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Faraday achieved another significant milestone this month when the business turned 30 years old. Started way back in 1987 by Gordon Arkley to supply another of his manufacturing businesses, the company and its staff have seen significant change over the years.
We have gone from producing boards like the basic 2 layer below left to the 10 layer below right with buried vias. An absolute world apart. What a journey it has been moving from the old style photography based artworks used back in 1987 to the Integr8tor and Ucam Systems used to produce today’s high-tech multilayers.
From the original 4,000 ft2 unit to 22,300 ft2 today. The business has seen steady expansion over the years as its customer base has grown from local North-East companies to the whole of the UK and beyond. We now have over 200 customers, some as far away as China.
Our technology levels have increased dramatically as we’ve continually invested to keep pace with the market and the demands of our customers. Originally producing single sided conventional boards we now manufacture up to 14 layers including blind and buried vias. Having started with FR4 we now also produce boards on specialist materials such as Arlon, Rogers, Taconic and flexible substrate to meet customer demand. We work ever more closely with customers on design requirements, materials, panel yields and identifying the correct finish for the intended application.
From a handful of staff in 1987 to over 50 in 2017, the combined levels of experience in the industry now run into hundreds of years with some key staff having been here almost that whole time. And it is all at the disposal of our customers.
What else has changed since 1987? Well taste in music for a start. Who remembers Rick Astley, Starship and T’Pau topping the charts back then? Our longest serving employee confesses to dancing to Rick Astley in the year he joined us again now that Rick has made a comeback.
Faraday remains committed to maintaining its UK manufacturing facility in order to provide our customers with the surety they require regarding product source, service, support, quality and on-time-delivery. Our investment will continue with our next equipment acquisitions already identified for the next two years. Our Sales & Engineering teams remain committed to achieving our mission of ‘Building relationships, creating success’ alongside our valued customers.
