Saftronics nets £4.5m water order
A MANUFACTURER of process control systems is aiming for further growth after landing a £4.5m order from Severn Trent Water.
Software designers and engineers at Saftronics are working to fulfil the order at Severn Trent’s Minworth waste water treatment plant near Sutton Coldfield.
Saftronics, based in Leeds, is an £11m turnover company and a recent £75,000 investment in the current production space at the company’s Pearson Street factory in Hunslet, where it employs a 130-strong workforce, has yielded significant efficiency improvements.
The expansion has been funded from entirely within the business, which remains debt-free and continues to invest in its software development team.
Some 30 programmers design and maintain increasingly sophisticated control systems for a variety of different end users.
The company was established in 1979 as a joint venture between a South African company and Stanningley-based R F Winder, within a couple of years Saftronics became a wholly-owned UK company and a key step change in 2001 saw an MBO by the current team led by managing director Geoff Puckett and commercial director Alan Rayner.
The company is an established supplier of sophisticated process control equipment to the utility industries and chiefly water, now governed by five-year purchasing cycles.
Planned diversification into the oil and gas industries has created a steadily growing niche market with US-based contractors working all over the world. Accordingly, Saftronics now has a Houston-based agent, regular Stateside visits by the UK sales force and one major US generator manufacturer standardising on Saftronics’ products and placing repeat multiple orders for Leeds-made motor control centres.
Mr Puckett said: “We’ve coped successfully with the water industry’s drive for lower prices by increasing efficiency and improving customer service levels.
“Our staff have been totally committed to these changes, hence the success, and a recently launched staff suggestion scheme attracted some 150 entries.”
The company has also invested heavily in a comprehensive re-branding and marketing exercise, following in-depth research and mapping of existing and potential customer bases.
