A TRIO of designers who were made redundant from a Redditch firm have decided to go it alone and form their own company.

Jonathan Prior, of Redditch, Paul Shaw, of Bromsgrove and Ian Mellings, of Alcester, have set up Arrow Design Engineering Ltd in Kings Coughton.

The new firm provides a design and development service offering computer aided design and drawing, prototyping, technical documentation and product improvement services.

Director Mr Prior said: "Up until the end of 2004, all three of us were working for a Redditch-based German subsidiary company and formed the design and development department, successfully developing several new products for the UK market.

"In October 2004, the German parent company decided that all design and development engineering work would be repatriated to Germany.

"Therefore, the Redditch design department was no longer required.

"So we decided to establish our own company offering a full design and development service for small and medium-sized original equipment manufacturers and suppliers and machine shops, who have found that they cannot afford the overhead of a permanent design department."

The firm is currently working on a machine for a local inventor and is confident there are lots of innovative companies and individuals in the region who need help turning concepts into reality, said Mr Prior.

For more details call 01789 400873, e-mail:

sales@arrowdesigneng.co.uk or go to www.arrowdesigneng.co.uk