Conductix-Wampfler News Update 2011

Salford based mobile energy specialist Conductix-Wampfler is reporting a near 20 per cent turnover surge over the last 12 months.

French owned Conductix-Wampfler is part of the €800m turnover Delachaux Group. The firm specialises in power and data transmission, mobile electrification, and crane electrification solutions. It manufactures a range of products in Salford including conductor bars, festoon systems and trench covers for the rail, automation, mining, utility and port sectors.

Its UK managing director Alan Jones said turnover has surged to £3.85m thanks, in part, to strong export sales. The firm has also seen staff numbers rise to 31 at its Salford manufacturing base.

Mr Jones said key contracts over the last year include three major international metro rail projects in Bangalore India, Algiers North Africa and Shenzhen in China. Mr Jones said Conductix- Wampfler had supplied ‘stinger’ or shore supply systems to each network.

“These have been three terrific deals to work on which have really showcased our services and engineering expertise in the rail sector,” he said. “A key strength of Conductix-Wampfler is that we deliver the entire project package from design, build to install. And our Salford based team has been out to each of these countries to help manage the installation of our equipment. Ultimately our aim is to provide the complete solution to energy supply projects. Our expertise in the rail sector has been honed over the last ten years and the sector is now a key growth area for us. We are currently talking with a range of other rail projects in the UK and South America which we hope to announce shortly.”

Mr Jones said the factory automation sector has also seen strong and consistent sales for the firm. An important contract has been with Heinz to supply its Wigan based storage and distribution warehouse. Conductix-Wampfler is presently in the first phase of installing power supply systems to forklifts running along 160m aisles.

“We are now really excited about 2012 where we expect to see sales perform steadily in the factory automation sector,” he said. “Growth has also been driven this year by deals in Turkey and Saudi Arabia where we have supplied large single sales of conductor bar systems and standard crane components.”

Mr Jones said a vital growth sector for Conductix-Wampfler over the next 12 months will be the ports sector in the UK with a number of major deals already in the pipeline.

“We want to build on our success this year by driving our profile in the port sector,” he said. “We offer real engineering and product expertise in ship-to-shore and unloader cranes as well as cable carrier and festoon systems. Here our green friendly electric powered systems can save a huge amount of cash and carbon emissions compared with expensive dirty diesel powered systems. The pay back periods are so good that ports can see a return on investment within eighteen months by replacing diesel with electric.”