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PP Control & Automation (PP C&A) is collaborating with fellow technology solutions provider Jaltek, targeting up to £4m of new orders with UK agritech organisations.
The partnership has been developed to support innovators involved in areas such as indoor and vertical farming, automation, precision farming and remote sensing. It will provide these businesses with a single point of contact for contract manufacturing and electronics.
PP C&A and Jaltek aim to help potential clients accelerate time to market, maximise output and unlock value-add design and engineering by providing access to a comprehensive suite of production capabilities.
Over 230 people are employed at PP C&A’s 5,500-square-metre facility. The company provides strategic outsourcing solutions to over 30 successful machine builders. PP C&A said it quickly saw the synergy and additional capabilities Jaltek could bring in contract manufacturing, particularly with its track record of helping start-ups deliver ideas from design concept to final product.
According to the two companies, additional revenue generated by the partnership is expected to help both firms create new jobs at their factories in Cheslyn Hay and Luton.
Garry Myatt, sales director at PP C&A, said: “Agritech has grown 20% over the last five years and is seeing lots of investment, with £919.1m of Innovate UK grant funding directed its way in recent years”.
He added: “There is a surging demand for new technology and the PP x Jaltek partnership is set-up to streamline the path from blueprint to the field, working with innovators and companies to navigate the complexities around design, manufacture and funding.”
Claire Mackay, business development manager at Jaltek, commented: “There is so much innovation in this country, but a lot of the time it is commercialised elsewhere. We want to reverse that trend and feel agritech is the perfect sector for us to pioneer this new approach.”
PP x Jaltek will bring new partners into the collaboration, including a company specialising in pneumatic and electrical automation equipment. The ambition is to evolve over time to become a holistic supply chain, making product launches for OEMs quicker and easier.
This will boost an existing relationship with WMG and international discussions with Wageningen University & Research in Holland, and the Simon Frazer University Centre for AgriTech Innovation in British Columbia, Canada.
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