William Hackett to lift in a single plane – it’s not equipped to rotate or move from horizontal to vertical, as is often required in marine environments. Onshore products also use typically hard bolts, which are vulnerable to corrosion when they go offshore, and have been the subject of various safety alerts from operators and contractors around the world. Our hoist ring is corrosion protected, with a speciallydesigned load-bearing bolt component, known as an L7 marine specification. In all, it’s been very well received.” In a shifting environment, the company is also eyeing up new applications for its products outside of its traditional sectors. “The historic offshore oil and gas sector and the onshore manufacturing and construction sectors are, in a way, merging to deliver the burgeoning offshore wind farms,” Ben argues. “We’re seeing the products we’ve developed for oil and gas and marine applications adopted by the likes of Siemens for their offshore installations. Moving forward, we’re expecting to see two of those sectors in terms of energy provision – traditional and
new – operating alongside each other, which is very promising.” As it moves into these new sectors, William Hackett is supported by a set of longstanding and trusted suppliers. “We have four or five strategic suppliers for about 95 percent of our products, all of whom we’ve been dealing with for over 20 years,” Ben reveals. “In the same way that we have long-term customer and employee relationships, that also transpires to our supply chain. “For instance, we work closely with South Africa’s McKinnon Chain for the manufacture of our master links and offshore marine-grade chain,” Ben remarks. “They have an expertise in terms of access to raw materials, and they’re globally competitive within steel-based manufacturing, but what they lack is product development and feedback from end-users. In effect, we’re their sales and marketing partner: we have a global distribution agreement for some of their products, and we have a responsibility to suggest product innovations that will keep us ahead of our competitors. Their responsibility is to develop industry-
leading products at the most competitive price.” As it looks to build upon the success of the last two years, the company is hoping to accelerate its online product delivery. “The new generation of users expect to go on their phone or computer to design and purchase our products, and to get them delivered,” Ben maintains. “The challenge for us to align with that experience, and to vertically integrate our partners within our ecosystems, working to ensure that our product availability and information provision is seamless across online and through our distributors. We’ve already made a start with the launch of our customer portals, which offer access to our systems, media, documentation and traceability information. It’s a trend we very much expect to continue.” v
William Hackett www.williamhackett.co.uk Products: Hoisting, lifting and rigging solutions
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