Decade of growth 'is only the beginning' for Telford firm

Proto Labs in Telford's Halesfield Industrial Estate is marking 10 years in business this year, a period which has seen the company grow from a standing start to become one of the key players in the prototyping industry in Europe.

From having two staff – managing director John Tumelty and operations director Lee Ball, and "a couple of machines", the company now employs 275 people.

Moreover, it is expanding again, introducing a new Additives department – or 3D printing to the layman – to its cavernous 100,000 sq ft factory floor.

That has involved bringing in new machinery, at a cost which runs into seven figures, as the company continues to invest to meet demand in a growing industry.

"We are almost in a continuous recruitment cycles," Mr Tumelty said. "We are long way from reaching the boundaries of where this company can go."

Proto Labs was established in the UK on July 4 2005 – ironically for a company whose parent is based in the USA, on the outskirts of Minneapolis in Minnesota.

Mr Tumelty moved from his role at the top of a tier one automotive supplier to take the reins at what was essentially a start-up, at a time when the parent company was still in its relative infancy.

Since then the business has accelerated. From having three injection moulding machines and three CNCs at the time of its launch, it now runs 100 CNCs and 50 moulds.

In the second quarter, the UK operation delivered sales of around 6.5 million, a 33.5 per cent increase on the corresponding period last year, while its parent company also notched up a record result for the period with revenues of $63.9 million (£40.75 million).

"We have taken the business from being unheard of in Europe to being one of the leading brands within our sector," Mr Tumelty said.

"The genuine plan when we started was to build a strong, fast-growing European version of the American business.

"Trying to project what that would look like after 10 years, especially when the American company was only about five years old at that stage, was almost impossible."

He added: "We started with the ambition to grow it and make it a significant player in Europe. We haven't necessarily achieved that yet, but are on the path to that and see no end in sight to the growth trajectory.

"The breadth of capabilities that have changed in 10 years is staggering, starting with limited-sized injection mould tools with limited complexity to what we can do now."

Two-time Queen's Award winner Proto Labs, which makes low-volume parts or prototypes with a fast turnaround time, serves all of Europe from its Telford manufacturing base, including delivering to its other offices in Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

"We continue to grow our business across Europe," Mr Tumelty said.