Hestair Eagle exports soar to Queen's Award
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EVERY EVENING before retiring to bed, thousands of Vietnamese Boat People and Chinese put out their bucket-loads of sewage, like British housewives putting empty milk bottles on their doorsteps.
Around midnight, and in the early hours of the morning, teams of collectors race round with a fleet of 60 Hestair Eagle truck-mounted vacuum tankers, filling them with the muck. First they tip the bucket into a receiver which pumps it into the main tank. Then they tip the bucket in water. Finally they they dunk it in disinfectant and return it to the doorstep.
The process is hardly on a par with the daily pinta, but it is a vital form of rudimentary sanita tion for an overloaded authority. When the Vietnamese arrived, particularly, the sanitary system was overloaded and Hong Kong could not cope.
The system shows that lorries provide an essential service wherever there is a large volume of waste, of whatever sort, to be shifted.
Warwick-based Hestair Eagle, which makes vacuum tankers, compactors and skip lifts, and is a sister company of truck and bus maker Hestair Dennis, is one company which is cashing in on the market abroad.
With orders like the 60 sewage tankers for Hong Kong, which were specially adapted from existing designs, and with a new range of Phoenix compactors, Hestair Eagle is spreading itself far beyond Britain with great success.
Export sales havegrown by 400 per cent in the past three years, and are now valued at around £6 million — more than one third of turnover.
It is for this performance that the company has won a Queen's Award for Exports.
A change in export strategy four years ago is largely the reason for the upturn in over seas sales, according to export sales director Graham Greensell.
The company was largely de pendent on one-off sales to Iran, Iraq and countries in Africa.
There would be one big order then nothing for three or four years. Now most of the exports — about 75 per cent — are more stable. The main markets are Hong Kong, Europe, North America and the Gulf States.
Distributor and licensee agreements now give Eagle a continuous presence. The change is shown particularly by the company's arrangement with Holland, one of its few long standing foreign markets.
For most of the past 30 years it sold through a car distributor, but four years ago the company switched to the truck maker Terberg, which now does final assembly. Electrical requirements in Holland are different to Britain and with high unemployment, Dutch buyers look for local content.
As a result, Eagle now has the two largest buyers, Utrecht and Amsterdam corporations, and claims one third of the Dutch market.
Further expansion is expected in Holland, Belgium and Scandi navia. It launches the Phoenix on the German market this month at a show in Munich with Kroll as its distributor. And in France, Mr Greensell has just completed what he describes as a highly successful three-week demonstration tour, and expects to appoint an agent shortly.
Perhaps the biggest challenge on which Eagle has set its sights is the United States. Phoenix compactors will be made by Jaeger of Ontario, Canada, which has a US distributor network. At present Jaeger is making only the bodywork and hydraulics, but eventually will make the whole Phoenix range under licence. A demonstrator was launched at the Canadian Public Works Show last month, where two vehicles were sold. And in June the Phoenix is launched in the US on a Mack chassis.
Technically, the Phoenix is well ahead of its opposition, according to Mr Greensell. This, he said, is the key to the company's success in breaking into new markets.
An electrically-driven variant developed for Hong Kong, could be of interest in future to British operators also he believes. Before trade and domestic refuse had been taken to stationary compacting vehicles, where three of four tonnes would gather before being loaded. People in the area complained of smell, engine noise and rodents. The electrical compactor now installed in some areas is loaded on a trailer, giving more efficient use of tractive units, and runs continuously.
Eagle's success is also of some benefit to Dennis, although mainly in Hong Kong and Middle East countries which already know the Marque.
A strong home market has been a helpful base, but future growth lies in exports. Success has already caused the company to look for new, larger premises to replace the existing plant into which it moved just six years ago.
Queen's Award winners are entitled to use the emblem on their letterhead for five years. The award is something of a seal of approval, and has public relations benefits. To potential customers abroad it confirms substance. Eagle has already received much interest and congratulations since the award was announced.
"The reaction from the shop floor has been very good," Mr Greensell added. "There are a lot of us involved and it is very much an award for the whole factory."
IML Air Couriers is the only transport company to have won an award this year, although companies like it have won in the past. IML provides an express parcels service throughout the world, and claims to be number three in the market.
Its network has been built up using local franchise holders and at present handles around 50,000 packages a month.
Average weight at present is 3kg, but IML expects to move into heavier packages weighing up to 30 kg.
Littelfuse Olvis, based at Tyne and Wear, is American-owned but has had strong growth in Etirope. Its award reflects strong growth of exports of fuses — 94 per cent in 1980, 100 per cent in 1981 and 185 per cent in 1982. Exports were up again last year, by 46 per cent. The blade-type fuses are fitted in most makes of European lorry.
. The automotive components industry is highly competitive, particularly overseas, where it is necessary to overcome strong, natural opposition to the purchase of imported components and fierce competition from indigenous suppliers, says director and general manager John Wood.
Scwitzer Europe, also American-owned, has won its second Queen's Award, having won previously in 1979. It makes turbochargers for both truck manufacturers and operators, and consistently exports around 75 per cent of production.
The company employs just 93 people, but is receiving heavy investment in its Bradford production plant to double capacity. An immediate investment of $2 million has been made, and a further $15 million is expected over the next five years, creating 100 manufacturing jobs and another 100 in supplying the product.
Halesowen-based G Clancey, a leading camshaft supplier for the commercial vehicle industry, has won an award for technical achievement for a new method of making camshafts. The shell moulded, chilled camshafts are cast more accurately than before speeding up production.
Although used only for cars at present, the process should be applicable to commercial vehicles in around three years. The benefits claimed include longer life and less wear, which could help makers increase their warranty cover.
Test equipment manufacturer Leslie Hartridge of Buckingham has been granted a technical award for developing a more accurate method of calibrating fuel pumps, reducing the time needed.
Error under more established methods is around four per cent; the new Video Display Metering System reduces it to one per cent. Accurate calibration is at the heart of any successful diesel engine. Ideally, engines should be working exactly to the manufacturer's figures, the com pany says.
The system also allows the
vehicle operator to be given a print-out of what has been achieved. Since it was launched 18 months ago, Hartridge has sold 120 units, of which 100 have gone abroad. The cost is between E8,500 and £16,000.
At the ostentatious end of the vehicle market, manufacturers Jaguar Cars and Aston Martin Lagonda both won export awards. So too did specialist converter Glenfrome Engi neering, which does luxury conversions of four-wheel drive workhorses such as the Range Rover and Land Rover.