Ramsgate business that started out in garden shed celebrates its 60th anniversary

March 20, 2022 Kathy Bailes Business 2

minnitrontrio — Paul, Ken and George Goodfellow in 1991

A Ramsgate circuit board business that started life in a Minnis Bay garden shed celebrates its 60th anniversary today (March 20).

Minnitron Ltd, one of the longest standing PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) manufacturers in the UK, was created by George Goodfellow.

George was a natural entrepreneur and inventor whose hobby was racing small remote radio controlled boats and planes. They would often get damaged and were costly to repair, so he created a machine that could print miniature PCBs. News travelled fast amongst his peers and he was in demand to fix their problems too.

With his natural skills as an engineer, he soon gained a reputation for being the ‘go to’ person and “Minnitron” was born in 1962.

Grandson Paul Goodfellow, who now runs the business, said: “Grandad had his electrical shop in Birchington that sold TVs and radios and he had a good knowledge of electrics.

“My dad Ken worked for a company that made circuit boards so he gave that knowledge to my Grandad and Grandad started building the boards.”

The family business grew rapidly and son Ken, a chemical engineer working for Amphenol, had the right skills to join Minnitron.

Ken developed the business to become a reputable manufacturer and compete with the industry big boys. UK manufacturing was experiencing rapid growth in the 1980s and Minnitron took full advantage of this and expanded the business by investing in state of the art technology. The business was then joined by grandson Paul.

Paul grew up working in the family business and was keen to create internal systems that would enable Minnitron to compete with overseas suppliers which were decimating the UK’s manufacturing industry. especially within electronics. Minnitron wanted to get an edge on delivering quickly and to this day has an excellent reputation for delivering on time.

The company employs 15 staff and many of them are long-serving.

Paul said: “The unique thing about us is we have massively good staff retention. Our staff have been with us for a long time such as Peter Green who has worked here for 47 years.”

That is one secret to the company’s longevity, the other is moving with the times.

Paul said: “We have adaptability, being able to change and move with the times, The world has changed a serious amount over 60 years.

“We’ve built a strong business, supporting local businesses and local people with employment.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to still be here and to be celebrating 60 years in any business is something to shout about, especially manufacturing.”