Our History

The Company was formed in 1987 as a company specialising in Thick Film Hybrid fabrication and the packaging of microelectronic devices. CIL was originally based in Whitchurch, Hampshire, some 15 miles from the current facilities today in Andover, which it acquired in late 2005. CIL has matured and grown to be one of the leading UK Electronics Manufacturing Companies and has enjoyed steady growth. Its continued policy of investing in plant, equipment and its staff has solidified CIL's reputation for supplying high quality products at competitive commercial costs.

CIL House totalling 24,000sqft, is home to a dedicated RAPID prototype SMT facility as well as three SMT lines for small to medium volume PCBA assemblies. It also houses all associated equipment / processes such as 3D AOI, flying probe test, X-Ray, CT Scan, thru hole soldering and inspection / test.

Customers started to express interests in CIL providing high level product testing and complete Product Build or Box build. We of course listened, and in 2010 we opened our Box Build Facility here in Andover, making CIL's Facility one of the most complete, in terms of its offerings as a one stop solution, the most versatile in the end to end technology we can provide and the most flexible, by way of our ability to flex and react to our customer demands in the market today. 

During the COVID pandemic, CIL remained fully operational as it was both involved in multiple Ventilator Challenge programs and more importantly it manufactures a microelectronic device for DNA sequencing. This DNA sequencing device was then used globally to verify mutations of COVID and resulted in CIL given UK Government key worker status. The then subsequent involvement of the ventialtor challenge of which one resulted in product being picked up by Her Majesty the Queen's Helicopter when most of the UK was in full lock down.

In late Dec 2021, CIL took the decision to create the UK's largest Semiconductor packaging / Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in Andover UK. After almost 18 months of planning and fitting out, resulted in June 2023 of the 64,000sq ft facility of BP2 came on line. Contained within this facility is a single 15,000sq ft ISO 7 (Class 10,000) cleanroom and all of CIL's micro-electronics and power device assembly and a further four complex volume SMT lines and all other associated equipment such as 3D AOI, FPT, X-Ray etc. This new facility was in addition to its existing CIL House facility which has been upgraded to concentrate on complex PCBA assembly.  CIL House now houses a dedicated prototype SMT line and three addition small - medium volume SMT lines and all other associated equipment such as 3D AOI, FPT, X-Ray etc, which when combined with a dedicated prototype line gives CIL a total of eight SMT lines. CIL now has a total of 90,000sq ft of manufacturing and office space across two Andover sites and we currently employ over 220 highly qualified and skilful staff. Both sites are quality accredited to ISO9001:2015, AS9100D (Aerospace) and ISO13485:2016 (Medical).

All of this has resulted in CIL growing from a turnover of £15M in 2021, to £45M in 2026 a threefold increase in turnover in 5 years. This is forecasted to grow to £75M in 2027 and CIL will further grow this as it adds more advanced semiconductor and PCBA assembly processes to enable its customers to bring advanced products to market.

Over its 40-year history, CIL has won multiple manufacturing and technological development awards. All of this culminated in 2022 & 2024 when CIL won the National ELEKTRA award for “Manufacturer of the Year” in both years.

At CIL we plan to succeed and never fail!  Our values dictate that we have an unrivalled passion for providing the best Electronics Manufacturing Support on offer, with an honest and open attitude to business, the whole CIL team is available to assist you in making your business count.