International smoke and environmental ventilation specialist, SE Controls, is capitalising on the drop in the pound’s exchange rate against other international currencies after the EU referendum, which has provided an additional competitive edge for its UK made product range.
The company, which is a member of the national ‘Made in Britain’ initiative that recognises and promotes British manufacturing, has had a production base in the UK for the last 15 years.
SE Controls’ Group Managing Director, Will Perkins (pictured), explained: “We manufacture our control systems and actuators in the UK, so our products have become more price competitive in the marketplace since the drop in sterling.
“We have seen that some of our competitors that rely on imported products, such as actuators for automated building ventilation systems, are experiencing higher product costs from their suppliers. The potential knock on effect is that some firms will inevitably need to increase prices to address the cost increase or absorb the rises, which will have an impact on their profitability.”
The recently published ‘State of Trade’ report from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) appears to support these views with 65% of the survey’s respondents predicting material cost increases, while the FMB’s Chief Executive has also highlighted the additional pressures resulting from the “plummeting exchange rate and the gathering pace of price inflation.”
“The real benefits of manufacturing in the UK are that we have more control over our quality, costs and supply chain”, continued Will Perkins. “Although the current pricing advantage being experienced by SE Controls and other British manufacturers could only be temporary, our collective reputation for innovation and quality remains unchanged, irrespective of the fluctuations in currency markets,” he concluded.
