Metal powders firm marks first decade
ATHRIVING Halton company is celebrating 10 years in business. LPW Technology, based in Runcorn at present, was founded in 2007 by Dr Phil Carroll and develops, processes and supplies specialist metal powders and software for the 3D printing industry.
Established in Lymm as a one-man operation, it now employs 74 skilled staff globally and has created 54 jobs in the last two years as well as an apprenticeship programme.
Later this year it will move to a £20m purpose-built ‘factory of the future’ in Widnes, and expects to recruit to up to 120 further team members by mid-2019.
LPW has won multiple awards, debuted at number 29 on the Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100 2017, and on the Northern Tech 100 2017 league table in 28th place 28.
In 2016, the firm occupied a slot in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and was granted a Queen’s Award For Enterprise In International Trade.
Dr Carroll said: “In the last decade LPW has seen rapid growth. “We value our ability to think ahead. “The company has developed a comprehensive range of products and services, including the development of new alloys, and of PowderLife, an innovative suite of hardware and software systems that control risk in critical manufacturing processes for industries including aerospace, automotive, biomedical and energy.
“We’ve undertaken a programme of continuous R&D (research and development) so that we can better support our clients, and as our knowledge continues to increase, so we’re benefitting from the growing market for an innovative, customer-focused powder supplier that is always anticipating the future needs of the industry. With analysts forecasting the global metal 3D printing market to grow to over $2bn by the year 2020, we’re looking forward to the next 10 years.” ●