Isembard, a London-based manufacturing start-up, has opened a 160,000 sq ft factory and global headquarters in Southwark, which it says is the largest manufacturing facility to open in the capital since the Second World War.
The company has opened 12 factories so far this year, taking its total to 16, and said it had grown revenue tenfold year on year.
"Manufacturing is the origin of our security, prosperity and sense of purpose as nations," said chief executive Alexander Fitzgerald.
Isembard makes components for aerospace, defence and robotics customers including Anduril, Babcock and Tekever.
It credits its speed to a franchise model that lets local operators own individual factories while drawing on the firm's technology and commercial support.
Central to that is a proprietary software system called MasonOS, which the company says automates quoting, scheduling, production and quality control across its network.
Isembard is targeting 100 owned and franchised factories across the UK by the end of 2028.
The expansion follows a series of fundraising rounds and a strategy of rebuilding domestic supply chains for defence and aerospace while making money from standardised, software-driven manufacturing.
