The facility will support the UK MOD Surveillance and Target Acquisition Support (STAS) contract. Qioptiq will provide support for surveillance and targeting equipment to the UK Armed Forces over the next six years. Work under the new STAS contract will merge 20 individual support contracts into one, saving the MOD £47 million over the next six years.

The company has entered into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Cardiff Business School and KTP associate Thanos Goltos.

Goltos worked for Qioptiq under the supervision of business school academics. His expertise in inventory forecasting showed how the business could reduce its inventory by 25 per cent.

Peter White, managing director of Qioptiq, said: “The KTP has produced outstanding results. Historically, we operated a complex supply chain, but Thanos’s expertise has developed a toolset we could use to support our integrated logistics supply operations.

“For this opportunity we acknowledged we needed to take a more collaborative approach to external funders and expertise. The partnership has helped secure a major contract from the MoD to support equipment vital to the safety of our soldiers in frontline operations.”

Qioptiq designs and manufactures photonics products for a range of markets including medicine, life science, defence, manufacturing and aerospace. It is part of the US corporation Excelitas Technologies, which employs more than 500 people in North Wales.