REAL LIFE EXPORTER

INSIDE STORY

A Manchester company has developed a diagnostic tool for industrial applications that allows the user to see inside a vessel or pipeline, writes Janet Tibble

I

ndustrial Tomography Systems (ITS) is one of a handful of companies worldwide to offer tomography – section-by-section imaging as used

in a CT scan – to monitor industrial processes in order to manage or optimise them. Established in 2002 as a spin- out from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, the company has a turnover of £1.5m and is growing by around 20 per cent each year. “We sell an electronics instrument that connects to a PC to provide images from a sensor that goes into the process to observe what’s happening inside,” explains ITS’ managing director, Ken Primrose (pictured left). “This technology was challenging to develop commercially as you have to combine several scientifi c disciplines. It needs expertise in process engineering, high-speed electronics, computer science and mathematics to develop the software to understand the images.”

SECTOR SUCCESS ITS delivers its technology through a range of agents and distributors worldwide. They tend to be specialists who are already selling complementary solutions to an established customer base or, in some cases, highly knowledgeable experts able to identify likely clients. Currently, the biggest users of ITS’ services are in the petrochemical sector, where clients include Petronas of Malaysia, Petrobras in Brazil, as well as oil giants like Exxon and Statoil. Primrose

acknowledges there is plenty more potential in this sector, particularly in Russia and the Middle East. Other clients include international companies like Procter & Gamble, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and Nestlé. “Even some large companies are

not aware of this technology,” states Primrose, “so a big part of our job is to identify the right people who will understand it and know how it can apply to their processes.”

GROWTH PLAN ITS introduced its technology and attracted its fi rst customers through global scientifi c conferences attended by specialists who travel the world looking for new measurement techniques. E-marketing has also proved a very effective tool for the company. In addition, ITS has used the services

of UK Trade & Investment to promote itself overseas, receiving fi nancial support for exhibiting, and it is now taking advice on establishing a presence in the US, its largest market. “We have good representation in

many territories now,” says Primrose. “We are receiving a signifi cant increase in enquiries from China and recently had some sales in India, which looks promising. We believe that Australia could be a good market for us, with lots of applications for our technology that are yet to be exploited.” Investment and growth have been tackled in a prudent way through cash

fl ow, but the company is now looking at alternative sources of fi nance to accelerate its growth. “We invest a great deal in R&D and

there are a number of grants that help in this area,” says Primrose. “The Technology Strategy Board has several initiatives that fi t well with what we are doing and we are preparing a proposal to access a new Government grant initiative. “We are at an exciting point in our development. There are lots of interesting opportunities and a number of our customers are starting to roll the technology out across their business process. Success over the next two or three years will mean fi nding a lot of resource to scale up. The crucial thing is getting good channels to market. “The only constraint to our growth

is fi nding skilled engineers and strong commercial people who can help market our technology. That is crucial to the business. Luckily, we are attracting high- calibre scientifi c graduates from both UK and European universities who fi nd our environment stimulating. We have Chinese, French and Portuguese staff, which is also very useful when a range of languages is needed.” ■ >> itoms.com

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