Phoenix Vessel Technology

Phoenix Vessel Technology manufactures GRP cylindrical pressure vessels. The product, made from fibreglass, is an outer casing that ultimately accommodates a further product. The housing requires a specific strength to sustain the flow of high pressure water and Phoenix Vessel Technology is one of the few companies in the world that is accredited to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) which in practice sets the standards for pressure vessels.

The company was set up in 1989 and the Gloucester operation, with its 21 employees, has been headed up by Richard and Vanessa Matthews since January 2006. At the time when they took the company over it was losing money and Richard and Vanessa have worked extremely hard to bring the business back to profitability. The turnover for 2007 was lower than in previous years, but the profit for that period will be the highest it has been for over 5 years proving they are working smarter and one of their key goals now is to boost their export sales and explore new global opportunities.

The company joined UKT&I Passport to Export scheme and came across the RLN South West. They were very interested in the presentation and the advice we offered, particularly for French and Italian markets, as these countries are their current primary focus. As a result of RLN-SW’s visit, Phoenix is looking to have their website and literature translated into these two languages by the beginning of March 2008.

Susan Roe, RLN SW said: “We were very happy to point out to Phoenix that they could make further use of their main German customer, by asking them to help out with German literature and website translation and I am delighted to report that the German customer has agreed to do this”. Susan further advised Phoenix that their Spanish distributor could also be more proactive on their behalf by having the product literature translated. Subsequently, the Spanish distributor has indicated that she would be very happy to arrange the translation of the product literature.

In addition, RLN-SW has facilitated the placement of a market research student to undertake a consultancy project to research market opportunities in France in January. Vanessa is looking forward to seeing an increase in export sales as a result of the market research exercise and the website and literature appearing in French and Italian. She has also made a personal commitment to expand on her own French language skills when time permits!

Richard said, “we would like to thank RLN for their assistance in helping us to identify our current and future language and cultural requirements. We have already started to implement some of the recommendations, including making progress with our website translation and using the services of a market research student”.

Visit the Poenix Vessel Technology website at www.phoenix-vt.co.uk.

Back to index - all case studies