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MR LOADLINK

Remove the Business Blinkers…

The spirit of collaboration and the return of LiftEx as we know it, feature as Mr Loadlink blogs again.

I am a regular visitor to Goodwood Racecourse. There’s something therapeutic about the unmistakable thud of hooves striking the turf as horses approach the winning post, whether you’ve backed the winner or not! More importantly, the course, set in the picturesque South Downs in West Sussex, is a fantastic backdrop for networking.

Bridger-Howes joined me and Mr Loadlink junior for a day at Glorious Goodwood

Bridger-Howes joined me and Mr Loadlink junior for a day at Glorious Goodwood

Such was the case during the autumn season finale earlier this month when horses thundered past our enclosure with the reds and oranges of the season making the scene even more spectacular. A number of horses were wearing blinkers to limit their peripheral vision. Use is typically governed by temperament and a horse’s ability to avoid distraction. I’m no equestrian expert, I’m sure it works a treat but it’s amazing how many people take the same approach in business.

 

We’ve got a room marked Top Secret at Hampshire headquarters (not far from Goodwood), as any good business should have, but it’s reserved only for ideas and concepts the leaking of which would have a seriously detrimental impact on the business. In the main, I champion the theory of abundance and am passionate about the spirit of collaboration. To some extent we’re in a race, but I like to know exactly what’s going on around me and work with as many people as possible to navigate the rolling hills as each furlong throws at us its challenges and opportunities.

 

Lunch with a peer

The first appointment in my diary this quarter was a meeting with Sarah Spivey, who is managing director of spreader beam manufacturer Modulift. As many readers of this blog know, we’re both UK-based manufacturers of premium, market-leading technologies and, as I’ve said before, I find the relationship between the two businesses personally and professionally satisfying. I keep in regular contact with Sarah and we frequently meet up.

As our latest meeting proved, it’s of constant value to build such relationships, share stories and explore avenues of mutual opportunity. Sarah and I share many of the same connections in industry and our products are distributed around the world by a number of the same dealers. It’s amazing how often I’ve travelled by plane, train, automobile and even packhorse, to arrive at a facility in the middle of nowhere to find she has penned her name in the visitors book only a day or two earlier. Similarly, we attend many of the same shows and trade events.

Diversification and people were the key takeaways from this latest summit. It’s fascinating how a product designed for one purpose, like a load cell, can be applied to a myriad of applications. As the oil and gas market continues to face challenges, regular readers will know how keen I am to explore new areas such as the entertainment sector, for example. Rest assured, I will be building as many relationships as I can as I tread the boards with increasing regularity.

I’d urge anyone in business to take the blinkers off and embrace such collaboration. It’s a myth in most sectors that secrecy is the key to success. I’d certainly be a poorer business leader and Straightpoint’s growth more laboured if I hadn’t reached out a hand of friendship and engaged my peers in such conversations. It’s not as cynical as quid pro quo but you do get out what you put in.

A rising tide lifts all boats

A few days after my meeting with Sarah I boarded a flight to Abu Dhabi to leverage another collaboration that has been hugely rewarding. Our partners Rigmarine were exhibiting at the Seatrade Offshore Marine & Workboats show and it was opportune to have a presence on their stand to stage the Middle East launch of our new product for measuring tension on lines—the Running Line Dynamometer (or TIMH).

The product, part of the tension in motion range, is built with dockside, marine, offshore, towage and salvage applications in mind and represented a perfect fit for the show’s audience, who dwindled somewhat in number from previous years but the quality was very high and we received some excellent enquiries. Quality trumps quantity every time when measuring trade show footfall.

I expect Rigmarine to generate ongoing interest in the TIMH, aided by their new calibration facility. The return on their investment in the calibrator will be two-fold in that they can welcome business for calibration services but, more importantly, they can provide the service to a local marketplace, thus, generating greater interest and ultimately sales. I enjoy working with such an ambitious, forward-thinking company.

Imagine how tall this robot must have been to make me look so short at the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam.

Imagine how tall this robot must have been to make me look so short at the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam.

