Pyroban re-energised for MHE market

In 2017, private equity investors Sea Equity, acquired explosion protection solutions provider Pyroban from the Caterpillar Inc and the company is now focused hard on building market share in the materials handling sector, where it is virtually synonymous with the process of making forklifts explosion proof.

Caterpillar had bought Pyroban essentially for the oil and gas market in 2011 so the material handling aspects of the business, while it never went away, had lost some of its previous impetus.

Pyroban Group CEO Brian Quarendon says: “Since we've been divested from Caterpillar we've invested in our technology on the materials handling side and we are expanding relationships and business in the sector.”

This has led to some major developments. While exports are key to Pyroban, the company has given a real shot in the arm to UK engineering by consolidating its operations in the UK.

Brian explains: “We decided we would make a single manufacturing centre of excellence, and chose Shoreham as our location. We closed down facilities in Holland and in China. 

“We have now been in discussion with customers and OEMs and our volumes are increasing considerably. We are bringing online another 10,000 sq ft of manufacturing space over the next three months.”

The big uptick in volumes seen by Pyroban has led to a major recruitment campaign that has lasted for much of 2018.

“Another recruitment campaign will come on stream this month (January) as we look for more application engineers and technicians both to keep up with growing volumes and continue to drive growth.”

Pyroban has recruited over 30 people in the last four months. 

The company is seeing more volume coming from European countries.

“Exports to Europe are also a key part of our growth,” says Brian. “We have the major market share in the UK and we see our major growth path into Europe as working with end users and customers we have worked with in the past and who are keen to come back to us.

“EN1755 was the new standard  which came in November 2017 (you can see a video explaining EN1755 here) and we have made a considerable investment into making sure we are on top of that.”

The landscape is always shifting in explosion proofing. As components, such as fleet management tools, are added to forklifts, Pyroban has to develop ways to ensure these components can be used in dangerous, potentially explosive environments.

Pyroban is also investing in next generation product developments that are being kept under tight wraps at the moment. So watch this space for more news.

In terms of training, Pyroban offers a full support package to customers so they can maintain their EX-modified vehicles. The  training centre is part of the facility in Shoreham. Or indeed, Pyroban can also send its own service engineers to customer sites to deliver training.

There is something of an awareness gap in industry, when it comes to explosion proofing. This often comes down to the size of business. Most large corporations are well aware of their duties and responsibilities, but smaller firms can have issues.

Brian explains: “In the smaller environments where people may be buying one truck every five or seven years, education is often required. It is a continual process, as for example, the person that procured the last forklift seven years ago may no longer be with the business, so it is important to help smaller firms keep their needs in sharp focus.”

Pyroban is looking very positively to the future and consolidating its position as an authority on explosion protection, with a renewed focus on the MHE market. It is also bringing in a broader variety of vehicles than before, not just forklifts but also tow tractors, for example, and in a broader range of applications from – distillers to big Pharma plants.

Brian concludes: “The engineering excellence and expertise has always been here, we’ve just needed to accelerate things and we feel we are now in a very exciting period of growth.”