Aug 01, 2017 
A year on from the UK’s controversial Brexit vote, Europlacer Industries is seeing no discernible impact on its equipment revenues in the UK. Or globally. Just half way though the company’s fiscal year (coinciding with the calendar year), Europlacer sales are already 80% ahead of target. Sister company, Speedprint Technologies, reports being 50% ahead of its sales target.
“With fears over the effect of Brexit looming, it was tricky to forecast sales in the UK at the start of this year, but we went with challenging figures that seemed potentially optimistic at the time” explains Europlacer Business Development and UK Sales Manager, Andy Jones. However, not only have things panned out well for the company, they have accelerated beyond expectations. “Among this year’s crop of new orders are three full SMT assembly lines comprising printer, placement machine, oven and conveyors. All three are brand new customer accounts for us, with those companies moving across to Europlacer from other suppliers. That’s especially rewarding,” says Jones.
Other new business on the order books includes Jones’s team closing an agreement with one of Europlacer’s long-standing customers for four new placement platforms. “We are currently 80% above target for this mid-point in the year. And several orders will conclude in the next couple of months; some in a matter of days,” Jones adds. “So for Europlacer, the anticipated impact of Brexit, which we once thought could have implications given that our placement machines are designed and manufactured in France, has not materialised at all.”
The Blakell Europlacer Group comprises the Speedprint Technologies, Europlacer, and Blakell Europlacer Distribution business units. All three are active and pre-eminent in the electronic circuit board assembly sector with advanced product and service solutions for electronics manufacturers in the UK and globally. Speedprint Technologies is a provider of screen printing equipment used in surface mount assembly processes. Europlacer is a provider of surface mount component placement equipment. Blakell Europlacer Distribution augments the provision of screen printing and pick & place platforms in the UK with a range of associated equipment, including AOI, reflow and PCB handling.
