PDA Diary

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Over the past years PDA Council has arranged conferences which featured a Friday visit to a well known pump manufacturer. Such an arrangement has not proved to be popular, possibly due to many members finding that a Friday is the one day during a week when they cannot be away from the office. Council also recognises that an extended weekend can prove to be expensive.

After much discussion your Council decided that the Conference / AGM weekend should be spread over a Saturday and Sunday with no Friday link to a pump maker. Such an arrangement means that a level of flexibility can occur with some arriving Saturday morning and leaving Sunday and others deciding to make the weekend an extended break by arriving on the Friday and departing on Monday, or later. The actual PDA event of Saturday to Sunday allows time for some sight seeing plus the PDA’s AGM and Annual Dinner.

During Friday delegates will visit the HMD Seal / Less Pumps Ltd manufacturing plant. Saturday has various events planed including meeting members of the Eastbourne Pump Forum. Followed by the Association's AGM and Annual Dinner. The weekend promises something of interest for delegates and their partners. To ensure that a suitable hotel can accommodate the whole party please register your intention to come now. notice posted 11/03/2004

We are planning a one day visit to Weir Pumps, Scotland during 2004. Full details will be issued when a date is fixed.

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The visit to and conference at the Grundfos Pumps' plant in Denmark, took place in October 2003 - See Report in PDA News Letter for January2004

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Those attending -

CCD Pumps Ltd, Marshall Pump Systems Ltd, Cleghorn Waring & Co (Pumps) Ltd,

Panks Engineers Ltd, Tomlinson Hall & Co Ltd, Fordwater Pumping Supplies Ltd,

Frank Manning (Engineers) ltd, Javelin Water Engineering Ltd

The visit to SterlingSPP's Coleford plant was a great success and proved that we have a lot to learn about the vast range of pumping activities carried out by Sterling Fluid Systems Ltd. The plant was well ordered and obviously capable of producing a wide spread of products efficiently and quickly. Our members were particularly impressed with the Stirling range of portable vacuum assisted water pumps, trailer mounted, conversations were overheard between members discussing the possibilities of starting a hire fleet based on these superb pieces of kit.

Our thanks to Clive Southerton, Martin Bagg, Richard Martyn and Terry Newby for providing a superb and informative day.

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Those attending -

CCD Pumps Ltd, Carter Pumps Ltd, Marshall Pump Systems Ltd, Cleghorn Waring & Co (Pumps) Ltd, Panks Engineers Ltd,

Pump Services (Camberly) Ltd, SI Pumps Ltd, Consolidated Pumps Ltd, G M Treble Ltd.

PDA members from Manchester, London, East Anglia, Midlands, Cotswolds and Ireland were given a comprehensive insight into the product range and ultra-modern manufacturing techniques within Stuart's striking new building. Hosted by Stuart's managing director, Adrian Mettem, the day proved to be very well organised by Stuart's staff and all delegates agreed that the visit had been well worth while.

This group visit was the fourth UK pump factory outing to be organised within the last 12 months. Further meetings are planned; see above regarding a StirlingSPP visit.

Ian Castle 20/06/02

Unfortunately Bob Nash of TT Pumps Ltd and Simon Blake of SI Pumps Ltd had to call off their visit at the last moment.

Graham Kipping and his staff arranged a superb day with a warm welcome and a detailed presentation of the Jabsco - Rule - Flojet product range. Each product range was presented with impressive use of 'power point' and generated many questions and interesting discussion. This was followed by an informative tour of the modern manufacturing plant, members were shown every aspect of ITT's site from the advanced CAD design systems in use, auto and robot controlled machining, testing and packaging. It is true to say that every delegate came away having learnt a lot and gained a good overview of a product range which is unfamiliar to many PDA members.

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The weekend was arranged so delegates could visit G.G. &G Ltd during the Friday and then stop over in Kendal for a weekend in the Lake district. Accommodation being at the excellent Castle Green Hotel.

Those attending - Charles and John Cleghorn, Paul Marshall, Nik Hursthouse, Jim and Ann Gallacher, Matt and Hilda Greig, Mike and Val Brown, Graham and Helen Brown, Tony Keville, Russ and Christine Harrison, Peter Panks, Ian and Joy Castle. Unfortunately Raymond Clarke and Alan Thomas never arrived having to turn back due to an accident.

Friday morning saw the ladies enjoying the delights of Kendal whilst their spouse were treated to a tour of the G.G. &G Ltd factory. After coffee and a warm welcome by Chris Harrison-Beck and his staff we were given a power point presentation of their product range. The tour of the works proved of great interest as it enabled members to see the new range of Walwin-Robot submersible pumps, water turbines for power generation and the vast range of specialised pumps produced by G.G. & G. The factory was impressively laid out with great emphasis on efficiency and flexibility. We were then taken to the Company's museum where over a 100 years of turbine and pump development were displayed, altogether a fascinating day. An evening meal in Kendal gave the PDA the opportunity to vote a warm thank you to Chris Harrison-Beck and his staff.

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From the left: Tony Keville, Peter Panks, Jim Gallacher, Charles Cleghorn, John Cleghorn, Matt Greig, Ian Castle, Chris Harrison-Beck, Mike Brown, Paul Marshall, Graham Brown, Nik Hursthouse.

Location - Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd, Canal Iron Works, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 7BZ

Report of Members visit to Mono Pumps Ltd, by Nik Hursthouse. Wednesday 4th April 2001

The meeting was held at Mono Pumps, Manchester and was opened by Ian Davies who is the Distributor Development Manager. Although several of the PDA members were not Mono distributors the meeting was open and the initial presentation from Mono Pumps was very well received. Mono’s history, their competition, the market place today and the future were all discussed.

After the Mono presentation, the PDA members were left to discuss privately. The main topic of conversation was membership. The difficulties in getting new members, the attendance of members to meetings and what else could be done to assist current members as well as attract new ones.

Paul Naylon, MD of Mono Pumps joined us at a buffet lunch. After lunch he joined us in the meeting room and was keen to discuss E-Commerce. Mono had obviously thought long and hard about how, rather than when, they need to be progressing into this field. Whilst Marshall Pumps have had some dealings with Jabsco on line Cleghorn Warings had been dealing this way for several years now.

The main concerns that Mono had were how do you police who is selling what online. For instance a distributor in the north could have a catalogue and sell to customers in the south or Mono could sell to anyone, anywhere or an oversees distributor could sell back into the UK. All these were very valid points and thought provoking for most members. This is obviously a subject which is not going to go away and one which all distributors need to be planning.

A site visit followed, all members saw the rotor machining and milling, the stator production, the stores and despatch areas.

As many members had far to travel the meeting was then closed after a vote of thanks to all the Mono staff concerned with making the visit both pleasant and informative.

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Held at:	Mono Pumps, Manchester	Date:	04/04/01
Persons Present:	Charles Cleghorn – Cleghorn Waring & Co (Pumps) Ltd
	Paul Marshall – Marshall Pump Systems Ltd
	Nik Hursthouse – Marshall Pump Systems Ltd
:	Ian Austin – CCD Pumps Ltd
	Matt Greig – Clyde Associates Ltd
	P O’Dell – Kinder Janes Engs Ltd
	D Forster - Kinder Janes Engs Ltd
Also Present	Ian Davies – Mono Pumps Ltd
Purpose:	PDA meeting & Site Visit