When a young, enthusiastic and ambitious Mike Lafratta started up his Contract Electronic Manufacturing (CEM) business in Kempston Bedfordshire in 1984, he could not have dreamt that the business would be so successful and still be innovating and growing within a thriving but competitive market. Although, we are very proud that it still retains its family values.
Bela is now regarded as the one of the market leaders in the small to medium volume high complexity manufacturing niche. Bela have worked hard to establish an excellent reputation in the design and manufacture of printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) and the management team has ensured that the business remains close to its core values based primarily on service and integrity.
And while Bela has now become part of a much larger group of businesses, it retains its family values. With former Operations Director Michael Knight now at the helm, today the company continues to grow and employ from the local community, that cover all of the disciplines from sales and purchasing through to engineering, production and test providing both a professional and dedicated service to all of Bela’s customers each of which have their individual requirements fundamental to their own businesses.
Profitable throughout its history, the company has been growing at a steadily accelerating rate over the last ten years, and continues to do so despite the current challenging business climate. Maintaining a diverse customer base across a wide range of business sectors, has enabled us to successfully ride out the ups and downs of fluctuating demand within individual sectors, and played a major role in our ongoing success.
Spearheaded by new Managing Director Michael Knight, who has been with Bela since 2006, the company switched its focus to the high technology, service critical end of the contract manufacturing business. An ambitious and successful program of strategic investment, including the addition of in house X-Ray and the top of the range Nordson Yestech FX-940 Ultra 3D AOI, has allowed us to attain and maintain our position at the cutting edge of technology, and cement a place among the elite of the contract manufacturing sector.
In March 2021, Bela became part of the Vanilla family, joining forces with supply chain business Vanilla Electronics Ltd. The partnership is enabling Bela to further enhance its engineering and manufacturing expertise, while broadening it’s offering to its premium customer base and a wider global market. More information can be found here. The group looks forward to the next stage of growth with excitement and optimism…
We are aware at Bela that excellence in manufacturing is not enough in the modern marketplace. What makes the difference is the level of service we provide and the integrity with which we conduct ourselves in our partnerships with your the customer. We therefore concentrate at all times to ensure that we offer continuity, integrity, quality, flexibility, service, value for money and peace of mind. At the heart of our business is your business. We endeavour to always be the support your business deserves.
One of Bela’s greatest strengths is having the capability to work with the customer right from the conception of a project through to prototyping, pre-production and full production. The company has been structured and resourced to ensure that low volume prototyping and development work does not interfere with repeatable production which in recent years has led to the innovated fast delivery service known as Bela React+; a genuine 5 day delivery solution which can include the full material procurement.
If you would be interested in learning more about the services offered by Bela then please contact our offices on 01234 840242 or e-mail us on .