…and ‘brings Instrumentation to life’
ITL Ltd, the successful contract designer, developer and manufacturer, is breaking into the U.S. market in May of this year. Already firmly embedded in the UK and China, ITL works closely with established companies, start-ups and spin-outs, and specialises in medical, diagnostic, analytical, precision electro-mechanical and laboratory instrumentation design & manufacture.
Established in 1977 with a proven business model and sustained success despite difficult trading conditions throughout Europe, ITL was encouraged to approach the U.S. with a view to further developing this potentially lucrative market.
Tom Cole, Managing Director & CEO of ITL, said, “Having developed our business as one of the few independent European product design and manufacturing companies, ITL (Integrated Technologies Ltd) has successfully weathered the various financial challenges and is delighted to report that turnover for 2011/12 was up from £5.47M (US$8.64M) to £7.53M (US$11.90). This is an increase of over 39% on the previous year; while gross margins increased from 34.7% 2010/11 to 38.5% in 2011/12 – the highest ever achieved by the company.”
Accredited to FDA CFR21 part 820, BSEN ISO 9001: 2008 and BSEN ISO 13485: 2003, ITL’s defined development process is dedicated to maintaining quality standards throughout, ensuring ‘right-sized’ cost-effective customer solutions – every time.
Having made the decision to target the U.S. market, ITL conducted research which soon indicated that Greater Richmond, Virginia was the place to start, supported by the fact that there are more than 200 life science companies in the Richmond area – an environment which is particularly suitable for ITL’s type of business.
ITL met with the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc., a regional economic development organisation, in the UK in March 2012 at a ‘Profit in America’ seminar to learn about entering the U.S. market. On November 26, 2012, ITL registered its American company.
Cole stated, “We considered other U.S. locations but the help, support and enthusiasm provided by the Greater Richmond Partnership was a driving force that encouraged us to locate in the region and register our American company, ITL (Virginia) Inc.”
ITL (Virginia) Inc is due to start business on May 1st 2013 in the Dominion Resources Innovation Center, Ashland and will be headed by Thomas Jull, Vice President of Operations. Thomas is an experienced Systems Engineer who has been working at ITL’s UK operation since 2007. He has been involved with customer product development as well as being increasingly involved with business matters. Thomas Jull’s wife is American, so they are already quite used to travelling back and forth from the U.S. and are very much looking forward to settling-down near Richmond.
“We are very pleased to welcome another UK company to the Greater Richmond community. It was a pleasure working closely with ITL and it’s rewarding to know that our services were valued,” said Gregory H. Wingfield, CEO and President of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc.
ITL was provided with site-selection and relocation assistance by the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. and Hanover County and it joins more than 150 internationally-owned companies in Greater Richmond.
“The Dominion Resources Innovation Center, located in the Town of Ashland, is an ideal location for ITL to establish its U.S. presence,” said Robert T. Skunda, Chairman of the Innovation Center Board of Directors and President & CEO of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park. “When the Center was first conceived as a partnership between Dominion Resources, Hanover County, the Town of Ashland and the Research Park, we fully expected that it would serve as an effective ‘soft landing’ location for international technology companies looking to come to the U.S. in addition to early-stage domestic companies from Central Virginia. We see ITL as an important addition to our regional life sciences cluster of companies,” Skunda went on to add.
Initial business from ITL (Virginia) Inc. will primarily focus on sales and servicing and providing support for ITL’s existing customer base in the US. The plan then is to introduce R&D, manufacturing & logistics and follow the successful procedure set by the current ITL companies in the UK and Shanghai China – continuing to ‘bring instruments to life’.