about

Selectequip started in 1985, originally producing and supplying maintenance consumables such as the Toolmaster drill bit which is still sold today. Now almost twenty five years on, it is a national company with 75% of its business coming from within the rail industry.

The experience we have within the rail industry is extensive. We are a fully accredited ISO 9002 company, approved suppliers to Network Rail, MOD, London Underground Ltd (Metronet and Tubelines), plus all other major rail contractors. We are accepted within the framework of the Utilities Vendors Database (UVDB), and We are Link Up accredited in sixteen categories for supply within the Rail network. We also currently hold BR CAT Numbers for many of their products.

The company's most successful product within the rail industry is the T-Mark®. Designed and Created for Jarvis Rail in York and Babcock Rail in Glasgow three years ago, the T- Mark® is now used throughout the country. It's a Track Geometry Identification System, which provides permanent identification of critical trackside information, including cant marking and transition identification on curves. Prior to the invention of the T-Mark®, Babcock had been using another product which was proving highly weather dependant. It could only be fitted in dry weather, which in the UK is probably only 20% of the time! Davie Trainer, Babcock Rail's Construction Manager met with Henry Spence from Selectequip to discuss what sort of product they could create which would be effective and reliable but also not weather dependant. The T-Mark® range has now been developed into more than 100 different designs within the rail industry. Davie says he found Henry and the Selectequip sales force, "Very proactive and customer focused. Things started to happen very quickly and within days the first version of the T-Mark® was born!"

Selectequip, with its head offices in Lichfield had been growing until early 2008 when the owners Peter Phillipson and Ken Rudman decided to retire. Having worked in the business for over forty years collectively, directors Peter Ryan and Henry Spence entered into an MBO. We are now into their second year at the helm and with a strong management team they are ready to expand more strongly in 2009 despite the economic gloom, and an average Selectequip employee has worked for the company for more than fifteen years, so it's pretty fair to say they are a close team who are happy in their jobs.

Selectequip's work also extends outside the rail industry with customers including, The Ministry of Defence, local authorities, hospitals, public utilities, such as gas, electricity, and water companies, and bus services, as well as the vast markets of the manufacturing and automotive industries. More recently Selectequip designed, manufactured and installed new entrance signs for the Marriott hotel in Breadsall, Derbyshire. Peter Ryan comments, "This is an area of growth we intend to progress with."

Last year Selectequip were approached to look at creating signs for Sites of Special Scientific Interest, known as SSSI. Their SSSI signs were approved by Network Rail and The National Heritage, and in November 2008 alone more than one thousand five hundred of these signs were delivered to 40 sites around the UK. These signs are more or less indestructible, and are made of macrolon polyoncarbonate. Traditionally these would have been mounted on steel posts, but Selectequip have produced a fully recycled plastic post with a minimum forty years life span. Graffiti is also a big problem; thousands of signs are destroyed every year, either by graffiti or in the attempt to remove it. In response Selectequip have created a special anti graffiti film, so when the signs are defaced, the graffiti can be removed easily with a solvent, and then the sign is as good as new. Normally any attempt to remove the graffiti would have also removed the sign art work. So this new method is more resilient, saving money and time. The SSSI sign have led to the biggest contract that Selectequip has ever received.

The success of the SSSI signs came after the development of Selectequip's new Milepost sign. The Milepost was redesigned by Network Rail engineers for a trial on the LNE, with the criteria to develop a sign that would withstand all of the major problems engineers encountered on a daily basis. Most problems were caused by vandalism, not only does the new Milepost tackle this, it again considers green issues by using the same 100% recycled plastic with a minimum 40 year lifespan used when mounting the SSSI signs.

According to Henry growth is a key part of Selectequip's future, but like many businesses, it has been affected by the current economic situation. Peter says, "We are finding it harder to sell, but this means we need to work harder and be smarter. Our sales force now attends appointments with engineers with a laptop so we are able to start designing a product straight away. We are still the market leader in the rail industry, something we are extremely proud of and will strive to maintain. Our growth this year has been better than predicted, and given the world-wide economic down turn is very impressive."

Henry concludes, "We currently have twelve salesmen, but we hope to increase that number to fifteen in the not too distant future. We would like to continue to develop new and successful products for the Rail Industry, extend our contracts with the Ministry of Defence and also in the public sector with schools and hospitals.