~ Novotek opens new offices and innovation lab in Leeds ~
Industrial IT and automation systems provider Novotek UK and Ireland has furthered its growth into the UK market with the opening of its innovative new site in Leeds, Yorkshire. The new site provides much-needed expansion space that will accommodate a doubling of Novotek’s team, and features an innovation lab where customers’ engineering, IT and operations teams will be able to see the systems of the future in action.
The Leeds office is Novotek’s second site in the UK and Ireland, with the company’s existing UK headquarters being in Glasgow, Scotland. A new team of technical specialists and sales representatives will operate from the new offices, helping Novotek to bring its automation expertise and products to the UK market more effectively.
The company chose Leeds due to the increasing role the city is playing as a tech hub, and for the proximity to both the midlands and norther industrial heartlands. The expansion is being supported by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), through its digital inward investment fund called #welcome.
“As we evaluated different locations for our new operation, we were introduced to some of the funding and some of the networking mechanisms LEP could offer. We’re delighted at the support Novotek has been given both financially, and in helping to become a well-connected member of the Leeds tech community.”, says Tobias Antius, CEO of the Novotek Group.
Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP and NP11 said: “Our #welcome fund is designed to support innovative digital companies like Novotek to locate in our region. This creates the right economic conditions for growth and fuels job creation. I look forward to seeing the company go from strength to strength.”
Novotek believes that its new innovation centre will serve a central role in bringing industrial and utilities companies up to speed on the latest automation, operations management and analytics technologies. The new, bespoke facility allows for the practical demonstration of how new technology can deliver significant gains in productivity and reliability to industrial assets and processes. It is planned that, in such a sandbox environment, such concepts can be explained, demonstrated and tested in a safe and informative space.
“One of the challenges facing the automation industry is the difficulty that comes from describing and demonstrating digital concepts,” explained George Walker, managing director of Novotek UK and Ireland. “Without a physical asset, it can be difficult for many engineers and business leaders, who are inclined towards more immediately tangible concepts, to truly visualise how these systems fit together.
“The innovation lab gives us an effective, physical example that customers can use to better understand the value of things like modern SCADA systems, industrial internet of things (IIoT) platforms and manufacturing execution systems (MESs). We want to help British industry modernise and achieve more with digitalisation, and a strong understanding of the opportunities among businesses is crucial in realising this.”
The new Leeds location is a strategic choice in other ways – building an operational and innovation hub there provides an excellent location for collaboration across Novotek’s partner and customer landscape. Novotek works with GE Digital, Emerson Machine Automation and other key partners, bringing technology and methodologies with global market acceptance to its UK and Irish customers.
Just as importantly, Novotek acts as a bridge to a large ecosystem of engineering, IT and consultancy firms that adapt these tools and ideas to specific firms’ needs and environments. The new site makes it easier to bring collaborators together both to tackle specific problems, and to work on broader innovations that can be reapplied for different stakeholders.
Headquartered in Sweden, Novotek began its operations in the UK and Ireland by acquiring Kerrco Automation in 2017. Today, the company works with a wide range of businesses across the UK’s manufacturing, process engineering, power and water utilities sectors.
