DPA: You’re operating in a competitive environment already - has the current financial climate had an adverse affect on your business?
AS: There has certainly been an impact. One of the most noticeable areas has been a change in the way companies are spending money. It’s certainly not on ‘projects’ at the moment and sales in certain sectors – such as food and aggregates have certainly slowed down.
But it’s not all bad news. In fact, it’s very positive. Our sales have soared past £25million and sales of our silicone tubing have increased by 25% in the last year alone. We have also announced a £7.3 million expansion to our tubing plant. The Duke of York KG performed the groundbreaking for this new facility at our Falmouth site last month. We feel that this confirms the significance of our continued growth and investment in the manufacturing industry.
DPA: What about specific business opportunities? Where are you seeing openings for your peristaltic technology?
AS: It’s all very well talking about downturns in the economy – but you simply have to respond to the market and work out what’s really driving the sales. For example, we are seeing a significant increase in interest from companies looking to replace Air Operated Diaphragm pumps with peristaltic pump technology. The cost of air has risen significantly, thereby forcing manufacturers to look at this area as a means of reducing costs.
DPA: Are companies ever misguided about the equipment choices they make during a recession?
AS: That’s an interesting question. When times get tough, there is a tendency for OEMs and indeed end users to fall into the trap of ‘cheapest is best’. But it’s simply not always the right solution for the application. There are a host of factors that should be considered. It is important to look at overall product performance, reliability and suitability for the application. There's no point in buying a cheap product if it ultimately ‘costs’ more in terms of maintenance, installation or indeed integration into a machine or system.
DPA: Does peristaltic technology provide a cost-effective route?
AS: With peristaltic technology, you need to look at the ‘long game’ in terms of cost and efficiency. There are many areas in which the peristaltic technology presents major benefits over other pump types and we spend a great deal of time making OEMs and end users aware of this. The costs associated with poor equipment selection (which more often than not, leads to long periods of plant or line downtime), can be immense in any industry.
DPA: What is Watson-Marlow doing to make additions to its product range that can help to deliver cost cuts for customers?
AS: We have developed the world's first Profibus-enabled cased peristaltic pump - this puts less ‘distance’ between our pumps and the manufacturer’s control system. It makes integration and installation of the pump into the process system much easier (in the past it has been necessary to use a Profibus gateway to control cased peristaltic pumps using this protocol, but never before has diagnostic data been available remotely via Profibus). Compared with nonnetworked pumps, the Profibus-compatible units reduce engineering, hardware and installation costs, as well as offering remote diagnostics that help to minimise plant downtime and maintenance costs. In addition, real-time diagnostic information also allows for process flexibility, giving customers a competitive edge.
DPA: So the future’s bright for Watson-Marlow?
AS: No business is immune to the current market climate, but we think there is much to be positive about. Not only do we have the new tubing plant on the horizon, but also we are launching a number of products in 2009. In many ways, we are bucking the global economic trend.