Gooch and Housego

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :13/11/2007 11:51:49

Gooch & Housego plc has developed significantly in the past four years. Now the manufacturer of custom optical components is determined not to “rest on its laurels”

UK-based Gooch & Housego has developed quite a reputation for itself in the half century or so since it was formed. But, the operations manager Terry Scribbins says, it has seen its most significant developments in the last four years.

Written by Abigail Saltmarsh and Produced by Mark Skillicorn

Now the manufacturer of custom optical components is to move to new specially-built premises in order to ensure it can continue to deliver its high quality solutions – and remain one step ahead of the competition.

“In our business this is vital,” Scribbins explains. “We have customers all over the world who rely on us for our high quality, innovative products. We are the leaders in our field but we must not ‘rest on our laurels’. We have to keep moving forward.”

Becoming a world leader

The Somerset-based company has a colourful history, reaching back more than 50 years. During the war Archie Gooch and Leslie Housego were evacuated to the market town of Ilminster in Somerset.

They were both employed by Cable Standard Telephones London on the outskirts of Ilminster. After the war, however, they decided to stay in the area and in 1948 formed what is today an international member of the local community, Gooch & Housego plc.

“The company has grown from very small beginnings, as a company that was set up to meet scientific optics needs, to what it is today – a company serving a worldwide market,” Terry Scribbins says.

The core skills at the time, however, were focused on processing glass and crystalline materials – and these skills are still very much the cornerstone of the current operations at Ilminster, in spite of technological development.

Traditionally a craft-based optical engineering company rich in practical optical manufacturing skills, Gooch & Housego has undergone a transformation over the last 20 years into a high-technology opto-electronics business. This has been achieved through investments in research and development. Much of the research and development has been carried out as part of collaborative projects with key academic and industrial partners and with the benefit of DTI support.

Today it manufactures acousto-optic devices and precision optical components, serving a worldwide market. The products are used in photonics based systems for scientific, medical and research applications, such as industrial laser processing, confocal microscopy, laser sensing and laser display.

It is best known for its Q-Switch, an acousto-optic device that transforms solid-state lasers into industrial and medical tools by changing their output from a continuous low power beam into a stream of pulses a thousand times more powerful. These high power pulses can drill, cut, weld or machine materials ranging from steel and plastics to diamonds. In medicine they can cut and cauterise tissue in applications such as ophthalmic surgery or urology.

“The laser market is our fastest growing at the moment. This has taken a major upturn in recent times,” says Terry Scribbins. “We expect it to continue to grow in the future.”

A reliable name

Today Gooch & Housego has customers from the US, as well as across the Far East and Australia. Customers will continue to invest in Gooch and Housego’s products, according to Terry Scribbins, because of their high quality and reliability, even when cheaper options might be available. “There are companies in places such as China that have the same manufacturing capability but our customers prefer to come to us because of our reputation. Even companies in China come to us. We do not see China as a threat but rather as a booming market with incredible opportunities.”

Gooch & Housego sees an annual turnover of approximately £30 million, Terry Scribbins states. “We employ some 400 people and have subsidiaries in Cleveland, Orlando, Florida, New Jersey, Hamburg and Torquay. The most recent acquisition was of Sifam Fibre Optics Ltd in Torquay.

“We remain strong in the acousto-optic business (which accounts for approximately 60 percent of our turnover) but a few years ago we moved into fibre optics as well. This is Sifam’s area of expertise, so when the opportunity to acquire the business arose earlier this year, it seemed ideal. It completed the puzzle for us.”

Remaining ahead

The past four years have seen substantial development for the company, Terry Scribbins asserts.

“In the past we had always been a successful family-run business but a few years back, when Gareth Jones was appointed CEO, he had the vision to take the company up to another level. At that time the company share price was £1 – now it is between £4 and £5. Growth has been phenomenal and the company has become much more profit orientated.”

Since 2003, Gooch & Housego has been selling over 70 percent of its output overseas and its overseas sales increased to over £6.7 million per annum in three years. Some of the growth has been through acquisition, but much has also been organic.

Gooch & Housego is currently growing at a rate of 20 percent per year and expansion is predicted to continue at much the same rate over the coming years. This is why the company is moving to new purpose-built premises.

“Gooch & Housego has grown up in Somerset and we want to remain here, but we are in the centre of a small town and have outgrown our building,” said Terry Scribbins. “By the end of the year we hope to have relocated to our new £8 million factory. This will not only enable us to expand our manufacturing facilities but should also make us more efficient and better prepared for the future.”

He continued: “We are the world leaders in our field and it is our intention to remain in that position. We aim to continue to place huge emphasis on research and development, as well as to improve our manufacturing techniques and facilities.

“Product development is vital to us and as such we ensure we are always ahead of the competition. We need to be sure that if the competition starts to do what we can do, then we are able to reveal the next level of products, leaving the competition behind. That is where we are at the moment – and that is where we intend to stay.”