard CAD software package and the relevant training in order to run it at its full potential. This gave Innov8es the ability to design, prototype and manufacture many innovative parts in very quick timescales for the automotive industry in both the UK and overseas.

Mick Powell, HPE project adviser at Business Link West Mercia, said: “As a result of that one investment Innov8es has created three new jobs and opened up a whole new area of business, leading to the purchase of three additional machining centres.

“Being part of the project has also enabled the directors to network with other leading-edge, high-value-added HPE clients across the West Midlands.

“This creates a virtual circle of knowledge exchange as well as the potential for the members to do business together.

“Innov8es has already taken advantage of this networking and is now doing business with other HPE clients. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved and of huge benefit to the regional economy as a whole.”