News story

Qioptiq opens £3.7 million warehouse to support armed forces

Knowledge Transfer Partnership helped optical and photonics business to win £83 million MoD contract to service night vision equipment and open new facility.

Qioptiq

Qioptiq will supply UK armed forces with night vision equipment.

Optical and photonics business has opened a new £3.7 million warehouse in St Asaph, North Wales, that will support an £83 million contract with the Ministry of Defence.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp six-year contract saves the MoD £47 million and means Qioptiq will ensure vital night vision equipment is available to UK armed forces around the globe.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp company’s success came after it realised it needed to take a more collaborative approach to its work and gain outside expertise on reducing costs through a leaner supply chain.

It entered into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Cardiff Business School and KTP associate Thanos Goltos.

Expertise helped Qioptiq win major contract

Thanos worked for Qioptiq under the supervision of business school academics. His expertise in inventory forecasting showed how the business could reduce its inventory by 25%.

Peter White, managing director of Qioptiq, said:

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp KTP has produced outstanding results. Historically, we operated a complex supply chain, but Thanos’s expertise has developed a toolset we could use to support our integrated logistics supply operations.

For this opportunity we acknowledged we needed to take a more collaborative approach to external funders and expertise. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp partnership has helped secure a major contract from the MoD to support equipment vital to the safety of our soldiers in frontline operations.

Qioptiq designs and manufactures photonics products for a range of markets including medicine, life science, defence, manufacturing and aerospace. It is part of the US corporation Excelitas Technologies, which employs more than 500 people in North Wales.

Thanos said:

It was a great opportunity for me to put my expertise to good use under supervision from two highly experienced academics. It’s been a tough, enjoyable journey, and the results have been well worth the effort.

»Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp KTP was co-funded by the , the and Innovate UK. »Ê¹ÚÌåÓýapp Welsh Government also invested in the new warehouse at St Asaph.

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Published 18 May 2018