Intending to develop the Garrard audio brand in the near future. In May 2018 the company acquired the rights to the Garrard Transcription Turntable brand as well as Loricraft Audio, the only officially authorised Garrard service agent. In December 2016 the company was acquired by Ajay Shirke with a view to preserve the brand's legacy and extend research and development activities, appointing a new CEO and a distributor for the UK market, Padood. At this time a new factory situated in Mill Road, Steyning was opened and the Company's name was changed to SME Limited, a less committal title to suit its new activities.
Production was 25 units per week composed entirely of individually machined components. It received such an enthusiastic reception from friends in the sound industry that it was decided to produce it commercially and the first SME precision pick-up arm appeared in September 1959. In 1959 Alastair Robertson-Aikman, the Company's founder, required a pick-up arm for his own use and an experimental model was built. During the 1950s the company moved away from model making to precision engineering, principally parts for aircraft instruments and business machines. SME was formed in 1946 under the title The Scale Model Equipment Company Limited to manufacture scale models and detail parts for the model engineering trade.