The UK arm of Plexus, an electronics design and manufacturing services company with a design centre in Livingston and a factory in Kelso in Scotland.
Plexus helps other companies turn an idea for an electronic product into something they can sell. In the UK this means design, prototyping, manufacturing and after-sales support for electronic and mechanical products, particularly medical, aerospace and defence, and industrial equipment. A 2022 article describes it as the UK's largest electronics manufacturing services company, which is the company's own claim. A 2013 statement from its European leader said the UK focus is on low-to-mid volume, higher complexity products, meaning smaller runs of difficult items rather than millions of identical ones.
Plexus is a global company with sites in Europe, Asia and North America. We could not find a formal mission statement in the pages we read, so we have not invented one. What the sources do show is an emphasis on being part of the local community. At the 2022 anniversary of its Livingston Design Centre, Senior Site Director Andy Kelsey said the team had "loved becoming a part of the Livingston community" and hoped to remain "a pillar of the community for years to come".
Plexus has operated in Scotland since 2000. Its Design Centre in Livingston, West Lothian, opened in 2002 and moved to a larger building in 2013, and in 2019 it added a bigger electronic and mechanical lab and a rapid prototyping area. Its manufacturing site is at Kelso in the Scottish Borders. In 2013 the company announced plans for a design centre and a new manufacturing site at Pyramids Business Park, Bathgate; we have not confirmed what is there now. A 2013 report also names the Bathgate move as part of an expansion expected to create 130 jobs.
The Livingston team grew from six people to more than 50 by 2022. It covers mechanical, software, and electrical design (digital and analogue), quality and compliance, circuit board design, project management and supply chain. In early 2020 the team designed the Zephyr Plus ventilator for the UK Government's Ventilator Challenge, ready for manufacture in under three months. Each year staff choose a local charity, such as the Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow in 2022, and can use paid volunteering time off. These culture details are from a 2022 article and may have changed.
People who work in a business like this include electronics, mechanical and software engineers, test engineers, production technicians, quality specialists, buyers and supply chain planners. School subjects such as physics, maths, design and technology and computing all lead here. The Kelso and Livingston sites work together, so a product can be designed and built within the same company.
Website: www.plexus.com
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