THE arrival of a global business to Okehampton is hopefully a ‘sign of things to come’ as it plans to take over a unit on Exeter Road Industrial Estate.

Bike flight box firm Buxum UK Ltd has announced that it is relocating its manufacturing and distribution operation from Hong Kong to Okehampton. The company, founded by Devon-born Ed Morris, has signed a lease for a manufacturing unit on Okehampton’s Exeter Road Industrial Estate, initially using the facility for European distribution of their aluminium bike flight boxes, followed by shifting assembly operations to their new Devon base.

The town’s chamber of trade is hopeful that Buxum UK Ltd is the first of many businesses to move into the estate and bring jobs to the town.

Mark Turner, a committee member of Okehampton and District Chamber of Trade, said: ‘We welcome Mr Morris and Buxum UK to Okehampton, and really hope this is a sign of things to come for industry and local job provision in the near and long term future.

‘Both the existing Exeter Road Industrial Estate and the new Okehampton East Business Park have such easy access to the A30 and M5, plus the proposed parkway station in this area could help to return what we’ve lost in the past few years.’

During the search for suitable manufacturing premises, Mr Morris received advice and guidance from the Invest Devon team, hosted by Devon County Council. The team guided him on commercial space in the county before he settled on what is now Buxum’s headquarters in Okehampton.

Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, Devon County Council cabinet member for economy and growth, said: ‘We would like to extend a very warm Devon welcome to Buxum and its founder Ed Morris. We’re delighted that the company has chosen our county as its new home as it continues its expansion plans.

‘As a manufacturing business trading internationally, its relocation from Hong Kong to Okehampton is further proof that in a global marketplace Devon is a premium business location. It’s good news for our local economy to hear that Buxum is planning to recruit locally in line with the company’s plans for growth.’

Mr Morris, an engineer by training and a cyclist with over three decades of experience has spent the last 17 years working in Asia, based in Hong Kong in executive supply chain, sales and business development roles.

Like all great ideas, the Buxum box design was inspired by personal experience. Ed’s eureka moment came when he needed a bike box for a trip to the Pyrenees with a group of Hong Kong cyclists but found that nothing on the market provided the protection and functionality they needed to fly their high-end road bikes to Europe.

Following his Europe trip, Ed took a sabbatical from corporate life and formed Buxum in 2013. He set about inventing a product which would be sufficiently strong, light and functional to meet the exacting standards of cyclists who have spent thousands on their bicycles and needed to be confident that, when flying, their bikes would arrive safely and securely at their destination.

Buxum, the Latin word for boxwood, has seen sales grow steadily from cyclists, travelling the world for triathlons, bike races or leisure (professional, semi and serious enthusiasts).

Ed said: ‘My sabbatical got me thinking about what I wanted to do next. I wanted a change of direction that used skills developed in the corporate world but focused a little more on what I enjoy outside of work.’

Ed, who served 20 years for American conglomerate Kohler, has taken his career and three key ingredients: his long-term involvement with the sport of cycling; a passion for travel and a love of great design, and combined them to take Buxum from concept to reality.

He added: ‘The first two years have seen the development of our three-model product line-up manufactured in Buxum’s workshop in Hong Kong but this is now set to change as I relocate back to my home county of Devon and bring the business with me.

‘I’m delighted it is all coming together. We signed a lease on a manufacturing unit in Okehampton at the end of February and are now starting the process of gradually transitioning production of boxes from Hong Kong to Devon over the course of 2016.’

Buxum has a customer base evenly split between Europe, Asia and North America. Transport represents a high proportion of the finished product cost so, logistically, having boxes dispatch-ready in the UK makes business sense in terms of being able to offer competitive shipping rates to European customers.

Another driver in Buxum’s move is the macro-economic environment which has seen the cost of Asian manufacturing steadily increasing, to the point where assembly and a proportion of component-sourcing becomes viable in the UK.