At the official opening of its new manufacturing facility and head office in Cambridge, Inca CEO Bill Baxter reiterated that all production of its wide-format machines will stay in the UK for the foreseeable future despite forecasts that it would see the biggest growth from the likes of Brazil, Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union.
The Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Hugh Duberly CBE, who last visited Inca in 2005 to present two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, cut the ribbon at the new 5,869m2 factory which is just metres from the old buildings but provides 40% more production capacity. The new site, a £700,000 investment, also provides larger and improved support, training, cleanroom and stores facilities with scope for future growth.
“This move is a significant milestone in our growth and marks the start of an exciting new phase for Inca,” said Baxter at the opening. “Despite a difficult economy, we have grown in a highly competitive market to meet the increasing demand from companies around the world who want to invest in high-performance equipment.”
Founded in 2000 by Baxter and a small team from Cambridge Consultants, Inca was acquired by Dainippon Screen in 2005 and is now a £36 million business that employs around 200 people today.
Baxter said around three quarters of the company’s salary goes to the R&D team which is core to the company’s development and one of the key reasons why the company plans to keep production in Cambridge. “We need good brains to develop technologies like this and we have very good brains in Cambridge. It’s imperative that the R&D teams are very close to production and so this is the only place we can be!”
Inca is well-known for its Spyder and Onset UV flatbed inkjet printers (sold via Fujifilm), the newest product, the S40 accounting for three quarters of its sales in the last six months.
www.incadigital.com