A HIGH-tech American-owned company has relocated its UK office to a former brickworks in north Hampshire.

Pittsburgh-based Aerotech now has an office on a small business park called The Old Brick Kiln, just off Monk Sherborne Road in Ramsdell.

The company manufactures and distributes precision motion control products in a wide range of fields, including military, aerospace, automotive, semi-conductor, laser and medical industries.

The UK team, headed up by managing director Dr Cliff Jolliffe, were previously based at Calleva Park in Aldermaston.

Dr Jolliffe marked the move with a celebration event as around 40 customers, suppliers and neighbours were invited to a Champagne reception on Tuesday.

Among those attending was Mark Botos, president and chief executive officer of the family-owned business, who spoke of the importance of customer service and support.

“Service is a big deal for us as one of our aims is to be a world-class business,” he said. “If we can make our customers successful, in turn that will come back to us.”

The remarks were not lost on the 13 people employed in Ramsdell, who provide sales and customer support, not only here in the UK, but across western Europe too.

Pleased with the new location, Mr Botos was full of praise for |Dr Jolliffe and his colleagues.

“We’ve been in the UK for 33 years as of March this year, and we are very proud of that,” he said.

Dr Jolliffe said he was delighted with the new facility, which has been fitted out to Aerotech’s specifications.

He added that the new 5,000sq ft site is an improvement for staff, in addition to the added bonus of being in Hampshire where, having left West Berkshire, the business rates are lower.

He said: “We pride ourselves as being one of the highest performance motion control companies in the world. We have a lot of customers who use laser processing and we have some unique features of our equipment that allows us to move very precisely.”