Back in Europe, I attended the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam with our marketing manager Tanya Gregory. The event has been on our radar for a while but I wanted to walk the aisles before committing to exhibition space in future. It’s the only way to get a real sense of the footfall and assess how fellow lifting and below-the-hook equipment suppliers are presenting themselves to the audience. Tanya more commonly pulls the marketing strings from headquarters so it was opportune for her to absorb a trade fair first hand.

The show also presented an opportunity to visit our Dutch distributor, Van Gool, who, like Rigmarine, is among our top partners. We typically spend time with Pieter van Duijn, commercial director, but he was at a prior engagement so we met with Timo de Bree from the sales department, who was a great host and facilitated a productive meeting. We’re back in Holland for the Europort show next week (3-6 November) where Pieter will meet Jessi Hill from headquarters, who is his primary point of contact.

Exploding onto the scene

The following week, we’ll be in Liverpool for the return of LEEA’s LiftEx show to its standalone two-day format. Now in its 11th year, and following an experimental co-location with a London-based safety event in 2014, it feels like this is the most eagerly anticipated staging of the show ever. Furthermore, we will show two new innovations, including the ATEX and IECEx version of our most popular product—the Radiolink Plus wireless load cell. We will also show our new towing device—Towcell®—for road going vehicles, which displays wirelessly the force being towed.

We already have lifting professionals from Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Europe committed to visiting Stand 18 and I know they’re also looking forward to spending some time in Liverpool, which is a great venue city.

Readers of our newsletter will have already met our new apprentice, Zoe Silk, who continues to embrace the education we are able to offer as a force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell manufacturer. Zoe is taking a BTEC National Diploma in Business Administration with PETA (formerly known as Portsmouth Engineering Training Association) and her understanding of the role of apprenticeships and the value such a scheme adds to a young adult is an inspiration to anyone approaching the end of education and looking to make their first big career decision.

Such is the volume of trade shows and events we attend at this time of year, even as I close this blog, John Molidor, the general manager of Straightpoint Inc., and Aaron Orsak, technical sales engineer, have sent me pictures of our stand at the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE) in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Hot off the press: John and Aaron have made a great start to the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition in Louisiana.

Hot off the press: John and Aaron have made a great start to the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition in Louisiana.

To keep up with our team across the world, follow us on Twitter—@LoadCell—and use the hashtags #loadcell and #belowthehook.

Thank you for reading!

Mr Loadlink

October 2015, , , , , ,

To the Power of Three

As the British summer disappears in a torrent of rain at Havant, UK headquarters, Straightpoint is awash with new products. Mr Loadlink explains

In Latin, “Omne trium perfectum” means everything that comes in threes is perfect. There’s certainly something about groups of three that invokes an emotional response. Take the Three Wise Men, the Three Musketeers or the Three Blind Mice, for example.

It’s certainly true that good things come in threes at Straightpoint this summer, as three new products are ready to launch almost simultaneously. Such has been the varied nature of the paths these products have take from conceptualisation, it’s remarkable that they’ve all reached this point at the same time. It’s almost as though it’s meant to be; as if it were written in the same stars that were so important to the Three Wise Men.

The three products I’m talking about are the Running Line Dynamometer (the TIMH range); the Towcell load cell, for towing applications; and ATEX, IECEx versions of our most popular product, the Radiolink Plus wireless load cell. The Towcell is available even as I write this, while the new explosion-proof products are awaiting certification that we expect to receive in the coming weeks, about the same time that the TIMH range will be ready.


This isn’t the place to go into detail about the features of the new products but they’re examples of the continued evolution of the company and, moreover, demonstrates our ability to diversify our range to penetrate new marketplaces and provide a broader mix of products to the sectors that we have served to date with force measurement, load monitoring and suspended weighing load cell technologies.

For example, the TIMH range will be particularly useful in the marine, offshore and towage and salvage industries where there is no anchor or dead end and a loadlink, digital dynamometer or other load cell are unsuitable to measure tension force. The TIMH is constructed from marine grade stainless steel and will also, as an option, calculate lineout in metres or feet and line speed.

Towcell, meanwhile, is a towing device for road going vehicles that displays wirelessly the weight being towed. The launch represents evolution of a product that started as a hybrid of the Radiolink Plus following an enquiry from the UK Highways Agency. The agency had a fleet of lease vehicles and needed to ensure they were not towing over capacity and damaging clutches, axles and other components.

