Quality, choice and innovation

Today, Hansford Sensors employs a highly skilled team, has an advanced product development and manufacturing facility in High Wycombe, joint ventures in Poland, Australia and Latin America, plus a network of sales partners and distributors in a further 44 countries worldwide. Export sales currently represent over 85% of all revenues, with the company’s accelerometers and vibration monitoring systems being used in applications ranging from oil and gas, power generation and renewable energy, to marine, food and beverage, mining, quarrying and paper production.

Although Hansford Sensors has been in existence for only a few years, the company can draw on a wealth of product and applications knowledge and experience, both from within its management team, led by Chris Hansford, and its sales partners around the world. As a result, the company is able to work closely with customers, at engineering, process and commercial levels, to develop and supply a unique combination of standard product and customised solutions that meet the needs of even the most demanding operating environments.

A vital factor that has contributed to the company’s rapid growth is its extensive range of products. These include AC, velocity and 4-20mA accelerometers and transmitters, wireless vibration modules, vibration meters, switch and junction boxes, plus a wide choice of cables and installation options.

In each case, although products have been developed to meet the varied demands of different market sectors, they share a common manufacturing philosophy. This is designed to ensure the highest standards of quality, to ISO9001, optimum performance and functionality, and extended reliability with the lowest possible through-life costs.

Recent product developments have included spot facing kits, to help maintenance engineers reduce installation times still further, while ensuring the best possible location; IP68 sealed quick-fit connectors; an innovative triaxial accelerometer for simultaneous monitoring of three axes; and robust stainless steel enclosures, providing a common point for terminating up to 100 sensors in a variety of applications, including food and beverage processing.

For Hansford Sensors, product development has always been driven primarily by the changing needs of its customers around the world. Managing Director, Chris Hansford, explains, "Among the industrialised economies in recent years there has been a steady move from reactive to predictive maintenance. This is already evolving to a far more strategic approach that is effectively process-wide; encompassing every stage in the production process in a bid to maximise uptime and productivity, while reducing operating costs.

As a result, we’re going to see further advances in automation that affect even the simplest of components. There will be increasing integration between sensors and systems, growing use of remote communications to reduce labour costs and meet the needs of health and safety legislation, and ever improving functionality and performance from products such as accelerometers.”

In its brief seven year history, Hansford Sensors has grown rapidly, driven by a combination of product quality, choice, innovation and customer service. In many ways, these attributes are shared with IP&E. The company has supported the publication from its inception, for the quality of its editorial and the strength and variety of its on- and off-line advertising options.

Looking forward, Hansford Sensors sees IP&E as being key to its continued success in the UK manufacturing and process sectors, and is looking forward to helping the magazine celebrate its next major anniversary.

For more information visit www.hansfordsensors.com