Gavazzi buys Ralcom and appoints Ralf to lead UK business

The automation component manufacturer, Carlo Gavazzi, has bought the UK distributor Ralcom and merged it with its existing UK business in Aldershot, Hampshire. Ralcom director Nigel Ralf has been appointed Gavazzi`s UK general manager.

Most of Ralcom`s distributorships including Hyde Park, Red Lion, Hohner and British Encoder, have transferred to Gavazzi, but IFM and Sick have not. Ralcom has given up its shareholding in the joint ventures, Rechner UK and Contrinex UK.

Ralf hopes to boost Gavazzi`s UK turnover from around £2.25m this year, to around £3m within three years. He plans to start selling some Gavazzi technologies, such as security and energy management, which have not been promoted widely in the UK before, and intends to expand his staff to around 15 to achieve this.