Plan for medical hub to '˜create new industry for Fife'

A Fife business specialising in sub-contract electronic manufacturing has unveiled plans to open a new facility, including a pioneering medical hub, amid mushrooming demand for its services and in a bid to 'create a new industry' for the region.
Bay Solutions Scotland's services include new product introduction and medical devices.Bay Solutions Scotland's services include new product introduction and medical devices.
Bay Solutions Scotland's services include new product introduction and medical devices.

Bay Solutions Scotland started out with premises of 1,000 square feet in Dalgety Bay, later adding an 8,000 sq ft manufacturing site in Glenrothes, and operations director John Cramb revealed the plan is to replace these with a purpose-built 20,000 sq ft site.

He said the aim is to have the centre operational within the next two years, with funding expected to come from private investors and Scottish Enterprise.

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Cramb founded the business in 2013 with quality and engineering director Gavin Howe, bringing a collective 50 years of design and management experience in electronics manufacturing.

Services on offer include new product introduction and medical devices, and Cramb notes that the firm has obtained the global ISO 9001 certification for its quality-management system, and recently became one of only two electronic manufacturing firms in Scotland to achieve an internationally agreed standard specific to the medical devices industry.

“For a small company to have that is massive, especially in Fife,” he says of the latter.

Regarding the new facility, plans are to split this between its normal manufacturing activity and a medical hub enabling businesses that look to operate in this sector to “collaborate to create a new industry for Fife”, and where “all different types” of medical equipment could be produced.

The company has secured deals with the likes of Edinburgh healthcare technology firm snap40, to manufacture its wireless monitor worn by hospital patients and transmitting regular vital signs updates to doctors.

Bay Solutions Scotland itself has seen turnover grow from £92,000 in its first year, to reach £482,000 with pretax profit of about £91,000 last year. In its current financial year it is set to ring up sales of £1.7 million, with doubled profits of around £200,000, while staff numbers are expected to double in the next year to 16.

Cramb said the firm is a year ahead of his expectations, adding: “I have grown my career here in Fife and am committed to providing our young people with the same opportunities. Fife is a good place to do business, both logistically and in terms of the quality of people available.

“Electronics and instrumenting engineering is one of five sectors that make up two-thirds Scotland’s exports, and we have scope to build on this. I believe the Kingdom has an opportunity to capture the market for medical [new product development] and manufacturing with support from Fife Council and Fife Business Gateway.”