An electronics firm said business was now "back on track" a year after merging its two factory sites into a purpose-built headquarters.

Bosses at Tenkay Electronics said they could look forward with renewed optimism after marking 365 days in their new 16,000sqft premises.

The company, founded in 1982, had been split over two sites, one in Sheriden Terrace, Hove, and the other on in Aspen Court, Lancing.

But in August last year, the two operations were brought under one roof at the Lancing Business Parking in Marlborough Road, Lancing.

Tenkay is a contract manufacturer which provides an end-to-end service for clients - including kitting and assembly, testing, packing, storing and delivering.

And, with the UK manufacturing industry in decline, the firm has had to fine-tune its services to meet the ever-changing demands of its customers.

This has meant dealing in dollars for some customers and sourcing more products from overseas to help them remain competitive.

At the moment, orders from the Far East account for 10-15 per cent of turnover.

Chairman Dennis Baker reckons in the next five years that will have trebled.

"Before, companies would manufacture everything themselves but for some components they are now looking off shore where labour costs are cheaper.

"A lot of our customers would not be able to deal with all the supply-chain issues which ordering products from China would entail.

"That's where we come in. We oversee the entire process for them. We get the products shipped or flown over, store them, pack them and deliver them to schedule.

"Manufacturing businesses have had to become a lot leaner and efficient to survive and by helping them do that we are helping UK manufacturing.

"We are retaining all of our manufacturing capability here so that if something breaks down in the supply chain we have the back-up to deliver an order."

Tenkay was formed from two businesses, one operating from Steve Dixon's Hove home and the other, Prototype Electronic Services (PES), started by Dennis Baker and Denis Fiore in Henfield.

In 1982, it became an electronics component distributor and within a couple of years Tenkay Electronics had moved into a 2,000 sq ft factory in Brighton, which it shared with PES.

PES also started trading in 1982, specialising in prototype electronic assembly. Mr Baker and Mr Fiore were experienced in the field of electronic assembly and were soon in demand for specialist services.

In 1991, the two companies were joined by Grahame Carter, of Portway Connectors, and moved into their headquarters in Hove.

The companies combined to trade as Tenkay Electronics in 1996.

The company acquired Ashwyn Electronics, of Burgess Hill, in 2000 and the assets of Lancing-based Aylsar Electronics.

Tuesday, September 6 2005