UK LV motor market set to change

The UK low voltage industrial motor market is going to be driven ever more by customers trusting their suppliers and their expertise, says Keith Ryan of Exico.

As we hear of yet more old established UK electric motor manufacturers reducing their work force or selling their businesses and margins continue to be squeezed, Exico believes the UK low voltage industrial motor market is going to be driven ever more by customers trusting their suppliers and their expertise.

Keith Ryan of Exico, the largest supplier of Siemens motors in the UK and the recently launched Exico M-Series range of motors, believes these factors will dominate in a large part of the market.

The period of consolidation in the UK market for LV motor companies that has been going on since the 1980s seems to have ended as the last volume production leaves our shores.

Further global consolidation is also inevitable, but stands a chance of being slower thanks to the continuous changes in economic conditions for emerging and expanding industrial economies.

Several manufacturers and distribution companies recently attempting to enter the UK market with new ventures and no real product differentiation demonstrate this.

The UK market continues to diverge and large OEM manufacturers with ever-larger volumes develop integrated global supply routes, servicing them domestically will increasingly become simply a logistics operation.

The inimitable "small to medium sized enterprise" however employs the majority of the people working in UK industry.

These companies are surviving by specialising and running hard but efficiently.

It is this sector and the essential service companies such as food, beverages, dirty and clean water handling, power generation, that represents the future for the UK LV motor market and servicing these companies is not just a matter of supply and delivery.

UK industrial SMEs demand very prompt supply and guaranteed delivery in the same way as very large OEMs, but crucially they also expect flexibility in terms of service, delivery and product specification.

Being able to provide technical knowledge on tap and draw on a supplier's expertise in many different fields of application is as important as availability and delivery, which are prerequisite.

It is this ability to supply both advice and product, which builds trust and that, will be the crux of success or failure for future LV electric motor suppliers in the UK.

Ask any person involved in engineering and/or sales; an aspect of trust is that it takes time to establish.

This is where the recent newcomers to the UK market are likely to struggle; there is no sense in changing from a supplier you trust unless there is such a massive price benefit that it is worth the risk of nondelivery, poor quality or wrong specification.

In many cases problems with LV motor applications are caused by wrong specifications, this may be a result of any number of contributing factors, but if you have a supplier than can spot these problems and address them before the motor is supplied, then that is worth considerably more than saving a small percentage on the purchase price.

Advice also has to be delivered promptly; "speed of response" is not just a case of stock and logistics.

This is where knowledge is key and smaller local motor rewinding companies - particularly in the maintenance repair and overhaul business - often win out, complimenting their knowledge with stock and supply of new motors, the prerequisites already mentioned to servicing the future market.

Product flexibility and specialisation is also going to be key; motors with special shafts, nonstandard mounting or cooling requirements and integrated brake assemblies need to be available virtually off the shelf now and this trend is likely to continue.

There is no reason now why a customer who requires a variation on the standard AC motor should have to wait weeks for a manufacturer to work the order into the production schedule.

Brand sensitivity will also not go away and is an issue that any company that hopes to grow into the future will have to address.

Brand recognition is another form of trust and in many situations a buyer still has to purchase a brand they can trust.

Price pressure is the converse side to this and if the price of a product is no more competitive than others on the market, then there is likely to be little future in it.

Exico offer a range of base motor units from leading brand manufacturers such as Siemens and its own high quality, cost competitive M-Series units.

Exico's experience is supported by an established network of local specialist motor rewind businesses.

"Knowledge and expertise is an aspect of the company and its' network of Motor Rewinders that we are proud of", says Ryan.

"We are often called on to provide advice on every aspect of electric motors and their application".

"This knowledge allows us to both solve problems quickly and effectively and also prevent them from happening".

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