Technology

Posted on April 10, 2019 by staff

European ‘industry 4.0’ firm opens Manchester office

Technology

A European manufacturing tech and automation platform has announced Manchester as its first international office.

Estonian-based Fractory has selected the city for its central positioning in the Northern Powerhouse it said, as it is looks to expand its manufacturing reach and profile.

With a UK country manager in post and northern manufacturers already accepting projects, Fractory is on target to reach over £2m turnover in just its second year of operations.

The company’s platform is primarily used by metal sheet manufacturers, enabling them to upload jobs before the software algorithm chooses partner suppliers to suit the customer’s needs according to their availability, location, capabilities and materials.

The Manchester announcement comes as chief executive Martin Vares prepares to speak at the Industry 4.0 Summit at Manchester Central and has recently joined Manchester Metropolitan University’s Industry 4.0 Advisory Board.

Vares said the potential for the British market and manufacturing sector had always been enticing to the business.

“British manufacturing and custom accounts for a significant amount of the transactions on our platform, and the build and quality customers have come to expect has been driven by this,” he said.

“Given our ambitious plans for 2019 and beyond, it makes perfect sense to position ourselves in Manchester, a hub of manufacturing and entrepreneurship, in order to strengthen our offering to customers and suppliers”.

Natalie Bain, Deputy Director of the Northern Powerhouse team at the Department for International Trade added: “Fractory is putting its Manchester team together, and we are confident that their numbers will grow quickly over the next three years.”

Fractory is a graduate of Startup Wise Guys and Nordic Angel Program syndicate and has won Best Startup award at EuroBLECH 2018.