Quadrupling its space has opened the door for future expansion at a Bradford precision engineering company – and the prospect of more skilled jobs.

Connect Precision, which specialises in high-specification casings for electronics communications clients, has invested £750,000 expanding into a 16,000 sq ft factory in Rutland Street, Bradford, along with state-of-the-art CNC equipment.

The company has grown from a two-man operation to employ 20 people and it has a £1 million-plus turnover. It has returned to the Bowling Back Lane area where it started after operating from Greengates and then Shipley Connect Precision is a leading manufacturer of housings and enclosures for the aerospace, defence, medical, scientific, commercial and industrial markets producing 2,000 units a year, mainly in small batches, which are fitted with electronics by its customers, including Shipley-based Teledyne Defence, one of its major clients.

Founder and managing director Craig Hepworth said the expansion would enable the business to pro-actively promote itself and had overcome a ‘catch 22’ situaion where it was unable to chase new work due to its former cramped operating space.

He said: “Having enough space to operate more efficiently with room for expansion is a great benefit and will help us grow further. Due to our specialised operations and the fact that our key customers are multi-billion pound operations, we have remained busy throughout the recession.

“You’ve got to be on your toes to ensure customers are happy and be prepared to go the extra mile to ensure quality and customer service are top class. The new factory and offices puts us in a good position to develop the business further and hopefully employ more people in future.”

Connect Precision received a grant to help with its move from Bradford Council’s regeneration service. Business advisor Satnam Khela said it was the sort of advanced business the Council wanted to encourage.

Martin Hardcastle, Connect Precision finance director, praised Barclays Bank for providing funding. He said: “We hear about banks not being prepared to lend but our experience is that if you have a proper business plan they are willing to support you.

“This is a great moment for our business, like going from Division Two to the Premier League.”

The company was launched by Mr Hepworth and Russell Lawton, both former engineers with Filtronic in Shipley. They operated in a small way before being invited to take over Filtronic’s precision engineering operations in 2006, paying them back through discounted work and fulfilling the debt in half the expected time.

The new premises were opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford Coun Dale Smith.