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Our company is growing rapidly so it’s important that everyone knows the direction we are heading in and the role they play in getting us there. We’re on a journey together – it’s an exciting time!
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How did the recession impact on your approach to business? The last financial crisis and the tech sector crash that preceded it in 2001 were difficult times for our company, as they were for many engineering concerns. After the first tech crunch my business partner left and I took sole ownership of the business. By the time of the recession we were mainly working for clients in telecoms, defence and outdoor advertising. All of these sectors were badly hit and it became evident that we needed a new outlet for our people and their skills. This led to us becoming specialists in Original Equipment Design and Manufacture (OEDM), which led to us producing some highly-specialised, usually electromechanical, products for companies including 3M, SafetyKleen and Rapiscan.
How are you adapting to changing markets? Increasingly robotics will change the way we work and live. We wanted Tharsus to be at the forefront of developing and manufacturing robotics for commercial use. Robots built at our factory in Northumberland are now in use in Ocado’s robotic warehouse. We’re exploring the possibility of working with companies on robotics projects in a number of sectors, perhaps one of the most exciting of these is agri-tech, where advances in technology and economic factors such as proposed limits on immigration and rising wages are making automation a much more viable option. We still have an active fabrication business; they too have evolved over time to focus increasingly more on complex metal fabrications.
What would you say is your unique selling point?
How do you handle motivation within the company?
I would say the combination of our design expertise, production capability and trusted supply chain partnerships make us unique. It allows us to guide our customers along the whole product development journey, from initial concept to volume manufacture. For example, when Ocado – the world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer approached us to help them co-design and manufacture the robotic vehicle that now forms the foundation of the Ocado Smart Platform, we worked with them to fully understand the commercial and technical needs and constraints of the project. We explored a wide range of solution options for them – what should work and what would work. We tested in pre-production and then we started manufacture. We made the entire journey as simple as we could for them and we’re now repeating the process with the next generation of robot.
I’m a firm believer that you should always play to your strengths; my strength when it comes to motivating people is creating teams that work. Finding people who fit together well is the foundation of good team work and productivity. I’m also very open with employees about what’s happening with the business. Our company is growing rapidly so it’s important that everyone knows the direction we are heading in and the role they play in getting us there. We’re on a journey together – it’s an exciting time!
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Robots built at our factory in Northumberland are now in use in Ocado’s robotic warehouse.
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