Small AC drives stimulate the market
A
Control Techniques product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jul 10, 2006
One of the UK's leading independent electrical wholesalers is seeing a surge in sales of small AC drives led by increasing interest in the new Commander SK.
One of the UK's leading independent electrical wholesalers is seeing a surge in sales of small AC drives, and attributes this to an increasing interest in the new Commander SK drive from Control Techniques.
Lockwell, with some 27 branches across England and Wales, from Bristol up to Gateshead, has been appointed as a preferred reseller by Control Techniques in recognition of its outstanding success in the small AC drives sector.
"And it's the Commander SK that is undoubtedly our biggest seller", says Lockwell Director Mark Bailey.
"The bulk of our drive sales are straight off the shelf and the Commander SK is ideal for these customers who want a 'plug-and-go' product, usually with single-phase in/three phase out, up to 2.2kW, and with minimal setup requirements".
"But it's a versatile product that we have designed into a number of panels, including one scheme where we're using the plug-in application module as the controlling PLC for an application".
Lockwell has recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and has grown steadily from its original outlet in Stafford.
With a reputation for good product knowledge from the outset, the company soon grasped the opportunity to provide general maintenance and servicing of electrical machinery and its ability for problem-solving in emergency call-outs soon differentiated it from other general electrical wholesalers.
The emphasis on product knowledge and customer support took on an even greater priority with the appointment of Mark Bailey as Training Manager and the company became specialists in drives, PLCs, sensors, safety systems and other complex products that other wholesalers often tend to avoid.
Now, the company works alongside system integrators and panel builders, but also has its own in-house design and build capability.
"Customers will often present us with a problem and it is up to us to design the solution", explains Bailey.
"It is common for us to sell a small drive, but then be presented with a more meaty project as the customer realises we know what we're talking about".
"As a result, we've sold many bigger Control Techniques drives, particularly the AC Unidrive SP and Commander SE, which we then engineer into a scheme, build it, then install and commission it".
Control Techniques came onto Lockwell's radar in the 1990s.
"We had used several makes of drive", remembers Bailey, "but became very impressed with the feedback we had from Control Techniques users, who were very loyal and consistently praised the drives' quality and reliability".
"When we had the opportunity to become a dedicated Control Techniques reseller, we jumped at the chance and our experience with the products, the technical support and our close relationship with the company has exceeded our expectations".
Today, Lockwell is responsible for the sale of hundreds of Control Techniques drives across its branch network.
A number of these branches are reference sites and stock the Commander SK drives.
And the future? "Undoubtedly the spotlight is again on energy saving and we're waiting with anticipation for the larger sizes of the Commander SK - we're certain that these will prove to be very successful and give excellent payback periods in many cases".
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