Pay as you sense proves popular

Equipment rentals are increasingly helping companies overcome the hurdle of finding investment capital to fund new development and verification projects.

Mark Ingham of Sensor Technology explains: "The devil is in the detail: enterprising companies can usually see new gaps in their markets and envision a product to suit. But these need to be tested and proven, and that often involves acquiring sensors and test equipment." Sensor Technology has a rental option in place for its TorqSense range of torque sensors.Users can rent rather than purchase, thus circumventing the bottleneck of raising capital purchase approval. If they decide they want to keep their TorqSense for longer than anticipated, Sensor Technology is happy to convert the rental to a sale, with a percentage of the hire fee paid offset against the purchase price.

Ingham says rentals are popular at all times: "Many of our customers have a project where they need to measure torque, but know that when the project is concluded they will have no further need for a TorqSense.

Renting is very attractive." This is also true in academia and in high tech industries. Brunel University has used Sensor Technology's rental service on a project for a motor sports client. Another user is a West Country satellite technology developer that needed to test ball screws to the point where they could be confident that they would work once blasted into orbit.

Ingham adds: "A regular comment we hear is that customers would like to rent equipment from other suppliers too. There is definitely a fundamental need in the market."