Company showcase: Spirax-Sarco Engineering

Website: spiraxsarcoengineering.com

Head office: Charlton House, Cirencester Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 8ER

Number of employees: 5,000, including 1,300 sales and service engineers

Company summary

Spirax-Sarco Engineering is the world leader in each of its two businesses, Spirax Sarco for steam specialties and Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group for niche peristaltic pumps and associated fluid path technologies. The Spirax Sarco steam specialties business provides a broad range of products, engineered packages and site services, helping industrial and institutional steam users improve production efficiency and product quality; reduce energy costs, water usage and emissions; achieve regulatory compliance and enhance the safety of their operations.

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group offers solutions for fluid path applications with highly accurate, controllable and virtually maintenance-free pumps and associated technologies. The company's products are ideally suited to a wide variety of applications from biopharmaceutical processes that demand sterility and precision, to highly corrosive slurries typically seen in precious metal processing.

The Group is headquartered in Cheltenham, England; has strategically located manufacturing plants around the world; employs 5,000 people; and serves over 100,000 customers in approximately 110 countries, through a global network of 78 operating units, plus sales offices and distributors. The Company's shares have been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1959, and it has a market capitalisation of £3bn.

People and development

Our people are our most important asset and also our greatest competitive advantage; it is through their dedication and hard work that we achieve success for all stakeholders. We recruit high-calibre employees and invest extensively to develop their knowledge, ensuring that we meet the needs of customers and deliver outstanding value to shareholders. During 2016, we established the Spirax Sarco Academy, with an independent budget and leadership team, to oversee delivery of the learning and development programmes of the steam specialties business's customer-facing staff.

Company culture

In all our operations we aim to do what is right, best and fair, while delivering value to our customers and shareholders. We put our customers first and operate with integrity in all our business relationships. Our Core Values of respect, accountability, passion, integrity and delivery provide the foundation upon which we make decisions and drive innovation.

Diversity, social responsibility

Our employment practices are based on the values of respect and integrity. We recognise that diversity of gender, age, culture, experience and expertise enhance our ability to operate our business effectively and ethically. We are an equal opportunities employer and are fully supportive of international human rights principles.

Environment and sustainability

Sustainability is at the core of our business operations, driving our strategy to innovate and manufacture products that improve the sustainability of our customers' operations. To ensure our own sustainability we manage our business for ongoing financial success; govern our operations in accordance with laws and regulations; minimise any negative social or environmental impacts of our operations and strive to have positive impacts; while operating ethically at all times. Our sustainability strategy covers five key pillars: our workplaces, our supply chain, our environment, our customers and our communities, and we have established targets and objectives in each area. Using externally verified methodology, we estimate that end users who purchased a select range of our energy management products in 2015 will save approximately 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

Innovation

New product development is critical for our long-term success. We continue to widen our range of products and services to expand our market reach. We recently received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation for the design, manufacture and success of a unique steam flowmeter.

Opportunities

Our direct sales approach is effective in uncovering opportunities to improve customers' steam systems and fluid path processes. This 'self-generated' element of our business, combined with the high proportion of sales that derive from end-users' maintenance and operating budgets and the diversity of the markets that we serve, makes our business highly resilient. As we consistently put the needs of our customers first, develop the skills of our people and focus on implementing our strategy for growth, we remain well-placed to continue to deliver value to our stakeholders.