A clear advantage

Passion for technology spanning both the products and their manufacture gives customers the best of both worlds, enriching their value.

There is strength in being an experienced, reliable distributor that customers can consult and trust. There is also plenty of customer value in the depth of product knowledge available from the manufacturer of those products. However as Andy Bairsto, Sales Director for ERIKS, explains, the unique combined knowledge base of a partner that manages both the manufacturer and distribution offers customers a unique depth and breadth of technical know-how - because each of these capabilities enhances the other.

For example, ERIKS is an in-depth line-side supplier of its own well-known house brands such as Revolvo, Pioneer Weston and Fenner. These are available alongside a full range of brands from other leading manufactures through ERIKS twin business model which provides real advantages both to customers of our OEM and of our MRO services. When we design and develop solutions for customers, we are not only calling on a broad knowledge gained through our established experience in the maintenance industry. We are also drawing on our deep engineering knowledge acquired through developing and testing products within our own ranges. And because we manage and engineer our house brands, in addition to sourcing and stocking other ranges, we can offer a much better understanding of product performance, which can then be used to achieve enhanced solutions for our customers, both line side and maintenance.

This is typified in the ERIKS Materials Technology Centre, which is continually testing and developing new products, as well as special solutions to some of our customers' specific application challenges.

As part of the development and proving process we also make use of independent test facilities alongside our own, to ensure our products provide optimum performance right through their service life. We can then offer new products that we are close to and thoroughly understand - which means better, tailored products for our customers, and an increasingly intuitive understanding among our engineers of the problems and possible solutions within different applications.

Take, for example, Fenner wedge belts, which continue to evolve and provide ever more reliable support. The Fenner Ultra PLUS 140 high strength wedge belt was launched in 2011, following tough field-testing in the Australian mining industry that resulted in some special features being incorporated. These include the asymmetric double weave jacket and super-strength aramid cords, which combine to create a product construction unique in the UK.

For our house brands, ERIKS has to maintain a larger inventory than a distributor, because we are the sole source. That ensures the reliability of supply, and reduces risk to our customers. And, because we also repair and remanufacture a range of rotating equipment - including motors, pumps and gearboxes - as well as electronic control equipment, we know better than most what works and what doesn't: another strength that helps us to choose the best solution for our customers.

Maintaining broad and deep stocks also provides further benefits. For example, customers have no need to spend valuable time sourcing items from multiple suppliers, because ERIKS can be a single source of supply for a wide range of brands and product lines, with technical know-how across them all.

Because we operate as both an OEM and MRO supplier, our customers have every reason to trust us. They know that our expertise in supply, manufacture and refurbishment of equipment means we are not tied to one solution and will not sell one thing when another is more suitable. Our breadth of knowledge and experience is underlined by our customer relationships. Whereas an OEM wouldn't normally sit with a customer and talk about their needs, ERIKS' technical teams have the depth of knowledge to be able to sit with an engineer and conceptualise alternatives - going through each of the available options to find the best possible solution.

All the know-how we have accumulated about the markets, applications and processes we are involved in is ploughed back into our portfolio of products and brands. And there are many years of experience held within these brands that can be tapped into. Revolvo, Pioneer Weston and Fenner - to name but three - have notched up 33 years, 75 years and a staggering 150 years in bearings, sealing technology and power transmission products respectively, adding up to over 250 years' experience between them.

The range of expertise offered by ERI KS is evident simply by exploring some of the powerful solutions offered by our own brands: Fenner's world-renowned power transmission products; RX's advanced manufacturing techniques and material technologies; Centro's high-quality, cost-effective electrical consumables; Pioneer Weston's innovative sealing solutions; Revolvo's extensive range of Split Roller Bearings; LMC 's range of safety-enhanced industrial hose coupling systems; BM Europe's bellows expansion joints for pipework systems; Econ's range of valves manufactured to strict standards; Flexitube's hydraulic hoses for a wide range of demanding applications.

Years of design, development and manufacture of these brands have given us the capability to develop ever more effective, more efficient, more economically viable solutions as both an OEM and MRO provider. It's a combination that - like our own-brand products - is exclusive to ERIKS.