TDK has announced an £11.5m investment package to redevelop its TDK-Lambda power supply design and manufacturing facility in Ilfracombe Devon.

TDK-Lambda-UK expansion

Staged over the next three and a half years, it will increase production capacity by 50%.

“The original factory was built over 50 years ago with further expansion in the mid-1980s,” according to TDK. “While the company has invested in equipment and building upgrades over these years, including the addition of a £1m EMC Centre in 2019, it is now time to redevelop the site. The redevelopment will increase manufacturing space, expand the R&D facilities, and radically overhaul and automate the end-to-end material flow.”

Motivation is not simply modernisation.

“Noting customers’ heightened awareness of the need for trusted, dependable suppliers due to recent events – such as the USA-China tariffs and COVID-19 pandemic,” said the company, “the planned expansion will provide further supply chain robustness within the TDK-Lambda manufacturing network, especially for the European market.”

The programme will be split up into a four-stage process to ensure continuity of production and services.

• Stage one will be the construction of new offices, including employees’ facilities and a health and fitness centre, on the north and west faces.
• Upon completion, the south-facing office will be extended to expand R&D, product verification, test and manufacturing engineering facilities.
• The link area between the two factory buildings will then be infilled, and “smart lean”, according to the company, storage facilities and AGVs for material handling installed.
• Manufacturing areas will be reconfigured with designated front-end (PCB assembly) and back-end (configuration and test) production areas.

The pandemic has also increased demand for medical-grade PSUs. “Since the COVID-19 outbreak, delivery quantities to certain healthcare and bio-diagnostic customers have increased by six to tenfold,” said TDK-Lambda MD Geoff Wilby.

The PSUs affected are are:

• 100W CUS100ME for portable ventilators
• 175W NV series for ventilators
• 300W EFE300M for virus detection
• 550W Vega modular PSU for swab testing
• 700W QM5 modular PSU for mobile x-ray equipment