Emtelle: A Scottish Success Story Driving Global Fibre-Optic Innovation
One of the Borders’ biggest success stories, Emtelle, is celebrating expansion in the Middle East, but its ‘brains’ remain firmly in the Scottish Borders.
That was the message from CEO Tony Rodgers in an interview with Kenny Kemp for The Sunday Times’ The Business magazine (read the full interview).
Journey to Global Leadership
Rodgers, who comes from Saltcoats and still lives on the Ayrshire coast, trained as an accountant and worked in firms as varied as travel and armoured vehicles, before joining Hawick-based Emtelle in 2014 as chief financial officer.
The business built its reputation on making plastic coat-hangers to service the local textile trade and went on to become an international supplier. When Rodgers joined it also had an outlet in Denmark. But, conscious of the relatively limited demand for coat-hangers, the company used its plastics knowledge and machinery, with adaptations, to move into the growing world of fibre-optic cabling. Now, Emtelle also has bases in Germany, Abu Dhabi and the USA, with the new £40m manufacturing hub in the Middle East opening up a quicker and more effective supply of raw materials.
Staggering Growth
Group turnover has gone from £3m when Rodgers became CEO in 2018 to more than £400m in 2022. The investment in new facilities has taken that down to £300m but the CEO expects it to return to £400m-plus this year.
”“If we hadn’t adapted, we’d be irrelevant today instead of being a market leader.”
Tony RodgersCEO Estelle
The Borders: Emtelle’s Innovation Hub
But Hawick remains the ‘brain centre’ according to Rodgers, headed by ‘Solutions Director’ Colin Kirkpatrick, developing more than 40 patents and 36 trademarks in the pre-connectorisation of fibre. And local manufacturing and training is key to Emtelle’s success.
Revitalising Scottish Manufacturing
“When I was made CEO (2018) I could see what we could be,” he told The Business. “If we hadn’t done anything, in today’s market we would be utterly irrelevant, instead of being a market leader.”
“I know we are talking a lot in Scotland about advanced manufacturing, and that is a good thing. But before we get to the advanced stage, we need to undertake basic manufacturing in this country. We need people to appreciate and understand its vital nature. I don’t think enough is being done to promote and develop Scottish manufacturing.”
“Trying to get people working in manufacturing, in Scotland and globally, is a huge struggle. I hear people saying that no-one wants to work on the shop floor, whether that is in Denmark, Germany, the United States or the Borders.”
“But what we are trying to do is give our teams excellent training. We’ve got a great relationship with Heriot-Watt University in the Borders, and now out in the UAE, where we are putting people through graduate apprenticeship schemes, and gaining degree qualifications.”
He also cited Borders College and its specialist plastics course as key to Emtelle’s ability to develop its Borders base and a workforce able to lead development around the globe.
The fibre-optic world can seem light years away from where Emtelle started, but in fact we now have Emtelle fibre optics running under our streets as the transition from copper grows apace in telecommunications and data transference.
The key trademark element formulated in Emtelle’s Hawick and Jedburgh bases lies in the splicing and connection of each cable strand, which has increased the reliability of each link.
With unique product intelligence, Emtelle are revitalising the Borders’ reputation for skilled manufacturing, and showing that Borders tech insights can service and connect the world.
