Skip to main content

Last blog of the year…

Welcome to my last blog of 2013 (more to come in 2014)! 

Despite the uncertain economic conditions, it’s been one of our best years yet, since the business was formed in 1978. I’d love to know how you’ve found 2013 and what your economic predictions are for 2014, too (see below)…

We’ve Expanded (not just our pre-Xmas waistlines)!
Our double-sized head office building is now complete! We now have double the space to deal with the expanding business and to ensure orders continue to be delivered in super-quick time. We’ve also taken on 7 additional staff over the year at our UK office and expect to take on further staff in 2014, too. We have grown by 162% of budget YTD, which I think is the result of taking on additional partners around the world who are seeing an increase in the demand of our products. The growing health and safety market has also helped, as our load cell products ensure the safety of equipment and its operating staff when lifting, offloading, pulling or pushing items up to 1000 tonnes.
How have you found 2013 business-wise and what do you think 2014 will bring? I’m happy to include some of your comments in my next blog as well as include a hyperlink to your company website as a thank you for getting involved! (please email me your comments dayling@straightpoint.com)

Mr Loadlink junior helping assemble desks

Mr Loadlink junior helping assemble desks

Travels
I’ve recently been busy on the road delivering our new catalogue and providing training on our new products at Singapore’s Intermarine and Australian Calibrating Services in Melbourne.

Mr loadlink with Intermarine

Mr loadlink with Intermarine


Wire rope factory, Intermarine

Wire rope factory, Intermarine


Intermarine technical training

Mr Loadlink giving Intermarine technical training


New Partner Details

I am delighted to announce Traction Levage as Straightpoint’s exclusive distributor for load cells in France. For all enquiries in France, please contact:
Christophe Fonvieille – ZI de Biver, F-13542 Gardanne, Cedex
T +33 442 654 680
I also welcome our new distributor for Morocco, ATELIER E.M.H
Other News
LiftEx: Thanks to those of you who came to see us in Bolton at the LiftEx exhibition stand recently. It was a great success and very enjoyable!

Straightpoint team at LiftEx

Straightpoint team at LiftEx

Football Sponsorships:
Straightpoint has recently been confirmed as the main sponsor for Portsmouth FC Under 10 team for its 2013-2014 season. The team consists of players who have been scouted from the local area and selected to play for the academy’s elite programme. All of the sponsorship money goes towards the academy, helping to buy the team’s equipment and kits.

Straightpoint sponsors of under 10's

Straightpoint sponsors of under 10’s

Plus, Straightpoint is also community sponsor for Chichester City FC, which will help the football club work towards its vision of providing football opportunities to local people of any age, gender, race, ability, health or wealth as well as offering the change for those with gift and ambition to fulfil their potential.

Mr Loadlink and some of the Straightpoint team at a reacent match

Mr Loadlink and some of the Straightpoint team at a reacent match

As a keen football fan and local business man, I saw these sponsorship opportunities as giving something back to the local community in a really positive way.

Hurry – get your orders in soon!
We will be working as usual until 20th December 2013, when we will be closed for the festivities. We will then be open again from 2nd January 2014, so do please contact us with your enquiries or orders as soon as possible to ensure we can deliver for your project start date…
If I don’t speak to you beforehand, I hope you have a fantastic December and a happy, prosperous 2014.

Merry Christmas from Straightpoint

Merry Christmas from Straightpoint

Expansion…

… no not my waistline.

Straightpoint has Expanded
To be exact, we’ve expanded our head office and taken on additional staff!  The last few months have been extremely busy and our export sales in particular have been very strong.  In addition, we launched our hire division, introduced an ‘offshore’ arm, and taken on several major distributors, which have all added to the increased demand (whilst still keeping our speedy service!).  As a result, we’ve doubled our head office space and have recently added two members of staff, under a government-backed apprentice scheme.  Jess Hill and Josh Young are our Business and Engineering Apprentices, respectively.  I would like to welcome them to the growing Straightpoint team and I’m sure you’ll be speaking to them soon!

John Molidor as a technical sales engineer with Mr LoadlinkStraightpoint, Inc are pleased to announce the appointment of John Molidor as a technical sales engineer. David Ayling, director, said “John has a wealth of experience in technical sales, customer support and engineering roles and his broad experience will be invaluable as Straightpoint, Inc increase their North American market presence”.

Travels
As part of the Straightpoint global ‘roadshow’(!), I’ve visited a couple of our distributors recently – Rigmarine in Azerbaijan (who also represent Kazakstan) and Wolfgang from Pfeifer in Germany, showing them our new catalogue, products and desktop controller software.  If you have a business proposition and would like me to visit you, please do get in touch.

rigmarine-azerbaijanMr Loadlink with Nighyar Taghiyeva – Sales and Business Development Manager, Rigmarine

Insight into a UK Weighing Federation Board of Directors UK weighing federationMeeting. As I’m on the Board of Directors, I attended a recent meeting at the UK Weighing Federation, the UK’s national weighing industry trade association.  The meetings are great networking opportunities and everyone’s committed to providing the best weighing standards.  Amongst other items discussed, we talked about calibration code of conduct, and new EU directives which would improve EMC protection, affecting loadcells.  If you’d like any further information on the UKWF or the new EU directives, feel free to get in touch with me…

New Reference Loadcell
Loadcell Test MachinePreviously, we employed two reference load cells for use with our 350 tonne test and calibration machine, which we interchanged, dependent upon the size of the job.  We’ve now invested in a brand new reference #loadcell which is suitable for all tests, up to 350 tonnes of compression and 350 tonnes of tension.  The reference #loadcell has been calibrated by the National Physical Laboratory against a master load cell, which is stored in London so that the load is always traceable, accurate and reliable.  We use the machine to test and calibrate all our products before being shipped to clients and distributors globally.

Have a great month!