Gooch & Housego : Expansion and refurbishment at our UK fiber optic and photonic packaging completes

Over the past couple of years, expanded demand for products has meant we've needed to expand our engineering and production facilities. In 2015 we moved our US acousto-optic plant across San Francisco bay from Palo Alto to Fremont. Over the past 18 months we have started a program of work at electro-optic device factory in Cleveland, Ohio. We've also added further space at our fused fiber and photonic packaging facility in Torquay, UK.

The expansion of functional space at our Torquay site is nearing completion, on time and to budget. The final section of mezzanine has now been opened up as a new sales office and two new meeting rooms. Effectively the site now has over 3,700 m² or 40,000 ft² of floor space - double the size of the plant at acquisition by G&H in 2007. Continued investment within the production areas is taking place, a new 92 m² or 1,000 ft² Class 10,000 cleanroom is currently being built to facilitate the ongoing development of our Photonics Packaging capability, and this will be followed by a further 110 m² or 1,200 ft² of Class 10,000 cleanroom by year end. As well as these production areas a new 230 m² or 2500 ft² lab space has been created for the Systems Technology Group (STG). These areas are now being used to develop space amplifiers, and transmitter/receiver sub-systems as well as sub systems for optical coherence tomography (OCT) ophthalmic and cardiological imaging applications.

In addition to extending the engineering, sales office and production space we have also been refurbishing the site at the same time. Our production space now has a completely open plan layout, allowing us to greater flexibility in responding to our customer's needs. ESD flooring has been installed across all production areas, so ensuring a higher quality and safer manufacturing environment. LED lighting has now been installed in all areas, so reducing electricity consumption.

Growth in all areas is being supported by the ongoing adoption of continuous improvement and lean manufacturing approaches to manufacturing. This in turn is supported by our partnership with SiG (Sharing in Growth) - a UK government-backed program which helps firms compete for increased aerospace business. As with all UK G&H factories working with SIG, all production process in our Torquay facility will benefit from this program, facilitating the continued expansion and growth of business. The latest area being worked on is the OCT spectrometer line where this has led to a >100% increase in product through the line.

These refurbishments and our expansion demonstrate our commitment to maintaining world class photonics engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

In our Torquay factory we design, engineer and manufacture a range of products for applications in a number of different industries. From the HI REL couplers used in undersea cabling booster stations, to eye-safe laser range finding solutions, from the award winning fiber-coupled acousto optic modulator, the Fiber-Q for use in industry and in life sciences to amplifiers, and transmitter/receiver sub-systems for satellite communications - and many more. Take a look at the relevant page for more information on the manufacturing capabilities in Torquay.