The challenges of overseas expansion

Owen Mumford runs two manufacturing facilities in the UK, at Woodstock and Chipping Norton, employing more than 700 people. These sites are working at almost full capacity and the company is already considering the development of a new manufacturing facility at Witney, where it owns around 12 acres of land.

It also has factories in Malaysia, sales offices in Germany and France and employs more than 60 people in sales and distribution in North America where it is planning to open up its established distribution channels to other UK health tech companies seeking to move into the region.

Owen Mumford opened its first overseas factory in 2015, and Jarl says it was fraught with problems. “One of the big challenges of setting up abroad is you don’t know what you don’t know, and nor does anyone else. You can’t totally rely on consultants, however expert they appear to be. You must visit the countries, be prepared for unknown factors and have enough buffer in the project plan.”

But persistence paid off for Owen Mumford. “With nearly 100 people engaged in Malaysia we are now hitting our stride and producing high quality products with confidence.

“And after a long and painfully slow start, China has been a great success for us. In the last 12 months we have doubled our business. Not least because of the Union Jack, but also our Queen’s Award for Enterprise on our product packaging.”