Global demand prompts PowerPhotonic move to Dalgety Bay site

A Fife-based designer and manufacturer of micro-optics for the laser industry has unveiled plans to invest in a new facility that will create at least 16 jobs and treble its manufacturing capacity.

PowerPhotonics products are used in optical telecommunications. Picture: Getty Images

PowerPhotonic is to move to a site measuring nearly 16,000 square feet at St David’s Business Park, Dalgety Bay, and managing director Roy McBride said the “really major” step is needed due to rapidly increasing global demand for the company’s products.

The move is expected to be completed by the end of next year and will include a new “class 1000” clean room facility, boosting production capacity, plus new equipment.

The company’s precision micro-optics are used in industrial materials processing, as well as the medical, telecoms, scientific and defence sectors.

A spin-out from Heriot-Watt University, PowerPhotonic launched in 2004 and has 25 staff.

McBride said its strongest growth is in the US and Europe, but with fast expansion into Asia, in Japan, China and South Korea. He also said cash for its growth is coming both from its own revenues, and the £1 million of funding obtained via a Clydesdale Bank finance package combined with a Regional Selective Assistance grant.

McBride added: “Until two years ago we were purely equity funded, but now to be able to raise bank funding to get a loan says a lot about our profitability and stability as a company.”

PowerPhotonic has been supported by accountants Chiene + Tait, whose head of entrepreneurial tax Neil Norman said the firm’s expansion marks an “exciting stage” in its development as a global business.