BRIGHT FUTURE FOR A-BELCO GROUP

An industrial lighting company expects to more than double its £8m turnover by 2013 after investing in the manufacture of high specification LED lights for the offshore oil and gas industry, writes nebusiness.co.uk

Ashington-based A-Belco Group has just received third party certification for their newly developed LED HDL106 floodlights, which have already received substantial orders and a high level of inquiries.

The lights, which come under the firm’s Hadar Lighting brand, are manufactured specifically for hazardous areas which have a high risk of ignition, such as oil- rigs and underground mines, and use 40% less energy than traditional lighting.

They can also be used in extremely cold conditions, with the company now looking to expand its international operations to colder climates such as Russia, Kazakhstan and the Antarctic and Northern Canada.

The company, which currently has distributors in the Far East, Middle East, Australia, the US and Libya, has also developed the technology to be fitted in infra red LEDs which can be used in conjunction with security cameras, which have created a growing market due to the need to monitor and protect unmanned pipeline and process plants.

The firm, said that the cost efficiencies and environmentally friendly features of the new lighting, which also include no harmful components such as mercury, are proving popular among its clients and should help it to increase its £8m turnover by 30% each year over the next three years.

It is now looking to add to its 80-strong permanent workforce over the coming months and said that it planned to bring some of its manufacturing processes in-house, with much of it currently outsourced.

The group has invested over £500,000 in the new lighting and said that it expected to inject more funds to develop the products.

The A-Belco group of companies, which includes the manufacture of mechanical and electrical products, currently has an order book in excess of £9m.

Divisional director Bob Scott said: “Due to the LED technology, the lights are initially more expensive than traditional counterparts but very quickly pay for themselves through low maintenance and power requirements.

“They really have very few adverse features – they are easy to fit, cheap to run, very rugged, give off a fantastic white light, and there's no warm up period.

“They are also use less power, which is important to a number of our clients that are looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

“We see the new technology as the way forward and expect it to become our flagship product. We’re currently dealing with enquiries from all over the world and are very confident of future orders.”

A-Belco’s success comes halfway through Manufacturers Week, which has been launched by EEF and aims to promote the region and the UK’s success in manufacturing.

Original story by Chris Knox for nebusiness.co.uk on 3nd March 2010