A component distributor based near Cambridge has helped a UK manufacturer grab a £3 million-plus contract from under the noses of Chinese competitors.

Anglia signed an exclusive component supply agreement with United worth over £1 million to the distributor. In turn, the agreement helped United win a contract worth more than £3m for the manufacture of a high volume electronics product against Chinese competition, bringing it back to the UK.

Tony McFadden, MD and co-owner of United EMS, said: “This really is a great story for the UK electronics industry and something we should all be proud of as stakeholders in that industry.

“Working in partnership with a UK distributor, and by using an innovative approach to the business, we have managed to beat Asian competition and bring a major manufacturing contract back to the UK to continue the phenomenal sales growth we are experiencing at United EMS.

“With a well-managed UK inventory, Anglia has the right infrastructure in place to support the UK electronics industry. More importantly, though, they were prepared to think out of the box on their relationship with us, to create a supply chain solution that allowed us both to win.”

John Bowman, marketing director, semiconductors at Anglia Components, added: “United EMS is to be congratulated on its significant achievement in bringing a volume electronics contract back from Asia, completely against the prevailing wisdom. All of us at Anglia are delighted to have been able to contribute to making this success possible.”

United EMS Ltd recently announced a strategic partnership with Cinterion, the global leader in cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) communication modules, to jointly accelerate integration of Cinterion cellular modules into solutions for United EMS’s global clients.

Anglia stocks over 700 million components from 500,000 product lines in the UK.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: John Bowman, marketing director Anglia Components, with Tony McFadden, MD of UnitedEMS