ARRK is to unite its four UK companies into one unit. The move, unveiled by chairman Toshihiro Araki, will be driven by the managing director of ARRK’s UK operations, Tony Lowe, and is intended to offer clients the benefit of a wide range of integrated services from this single source company. The new company will be called ARRK Europe Ltd and its operations will cover design, engineering, prototyping, tooling and low volume manufacturing.
Traditionally the four ARRK businesses have operated independently, coordinating their activities where required to meet customer needs. Creating a single company will simplify customer access by providing the opportunity for a dedicated point of contact for multidisciplinary projects and shared resources. This will potentially reduce programme development time and introduce greater efficiencies. In addition, ARRK Europe Ltd will be able to enhance its full line capability from design to production, delivering best in class for service and product development.
ARRK R&D Ltd and NPL Technologies Ltd will begin the transition by merging into ARRK Europe Ltd by the end of March. It is ARRK’s intention to merge its two other mainstream businesses, ARRK PDG (Prototyping) and ARRK Tooling (Tooling & Moulding), into the new company at a later date.
Tony Lowe explains: “It is well known within the industry that ARRK offers a wide variety of services, however, it has sometimes been difficult for our customers to appreciate the full service offering and how we have worked together over the years. By joining forces as one entity, our customers now have the ideal solution for their product development and low volume manufacturing needs.
"Customers can choose to continue to use our services on an individual basis or they can benefit from our integrated full line design to market solution. These services include design, engineering, prototyping, tooling and low volume manufacturing – all from one company.
"The unification of our businesses will result in a stronger and more adaptable organisation benefiting customers across the UK and mainland Europe. We have set ourselves the challenge of completing this integration by the end of the year, during which time we will maintain the high level of quality and service our customers have come to expect.”