indEx Enclosures began on the first day of January 2012. From a unit at Montpelier Business Park, five people showed up ready to build something,four guys and a lady. No fanfare. Just work.
Those early years were exhilarating in the way that only genuine uncertainty can be. The team knew what they were making,stainless steel enclosures, bespoke fabrications, whatever came through the door,but the following week's workload was never guaranteed. "We didn't actually know if we'd have anything to do the following week, or the week after that," reflects Mark Popple, one of the founding team. "But there was always opportunity, and there were always different things to look at and quote."
The variety was remarkable: hundreds upon hundreds of stainless steel boxes for one customer, then something half the size, then free-standing three-bay cabinets. Industry was lively, the phone rang, and the team got straight on it.
"It was about giving someone something they actually wanted, rather than just something that did the job. Top quality. And quickly." Mark Popple, founding team
That instinct,that a customer deserves precision, not compromise,became the standard indEx holds itself to every day.
By 2017, the original unit at Montpelier had staged its own kind of revolt. The team found themselves in a recurring cycle: empty the factory floor to create space to work, then fill it back up again. It was a problem with only one solution.
Easter 2018 marked a new chapter,the move into the current facility at Wyvern Way, Ashford, with the room to match the ambition.
Since then
The move to Wyvern Way opened the door to larger and more technically demanding work. indEx developed its ATEX-certified product range,enclosures independently assessed to Directive 2014/34/EU by CML (Certification Management Ltd),expanding from standard industrial fabrication into the hazardous area market.
ISO 9001 certification followed, formalising the quality management system that had always been the backbone of the operation. Today, indEx manufactures across the full spectrum: Ex e terminal boxes and junction boxes, and industrial stainless steel and mild steel enclosures for non-hazardous applications.
The team has grown to span engineering, fabrication, electrical assembly, and commercial functions. Lead times have held at 3–4 weeks from drawing approval. The same-day response to every quote request has never slipped.
More than a decade on, the journey from those first five people feels both extraordinary and, in hindsight, entirely inevitable.
"When I sit down and think about it," says Mark, "it has absolutely flown by." But the foundation it was built on? That hasn't moved an inch.
