At 70, Peter Jones should be spending more time on this Warwickshire golf course, but instead he is in the clubhouse checking out lights he has patented and put into production.
This might look like any other downlighter but in fact, as an integral unit it has soundproofing and most importantly, fireproofing. As soon as a hole is cut into a ceiling to take a conventional downlighter, there is a fire risk and soundproofing is compromised. The Snaplight gets round both problems. It has taken 5 years and a quarter of a million pounds to develop.
This is here to be done, and at this stage I have a very good team behind me of skilled professionals. I am interested in it (the project) and therefore I'm going to see it works.
It's also been a stand for UK manufacturing, which has seen thousands of jobs go in the face of cheap cost competition from abroad. The CBI says the days of low profit mass production might be over, but manufacturing is far from dead.
CBI]
What's important is to go towards the knowledge economy based manufacturing; the exploitation of patents; the ability to actually make things that will sell on value-added, and on something special that people want.
Turnover at the factory near Bromsgrove should reach a million pounds this year, proving that with innovation, the UK can be home to manufacturing.