Hethel firm grows as it targets electric motors market

MSF Technologies.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2017)

MSF Technologies, which has offices at the Hethel Engineering Centre, has expanded its team from around 14 people at the start of the year to just shy of 70 employees by the end, with no signs of stopping.

Chief executive and founder David Morgan said the business would continue growing and he was expecting to take on even more employees.

He said: 'MSF came to Hethel in mid-2015 with two employees and since then has grown to be 20% to 30% of the facility.

'We are just short of 70 people now and with the winning of new contracts at the end of 2017 the company is projecting that it will need to grow by another 50%.'

Mr Morgan was unable to reveal the businesses MSF is working with but said they were large international concerns - which already make up 80% of the company's work.

The clean-tech firm works on efficient power generation and storage and is primarily involved with the automotive industry, though its technology can be deployed in a variety of sectors.

MSF produces motors which do not require rare-earth metals, commonly used in the magnets in many electric motors, which helps to bring down the cost and the company says can show efficiency of 95% to 97%.

Among the markets the company works in are aerospace, agricultural, renewable energy and both on and off-highway vehicles.

As well as taking up more space at the engineering centre MSF has had to quickly adapt to its growth by bringing in backroom teams.

Mr Morgan said: 'I didn't expect us to grow this quickly but it is the pace at which the world is moving.

'The electrification of the world is happening far faster than people thought it would.

'But we have a technology which exploits that so we are in a very good position.'

MSF has received funding from Anglia Capital Group, a group of investors which primarily invest in Norfolk and Suffolk businesses, to help it grow.