Bugatti contract success for Seaham firm SMS Ltd

A company which provides quality and recruitment services to automotive, aerospace and rail manufacturers has secured a contract with sports car brand Bugatti.

Smart Manufacturing Solutions, SMS Ltd, will provide skilled engineers to Bugatti in Croatia and Italy.

The company – known for the Veryon, Chiron and Centodieci models, is launching an electric supercar and has contracted the services of SMS to fill a gap in the skills market which it requires to produce the vehicle.

The first cohort of electrical engineers have already been sent to Croatia, with a second cohort following as operations scale up in both Croatia and Italy.

Adam Smith, co-founder and director of the Seaham-based company, heads up the recruitment arm of the business. He said: “This contract has come about through an existing relationship we have with an operations manager at Bugatti.

“Our senior management team supported him whilst he was in a previous role, and he sought out our team after the excellent service he received prior to joining Bugatti.”

He added: “We anticipate this will lead to other projects within Bugatti as there’s a real shortage of technical expertise within the electrical engineering field overseas, however that’s one of our specialities and we know we can meet demand from Bugatti.”

SMS, which is based at Seaham Grange Industrial Estate and works with clients across the country, started with just three people when it launched in November 2020, when the country was in the thick of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Today, it employs a team of 13 office staff and ten offsite management employees, while also having more than 100 quality inspectors working on a sub-contract basis within OEMs and Tier One manufacturing firms across the North East region.

Growth has been rapid for the business, which was founded by Adam Smith alongside Craig Wood and Pete Williams, with plans to increase turnover to more than £3m by expanding its client portfolio, staff and inspector headcount.

Currently the business counts the likes of Gestamp, Marelli, Magna, Cummins Engines, Dyer Engineering and Katmex among its clients.

Craig Wood said: “We fully understand our industry because we worked in it, we lived and breathed it for many many years, and this has really accelerated the growth of our business.

“From launching just two years ago, we’re now on track to achieve £3m-plus turnover and have secured contracts with some real big hitters, particularly within the automotive industry.”