Established in 2007 by Dr Phil Carroll, LPW Technology Ltd is this month celebrating 10 years of developing, processing and supplying high quality metal powders and creating innovative software solutions for the Additive Manufacturing (AM) industry.
“In the last decade LPW has seen rapid growth,” says Phil. “We value our ability to think ahead. The company has developed a comprehensive range of products and services, including the development of new alloys, and of PowderLife, an innovative suite of hardware and software systems that control risk in critical manufacturing processes for industries including aerospace, automotive, biomedical and energy.
Growing from a one-man operation in 2007, LPW currently has 74 highly skilled employees world-wide, has created 54 new positions over the last two years, and has a thriving apprenticeship program. Later this year it will move to a £20 million purpose-built ‘factory of the future’ in Widnes, and expects to recruit to up to 120 new team members by mid-2019.
“We’ve undertaken a program of continuous R&D so that we can better support our clients, and as our knowledge continues to increase, so we’re benefitting from the growing market for an innovative, customer-focused powder supplier that is always anticipating the future needs of the industry,” Phil continues.
LPW has won multiple awards, entered the the Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100 2017, debuting at No 29, and the Northern Tech 100 2017 league table at No 28. In 2016, company was included in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and was awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
“The last ten years have seen additive manufacturing growing from a technology sector producing mainly prototype modelling, to a production industry engineering challenging and intricate components for serial production in major industrial verticals,” adds Phil.
“Manufacturers are better informed about the importance of feedstock in the process and recognise the benefits of a consistent, high-quality metal powder supply. With analysts forecasting the global metal 3D printing market to grow to over $2 billion by the year 2020 at double digit CAGR, we’re looking forward to the next ten years!”