Keen, previously Sprint’s sales director, has worked in the drives industry for 34 years, starting his career with SSD before forming a company that designed and built control panels and systems during the 1990s. He has been with Sprint since 1998.
Gardiner joined the company in 2013 and previously held the position of technical operations manager. Before joining Sprint, he worked in R&D for Eurotherm Drives, before becoming technical manager for motors and drives at Edwards High Vacuum.
“This change is a very important step for Sprint Electric and allows it to continue for the foreseeable future under new, younger and more dynamic leadership,” says Keen. “There will be no sweeping changes as the formula so far has been successful – however, we will look to improve all areas of the operation and put in place some goals and strategies for growth which will see the company become more successful in its present fields of activity and enable greater penetration of its key markets.”
Sprint Electric's new joint managing directors, Gary Keen and Dr Mark Gardiner
Sprint was founded in 1987 by Edwin Prescott and David Van Der Wee. Initially, it produced single-phase DC drives up to 48A. Dr Aris Potamianos, who joined Sprint in 1997, was responsible for the design and engineering of the company’s PLX range.
Today, Sprint offers more than 150 single- and three-phase DC motor control models, with ratings from 12–2,250A, for both regenerative and non-regenerative applications. It also offers field controllers, digital slip-ring motor controllers and thyristor stack controllers. About 80% of Sprint’s annual production is exported from the UK.
