Simplatroll adopts its parent`s Lenze name

Simplatroll, the Bedford-based drives and power transmission specialist, has adopted the name of its German parent Lenze, which bought the company a year ago.

The company says that customers will notice little change. As well as selling Lenze`s products such as geared motors, inverters, and servo drives, the renamed company will continue to sell non-Lenze products from suppliers such as Panasonic, Servomech, Vogel, ETP and Tollok.

The Lenze products represent about half of the company`s business and this proportion is likely to grow in coming years. Lenze is targeting a 14% increase in sales from the UK operation in the coming year. One additional product line from the renamed company will be a range of inverters made in the US by AC Tech, which Lenze bought last November.

Globally, Lenze employs 2,500 and has sales of more than £220m. The UK operation, founded as Simplatroll in 1969, has sales of around £20m and employs 130 people, nearly half whom are engineers.