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Taiwanese partnership brings automation range to the UK
Published:  29 March, 2013

So he started to look for an alternative supplier and discovered Delta at last year’s Hannover Fair. “The partnership with Delta Electronics is a good fit with Softstart UK,” says Harvey. “It gives Delta access to the UK, wider European and Middle Eastern markets, and it gives Softstart UK another level of automation technologies.”

The Delta products will be sold via a network of UK sub-distributors as well as directly by Softstart UK. Harvey believes that his business is now well-known enough for its name not be confusing to purchasers of the wider range of automation products.

Soft-starts – both LV and MV ­– currently represent about 40% of the business and will continue to be an important part as they have done since 2006, when Harvey started working with the Israeli soft-start specialist, Solcon. Softstart UK assembles MV soft-starts in-house, many of them for export to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In the past six months, this business has generated a turnover approaching £0.5m.

Last year, Softstart UK acquired the long-established Lowestoft systems builder SCS and incorporated it into a new systems-building division.

Together, Softstart UK’s operations are generating a turnover approaching £1.4m and, according to Harvey, the business has been growing at an annual rate of around 12%. The company now has 14 full-time employees and eight sub-contractors and Harvey is planning to take on more staff this year.

He is aiming to expand his business by around 23% this year, driven largely by the Delta products. He may add further Delta items to his portfolio, including servodrives and motors.