Company profile A sense of success Sensing Precision’s premises in High Wycombe A range of solutions
• Leakage testers (ALF150; ALF+; Mini CLT; Classic CLT) • HVAC Instruments (µM2500 Micromanometer; handlheld wireless HVAC range; Balancemaster 4250; Flowfinder MKII) • Pitot tubes (L type Pitot; S type Pitot; Jointed Pitot) • Flow Grids (Wilson Flow Grid; Eco Radial Flow Grid; X & UX Grids; Eco Flow Probes
AFTER INITIALLY being sold to an American company in 2005, and with a couple of name changes in between, Sensing Precision came into being in 2009 retaining many of the original division’s products including what is known as the original Wilson Flow Grid, along with key staff members who now measure their service in three and four decades. Based in the village of Stokenchurch just outside High Wycombe, Sensing Precision employs just 12 people for its 6,000 square foot facility with a turnover of under £1 million. “We’re not a massive company”, Andrew agrees, “but hopefully that will change in the future.” Sensing Precision prides itself on the fact that it is the manufac- turer of the original Wilson Flow Grid (WFG) – which it considers to be the most accurate system for the control and measurement of air and has been used on many HVAC projects worldwide as well as specialist projects in the fields of food, pharmaceuti- cals, petro-chemical and nuclear. “It measures multiple points in the air stream in a duct and aver- ages them to give them a volume flow rate in the duct. It’s one of the few that is made of stainless steel and it is extremely
accurate,” explains Andrew. He readily admits it is the most expensive product on the market for measuring volume flow, “but where we win over the cheaper competitors is in places like hos- pitals and prestige buildings that are looking for ultimate energy efficiency and ultimate accuracy in measurement”.
The company is currently involved in projects using its WFG in London as well as the Middle East at a hospital in Riyadh Saudi Arabia and another project in the United Arab Emirates. But the WFG is just one a range of Sensing Precision’s products. In fact, in the past two years it has also started produc- ing the Eco Radial Flow Grid which is about half the cost of the WFG and still maintains good accuracy, according to Andrew who describes it as Sensing Precision’s attempt to take some market share back from some of the lower cost competitors. On the commissioning and engineering side of the business Sensing Precision manufactures Pitot tubes and micromanometers for measuring pressure and flow velocity; and leakage testers one of which, its ALF150 Ductwork Leakage Tester, was a finalist for a major industry award this year.
Apprenticeship scheme
Sensing Precision runs an apprenticeship scheme, and its first apprentice is now a fully fledged member of the team working alongside the company’s main fabricator after finishing his training. “Production wise he has added to our capability and we plan to employ a new apprentice next year,” says Andrew, who explains that an ageing workforce, meant this was something that needed to be addressed.
12 | May 2016 | HVR
• Installed instruments (Vanes & arrays; Eco-TX pressure transmitter; Filter Loss Gauge 700 • Specialist & bespoke (Venturis; Yaw Probes; Velocity & Flow Calibration Rigs
• Particulate Sampling (Cegrit)
Sensing Precision products include The Wilson Flow Grid, an ALF150 duct leakage tester, Pitot tubes and Venturis
But in the past three years, Sensing Precision has begun to focus on commission engineering solutions. “We have added cali- bration and commissioning instruments and more recently we’ve started offering some of our clients onsite calibration and other services to back these up. “We’ve standardised a lot of products and we are trying to get to a point where we are provid- ing high quality solutions but much quicker and off the shelf. Our customers still have the same requirements, but we are trying to be more clever in the way we manufacture and we are trying to keep production within the UK as much as possible. With the 2015 General Election and the coming Referendum throwing some general uncertainty
into the industry as a whole, Andrew agrees that last year was reasonably flat for Sensing Precision, despite doubling in size from 2012 when the new manage- ment team started, and the coming months in the lead up to the refer- endum look set to have limited growth potential. However, Andrew is positive about future prospects. “We are looking to offer better support for all our products, particularly the new ones through improved service and calibration offerings. We want to add new products which are still high accuracy but more cost effective and we are looking at ways we can minimise the amount of labour we put into our products while still produc- ing a very good result.”
Andrew admits he sits on the fence as far as Brexit is con- cerned as it remains to be seen what impact an exit from Europe might have on British companies. “I suspect we would come under inflationary pressures and our costs will rise if the pound falls, but equally it will make our products more competitive in places like the US and other parts of the world.”
The decision is a personal one for the electorate to make and businesses will have to deal with the outcome either way.” “In the end, we are a small British business trying to produce high quality products for the HVAC industry and we hope we are building that reputation.”
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Andrew Hamshere
Originally a special products division of one of the UK’s go to HVAC instrumentation companies, High Wycombe based Sensing Precision is in the business of making front end measurement products for the HVAC industry both for the UK and export market. General manager Andrew Hamshere gave us a sense of who this small company is and what it does
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