North West Premier Construction

Marl International

Marl International
Written by Roma Publications

Marl International

Marl International, based in Ulverston, Cumbria, has been adapting leading LED technology for over 40 years.

Offering customers excellent in-house design and manufacturing services the firm has access to some of the best Solid State Lighting and Electronics technology in the world.

Marl employs 120 staff and comprises a Marl Design & Development Team consisting of seven highly qualified multi-disciplinary engineers with a broad range of experience and expertise in optoelectronic, hardware, software and mechanical design.

The firm is able to support any custom design specific enquiry ranging from LED lighting systems, on-board intelligent driver control and electronic circuit design, to hardware and software development. Since their inception the firm has worked across a number of industries ranging from the Lighting, Defence, Auto, Rail, Off-Shore, Commercial, Industrial and Signage markets.

The firm offer specific LED based design as well as general electronics design, consultancy, rapid prototyping, PCB assembly and end-product manufacturing and assembly. At their site in Ulverston the Marl team has molding facilities, CNC machining centre, workshops, dark room, electronic labs, state-of-the art SMT lines and opto-electrical test equipment. These state of the art facilities enable them to remain highly regarded in the LED lighting industry.

Marl’s range of design, prototyping and manufacturing services include LED Specific design, custom electronic and software design, rapid-prototype sample requests and development, 3x Automated high-speed SMT assembly lines, Opto-electrical Test Equipment and Dark Room Facility, Environmentally controlled electronic storage, CNC Machining Centre, milling, turning and lathes, Final build and Assembly, Automated Test and Inspection and Quality Control System to ISO 9001.

Marl International has grown substantially over the years after originally being run from founder Brian Ainleys home under the banner of Marl Park. The firms current Managing Director Adrian Rawlinson joined the company in 1977 just after the move to an old school premises in the middle of the town.

Originally the company distributed medical equipment and manufactured safety systems for the chemical industry.

During the 1970’s the firm began to design and manufacture LED systems and by the 1980’s this became the core part of the company. Due to outgrowing its factory premises the firm moved into Stone Cross; an impressive Gothic Mansion.

The 1990’s saw LED technology gain massive investment thanks to huge research programmes in Europe, the USA, Japan and the rest of the Far East. One of the most significant market breakthroughs for Marl was securing Eastman Kodak as a customer which eventually led to Marl supplying their dark room lighting requirements for the manufacturing plants on a global basis.  One of the most generic product developments was the introduction of cluster LED lamps, suitable for either low voltage or mains applications. Not only were these used extensively within Eastman Kodak, but also began to have spin offs into other industrial applications.

By 1999, the company had increased its employees to over 100 and opened an office in Nevada, USA. 2001 saw Marl embark upon another re-location within Ulverston and moved to an existing site to create Marl Business Park.

In 2006, during a rapid growth in the LED lighting market, CreativeArc was launched to specialise in architectural LED lighting solutions. Optosign’s products were also incorporated into the CreativeArc brand. In 2007, Marl Opto Inc was formed as part of our expansion in the USA.

Today Marl continues to excel in the LED lighting industry employing a team of skilled, expert staff and undertaking projects across the world.

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Roma Publications