Centrax Ltd
Recent winners of the medium company category in the South West Languages for Export Awards, Centrax share their language success with us:
Centrax Ltd, Gas Turbine Division is a privately owned owned Company based in Newton Abbot, Devon in the South West peninsula of the United Kingdom. Its business is soley concerned with Gas Turbines either as a sub-contract manufacturer, or as a supplier of Gas Turbine Generator Sets and Turnkey Cogeneration (CHP) Projects
Multi-lingual skills vital for international operations
The Chairman, Mr Richard H H Barr worked with Sir Frank Whittle on the development of the aircraft jet engine during the 1930's and 1940's. When the team was disbanded at the end of theScond World War, Mr Barr founded Centrax as a suppplier of components to the newly evolving Gas Turbine Industry. He also designed and manufactured his own industrial gas turbine which was primarily for powering emergency standby generator sets.
The current generator sets are based on the Rolls-Royce range of industrial gas turbines with Centrax being a European distributor. To date over 200 of these unitls have been sold or are on order primarily for Combined heat and Power (CHP) applications with a total experience of almost 10,500,000 operating hours. The Gas Turbine Division maintains its own Engineering Department and works closely with Rolls-Royce in improving the current products and developing those of the future.
Maintenance facilities are extensive and include full Turbine Repair capabilities. This allows the Company to offer a range of support to customers from the simple supply of spare parts, through routine or emergency visits by fully qualified Service Engineers, to Comprehensive Maintenance Contracts (CMC's) for 5 years, 10 years or longer periods. This means that the Company is able to offer reliabiity and availability guarantees that are unmatched in this market sector.
Centrax now packages and sells industrial generator sets mainly for the European market including the U.K and Ireland, but also emerging markets such as North and South America and Asia. Industry markets include ceramics, paper mills, food processing plants (such as Kraft and Heinz), manufacturing and engineering plants (such a Ford and Rover), oil and gas applications (such as B.P and Phillips Conoco) and district heat projects providing heat and power to universities and hospitals).
The company provides extensive language facilities in the following forms:
- Centrax has strategically placed service centres throughout Europe with employees of various nationalities including our own. All have language skills.
- Provision of in-house linguists employing written and verbal skills in the four main European languages i.e French, Spanish, German and Italian, using the specialised technical engineering terminology required. As some of our employees are nationals of other countries we also offer Dutch, Polish and Portuguese.
- New recruitment gives priority to people with language skills.
- The company offers free in-house language courses for employees/short-term inter-depot exchange of staff for language refresher purposes, i.e U.K secretaries working in overseas depots.
- All our literature and marketing material is available in the above languages, both in brochure form and elecronic files, as is all our commercial documentation presented to our customers at all stages, from quotation right through to maintenance and service, installation, operating and maintenance manuals etc.
- The company attends Trade Shows throughout Europe and advertises in the relevant magazines abroad using in-house translations to further our business. U.K staff with languages attend these trade shows.
- A 24-hour emergency help line is provided for customers around Europe - foreign language back-up is available when required.
The company has an annual turnover in excess of £40m, of which over 80% is from export, which is critical to the future success and expansion of our business. The value to Centrax from using the language and culture strategies that our staff have acquired in our business is incalculable. Communications in the customers' native language is a major step to maintaining good customer relations.
'Without the multi-lingual skills of our employees as outlined above, it would be impossible for Centrax to operate in our chosen markets. Not only do the 'international' employees provide an invaluable interface with our customers, they also help to educate the outward facing 'home' staff on the local nuances and foibles of their particular marketplace, both in local cultural aspects and business practices. 50% of our business is for repeat custom and so customer relations during the equipment supply and on-going service period is critical to our future business.'
One of Centrax's longstanding customers Snr. Julian Agumlera Ros, from the Technical Department at TIERRA ATOMIZADA S.A,explains how languages make a difference to their relationship:
' Tierra Atomizada S.A. has maintained a business relationship with Centrax Gas Turbines for 14 years This business relationship is not limited to just the supply of new equipment, but also the long term servicing and maintenance of the same. Centrax personnel's knowledge of the Spanish language has been of great help in the development of a good working relationship during the period that we have known them.'
Visit the Centrax website at www.centrax.co.uk
