Flak jackets optional: Simon Ruffles and colleagues often require extra protection to help with overseas projects such as mining for raw diamonds.
Could you explain how the science of pumping equipment has progressed over the last twenty five years? In the last 25 years, there has been a major push to reduce the environmental impact of our equipment. That has meant not only have companies like ours have had to constantly innovate more efficient pumps (we run up to 90% efficiency now) which use less energy per cubic meter pumped, but we have also had to handle emission compliance legislation from the EU that has redefined how engines on plant and equipment can be used. Twenty five years ago, companies were using open pumpsets with noisy engines belching out lots of smoke but today you can have a pumpset operating in the middle of Colchester moving 400 tonnes of water an hour with a 30 kilowatts engine and walk past without really noticing it’s there. The technology involved in doing this is very similar to the car industry but we do it in a barn on a farm near Needham Market! You work on some heavy engineering areas, like mining and quarrying, and oil and gas. What are some of the challenges you have faced in these projects? Some of the major challenges have been the size of our equipment and the location of our customer. In the last three years we have manufactured some pumpsets so large they weighed close to ten tonnes - in other words, three times the weight of a Range Rover - and handling them in our small factory was a major headache. However, these problems were easier than visiting some of our clients in Basra and wearing a bullet proof vest or having to give up my passport for eight hours when I had to go to the Congo. Fortunately, being a UK citizen we are allowed to run two passports so I kept a backup in my pocket until I was handed my other back, but explaining to Border Control here that I went out to Africa on one and came back on another might have been a small problem!
What advice would you give someone setting up a new enterprise? The main thing I would say a start-up should do is minimise expenditure as much as you can in the beginning. Cash is king and if you don’t spend it, it goes further. Spending money on marketing is important but spend it wisely. Embrace modern technology and invest in that and then speak to the local Chamber of Commerce about getting access to funding from the EU or the Government. There really are some good funding options about including getting money back on the Research & Development in the form of tax credits. Using a professional financial services firm like Scrutton Bland means you can spend more time on what you are good at and delegate things like accountancy to them. Having a partner like James Tucker has been terrific because we have bounced ideas off him and made sure that we were getting things right and not going off in the wrong direction. With our new pump hire company coming online as well it really has been fabulous to be able to offload non day-to- day actions requiring detailed attention and know that it is being dealt with properly dealt with.
Scrutton Bland have more than 100 years of experience in advising engineering and manufacturing clients on financial matters at every stage of their business, and we have a number of specialists who can advise on start ups and early stage enterprises. If you would like to speak to one of our advisers about the ways that we may be able to help then contact James Tucker on 0330 058 6559 or email hello@scruttonbland.co.uk
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