Abstract
In 2012, Andy Tither was getting itchy feet. He had got into the hazardous area instrumentation business as an apprentice, spent 30 years working for two of its biggest companies and wanted to do something more challenging. Then, he had a conversation with an old friend, Hadrian Jones, who had moved to Virginia, United States and set up ExLoc Instruments supplying mainly UK manufactured hazardous area instrumentation and control equipment into the North American Market. In 10 years, the company had grown so much that a second sales office had opened in Texas to serve the oil and gas sector. Clearly, this was a successful model. Andy decided that there was an opportunity for a similar business in the United Kingdom, representing European manufacturers and specialising in hazardous area applications. In September 2012, it opened its doors as a supplier of intrinsically safe and Ex-rated instrumentation, process interfacing, display and alarm solutions for this niche market sector. Since then ExLoc Instruments UK have been working closely with their American colleagues.
In the subsequent 15 months, ExLoc Instruments UK has become an established business, supplying end users and OEMs in a variety of hazardous area applications, including oil and gas, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and biogas generation. Sally Hibbert joined the company a few weeks after conception and her skills in the field of marketing gained from her 15 years’ experience working for a local systems integrator/panel builder were vital in gaining market visibility.
A measure of the company’s standing is the quality of its partners. ExLoc Instruments UK is the sole UK agent for GM International’s range of intrinsically safe interfaces and safety integrity level (SIL)-rated relays, and also represents iSiS-Ex in England, Wales and Ireland for their range of Ex-rated personal computer (PC) terminals, workstations and monitors. In addition, there are visualisation and display equipment from Beka Technology and Xplore Technology and intrinsically safe networking equipment for Ethernet and fibre applications from suppliers such as Primation and Extronics.
The GM International D5000 series of Intrinsically safe Interfaces
Unusually for a start-up company, ExLoc Instruments UK made a modest profit in its first year of trading, and having taken on a new Sales Director, Ed Beardshaw, in June, the five-strong team has recently moved to larger premises just along the road in Uppermill, Oldham. So what is the secret of their success? Certainly, a strong portfolio of products helps, and ExLoc Instruments UK is working with market-leading suppliers to ensure that its product range is not only excellent but also comprehensive – down to intrinsically safe portable equipment, including mobile phones, torches and cameras. A well-designed and well-managed website that responds quickly to changes in the product range provides an online shop window, and the company has recently introduced a 6-page full colour brochure which gives an overview of the products and services on offer. But nothing can substitute for product knowledge, and the team brings many years of experience in working in the process industry and in the fields of hazardous area protection, especially intrinsic safety. ‘We’re small and flexible’, says Andy, and we can offer top of the range products from large suppliers but with a personal service – our customers can talk directly to our decision makers – and we are keen to engage with our customers to discuss applications and to help to provide them with the solutions that they are looking for.
For more information go to www.exloc.co.uk or email
