Company profile
Powrmatic’s facility in Somerset
Going in for the skill
The country’s skills shortage is one of the biggest concerns for the HVAC industry and one which Ilminster-based commercial and industrial heating and ventilation specialist Powrmatic plans to tackle head on. Managing director Phil Brompton argues that investment in the next generation is critical
appren- tice Michael Rose was recently named runner up at the ICOM Energy annual awards and this is a source of pride for Phil who puts acquiring a skilled workforce on top of Powrmatic’s agenda. But he adds that this is a chal- lenge for the whole country, not just Powrmatic, and not one which is insurmountable consid- ering the high number of youths currently unemployed. “We have 800,000 to 900,000 unemployed youngsters and these are people that we should be train- ing as welders, machinists, design- ers technicians to name a few. “But this must go hand in hand with ‘Buying British’. There is a cost to training, so my request to installers is to buy British from British suppliers so that we can make a profit and invest in addi- tional training programmes to get these young people into work.” Powrmatic has historically run an apprenticeship scheme but this was shelved during the recession and reinstated to safeguard the company’s long-term security when Phil joined the company a few years ago.
“If I throw a stone in Ilminster, I can’t hit a welder or a sheet metal worker but if Powrmatic is going to have these skills in three or four
years time then we are going to have to train those people.” One apprentice is engaged every year, supported by the nearby Bridgewater College and the apprentices can be educated by to HNC level.
Phil also believes there is a role to be played by schools in encour- aging students, both boys and girls, in the sciences and mathe- matics, as a well as a role for government by way of incentive.
Powrmatic today
Manufacturing products for three main markets in the commercial and industrial sector: UK Warm Air, Export and Ventilation, Powrmatic and has reported sig- nificant success across all three in the past 12 months. “Despite difficult trading condi- tions, the past 12 months has seen a 10 per cent growth for Powrmatic,” says Phil. “We have taken market share in the UK warm air business, while we have seen growth of 30 to 40 per cent in our ventilation market which is predominantly UK based. “In addition, we have grown our export market by more than 50 per cent this year exporting to coun- tries including Russia, Poland, France, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Ukraine.
In the UK Powrmatic’s cus- tomers include big names such as Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury, Halfords, Brantano, Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Dunelm and B&Q.
Core products Powrmatic’s products span across three core activities of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. On the heating side, its prod- ucts are used to heat out-of-town retail stores such as factories, workshops, warehouses and showrooms.
The range includes gas-fired unit heaters, which are suspended up off the floor with outputs typ- ically between 10kw and 140kw. In addition it offers larger cabi- net heaters, often floor mounted with outputs of 30kw to 1MW suit- able for much larger premises, an example of which is a large car factory in Russia – Powrmatic’s biggest export market – to which it supplied 26 1MW heaters. Powrmatic also has a range of natural ventilation products used to provide natural ventilation in facto- ries, warehouses and retail outlets and smoke ventilation products – a safety product – to evacuate smoke in fire situations.
More recently Powrmatic diver- sified into air conditioning and is a distributor for Midea – a major
Apprentice Michael Rose with Kate Bellingham at the ICOM event
Chinese manufacturer. It has also just recently launched a range of gas fired heat exchange modules for process heating and the air handling market.
Ultrasky ventilators; TE air rotation heater at Senator International; air conditioners at Appliances Direct 12 | July 2014 | HVR
Efficiency shapes the future Along with all manufacturers, mandatory standards and schemes such as the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme along with customer expectations have obliged Powrmatic to up its game in terms of efficiency. This means it now offers a range of condensing warm air heaters with efficiencies up to 104 per cent which Phil says is “at the top end of what’s available on the market”. “We are now working hard on the Eco Design Directive – which will mean all air heating products will become condensing by 2019 – by developing a new gen- eration of air heaters. “We are seeing a similar trend on the ventilation side because we have had to improve insulation levels and reduce air leakage rates. “Energy efficiency is on the agenda, there is no doubt about that and it is mostly driven by leg- islation but also by customer expectation.”
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