Three generations of expertise have gone into making SISIS the successful company it is today ...
The FAMILY WayWay The F
SISIS is very much a family business, Joint Managing Directors and brothers, Roger and William Hargreaves, being grandsons of the founder. That family feeling extends to the workforce, half of whom have worked with the company for more than 20 years. With more than 70 years' trading experience behind them SISIS has learned a lot about the sports turf industry.
Originally equipment was only sold
through dealerships, however, in 1969 SISIS decided to move to a direct sales policy, which saw sales increase
significantly and was
the important step needed to provide stability and growth for the company. Today equipment is sold into well over 60 countries worldwide. David Harrison was asked to manage the overseas operations nine years ago (some 30 years after his father had first sold SISIS equipment abroad). David works closely with foreign distributors and also Ian Camp who emigrated to the USA and now looks after the American subsidiary company SISIS Inc. Keith Vertigan and his team of territory managers and demonstrators take care of UK customers. In the past 6 years export sales have been rising steadily. In 1996 SISIS exported 15% of their total sales, that figure has risen to 30% in 2005, testament indeed to the export policy that the company implemented. SISIS have been based at
Macclesfield since
1962 and, in 1982, a separate Design & Development Department. and workshop was built, followed by a large finished stock warehouse to accommodate the growth of the business. The company now employs 65 staff, which includes 10 Territory Managers and 4 demonstrators who are responsible for sales and after-sales service
Research & Development
Six staff work in the R&D Department and they are a very important part of the company. William Hargreaves said, “We try very hard to listen to our customers and develop products that they need and desire. You have to forecast what the market will need in the future. The SISIS Aer-Aid is a good example of this. It took more than three years to develop and was launched 18 months ago. It has been very well received both at home and abroad. We have sold Aer-Aid’s into South Africa, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Scandinavian countries. It was launched in the USA in September 2005.”
The Aer-Aid came about when
William Hargreaves and Brian Hartley discussed the possibility of incorporating air injection into existing aeration equipment. “We wanted to improve the process of aeration, without causing surface disruption. Through careful design we have created that combination by modifying the SISIS Javelin aerator and introducing compressed air” added William. “Compaction is probably the most serious soil problem that Groundsmen have to deal with.” The Aer-Aid is the company’s newest addition to the range and the test
results are proving quite exciting.
William said “The Aer- Aid helps reduce the need for top
“We source all our main parts through British companies, in most cases local concerns”
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