Also an enhancement of the Radiolink Plus, the ATEX and IECEx versions of the product will be assembled on a brand new production line ensuring that we can continue to provide quick delivery to job sites around the world.

I want to take a moment to reference the dedication to the project shown by Roshan Divakaran, our design engineer, who has overseen the product’s development from the outset.

Roshan Divakaran

Roshan Divakaran holding our latest new product

Roshan and the team have worked tirelessly with the Sira Certification Service, an independent certification body, to meet the requirements of ATEX and IECEx, while ensuring that we can put a production line in place ready to deliver with the same short lead time that epitomises our entire range. Customers in marine, highways, oil, gas, heavy lift and many other industries know that this ability is a hallmark of the company.

Learn or leave

Another Latin phrase I like is “Aut disce aut discede,” which broadly translates to “Learn or leave”.

Every product launch can teach one something about a market, a company and the supply chain that will take it to lifting (or towing) applications in industry. What these three particular products have reiterated to me is the importance of making sure the arduous processes that are sometimes involved—especially true of explosion-proof product launches—are respected and completed in tune with the overarching ethos of the company.

There would be little point in launching a product if we couldn’t provide it to the same quality, at the same speed, for which we are known. I’d go so far as to say it is our number one selling point. Towcell customers will expect the product to be effectively on the shelf, while we’ll exceed the expectations of Running Line Dynamometer customers in delivering product within a week. Oil and gas clients already know well of our ability to do that.

You can take a lot from the success experienced to date in shaping your future. Aut disce aut discede, one might say. Within each successful product, where is there a component or piece of engineering that could be utilised by another application?

John Molidor, the general manager of our North American subsidiary, considered this when introducing to manufacturers and end users of two-point (swing stage) adjustable suspension scaffolds our load shackle that will measure the combined weight of personnel and tools prior to use. It’s a market that could consume our product pretty much as it exists. The entertainment industry is another sector of interest, as discussed in last month’s blog.

It’s worth asking yourself, how might your products be used in other applications you haven’t yet considered or components applied to the continued improvement of your offering?

We’re constantly asking ourselves questions to challenge the company and the individuals within it. As a result, we approach the final quarter of the year as a very different business to that which turned the corner of the year eight months ago. It’ll look very different again this time next year, I’m sure, as distributors and users continue to inspire innovation and ingenuity.

“Work hard. Never give up.”

Part of that evolution and improvement will be represented by the new faces that we introduce to the business. Our North American subsidiary has been a focal point of our growth for some time; we recently welcomed former Bishop Lifting Products and Certex USA employee Aaron Orsak as technical sales engineer. Aaron is based in Houston and covers the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama regions.

tressieFurther west, we have expanded our team at US headquarters in Camarillo, California, with the addition of Tressie LaBass, who joins as customer and sales support administrator. The quality of personnel we are now able to attract is another yardstick by which we can measure our progress. I particularly like Tressie’s LinkedIn tagline: “Work hard. Never Give up.” Hear, hear!

What’s the Latin for that, I hear you ask. Something like “Labor omnia vincit,” I think!

The aftermath

Tremors are still being felt throughout the industry following the news that Konecranes Plc and Terex Corporation will combine their businesses in a merger of equals. The combined company, to be called Konecranes Terex Plc, will be a leading global lifting and material handling solutions company with estimated combined 2014 revenues and EBITDA of $10 billion and $845 million.
I know there have been many references to consolidation—and fragmentation—of the industry, particularly from these companies, but this surprised me. I’d be interested in the challenges and opportunities such a significant merger presents for your company.

Only as I was posting this blog did news break that Schlumberger, a leading oilfield service provider, will buy Cameron, one of the biggest oilfield equipment manufacturers, in a deal worth a whopping $14.8 billion!

I’m off to the states to spend some time with John, Tressie and the team before drawing breath in readiness for another trade show season which gets underway as always in September. I look forward to catching up with some of my readers over the next few months.

Thank you for reading. Keep following us on Twitter—@LoadCell—and use the hashtags #loadcell and #belowthehook.

Carpe diem!

August 2015, , , , , ,