Fintec (NI) Ltd - Hubert Watson

www.finlaybme.co.uk

Location / Foundation

Fintec (NI) Ltd was acquired in December 2001, in a MBO led by Hubert Watson, who quickly set about diversifying the company into mobile crushing and screening under the trade name ‘Fintec’. The manufacturing base is located in the small town land of Ballygawley, County Tyrone and currently occupies some 130,000 square feet of the most prestigious facilities in Northern Ireland. Indeed plans are already well underway to extend this facility, to 200,000 square feet by the end of the year.

Employees / Suppliers

Employee numbers have more than doubled in this same period, from a base level of 56 employees, to now in excess of 140 and still growing. After many months of research and travelling throughout Europe; looking for a suitable partner with crushing experience, we opted for working with Sandvik in Sweden. Sandvik themselves had just acquired a large part of the Svedala crushing product line, that included established global brand names such as Hydrocone and Jawmaster Crushers. Agreement was officially concluded in March 2003, which resulted in Sandvik acquiring a 40% equity in the Company. This new partnership agreement was critical to the long term strategy for Fintec as we sought to diversify not only into screening, but more importantly crushing.

Sandvik were now able to supply us, not only with these key crushing products, but also their expertise and even more importantly the working capital to meet our rapid growth in turnover. Our components are sourced globally throughout the world, as we endeavour to remain competitive in this industry. We purchase high quality components from recognized suppliers such as Sandvik, Caterpillar, Deutz, Danfoss, Strickland and many more. In addition to this we also purchase from local UK/Ireland suppliers on items such as conveyor belting, electrics, steel etc. Indeed our spend in the local UK/Ireland market is currently around €12m per year amongst 130 suppliers.

Markets / Customers

With the exception of our home UK/Irl markets, we generally sell our products through an exclusive dealer network. These dealers may vary from very small independent dealers, to larger multi line equipment dealers. We currently have segmented the global market into four segments – USA, Europe, UK/Ireland and Rest of World. Our objective is not to become dependant on one market segment, but rather take advantage of the changing trends in more diverse markets. This strategy helps to spread the risk, not only in markets but also in terms of currency exposure.

Key Products

Our original marketing objective was to supply a quality range of competitively priced products, through a global dealer network, to the quarrying, recycling and contractor industry.

This industry is highly competitive with many key players from Europe, USA and Asia such as Terex, Metso, Extec, Komatsu, Astec etc. together with numerous smaller companies. We were fully aware of all aspects of this mobile crushing and screening industry, with both Paul Colton our Operations Director and myself, having both spent over 17 years within the Powerscreen Group.

We quickly identified the key volume products required to enter this market and launched our first Fintec screening machine in the latter half of 2002. This was quickly followed by a larger Fintec screen in early 2003 and then our first Fintec Jaw Crusher towards the end of the same year. R & D has continued at a high level of investment with the launch earlier this year of a new Scalping Screen and in the next few months a new Fintec Cone Crusher. Indeed at the forthcoming Hillhead Show in England later this month, we will have 6 machines on display, including 2 machines on live demonstration within the quarry.

The key objectives that we established very early on in our business plan, was to offer the customer a high quality brand of products, that incorporated both crushing and screening. Northern Ireland is renowned for its high volume of screen manufactures throughout the world, but Fintec are the first local major manufacturer of crushing equipment to help compliment this sector.

Customer Benefits

The major benefit that customers have so far received from Fintec is a highly focused group of employees, who have paid a lot of attention to customer satisfaction and after sales support. Being a new start up company we have been very flexible in designing product to meet the changing needs of the customer and it is much simpler to adapt, than existing high volume manufacturers of standard type products.

Scale of Achievement

The last two years have seen a rapid rise in turnover from a starting point of around €5m to now in excess of €30m this year. With annual organic growth of over 50%, we have had to overcome many obstacles. Not only have we had the expected marketing pressures on pricing from our competitors, who have obviously been reluctant to see a new entrant into the market, but also bigger issues such as working capital requirements and shortage of skilled labour force. Sandvik, together with the help of our local bank and Invest NI have assisted us with our working capital requirements. Likewise we have recruited a number of skilled welders from the expanded EEC countries in Eastern Europe, together with key service engineers from the UK mainland who have crushing expertise.

Innovation/ Creativity- What aspects of your operation do you regard as being particularly creative or innovative?

Our company is based on two key assets, namely our employees and our products. We are very fortunate to have a highly dedicated team of employees who are committed to designing, manufacturing and supporting our products for the global market. They have fully supported the management team at all aspects of the business plan and they remain committed to our longer term strategy of further expansion. Likewise our products have been exceptionally well received in all our markets and none more so than in our local Irish market, where we are rapidly becoming the major supplier. We firmly believe that innovation in products is essential, but also growing a strong team of committed employees, is critical for long term growth.

Initial Expansion - How did your initial phase of market expansion occur?

Our first Fintec screen was launched in late 2002 and yes, it was very difficult to find any dealer in the world, who was interested in both a new product line and also with only one product for market. I had to draw on all my years of experience and contacts who fully supported us and indeed we branded an initial order for 10 screens for a Canadian Company, that was an enormous help in getting us into production mode quickly.

Obstacles Overcome – What are the toughest issues you deal with as you continue to grow your business?

While our business is growing at 50% annually we still have much work to do in two key areas – namely further product development to expand the product range and secondly to nurture the development of a stronger global dealer network.

Organisational Culture – How would you define the culture within your organisation?

This success is also partly due to our high level of after sales response in this and other markets. We have and remain focused on always strengthening all departments to meet the growing changes within our business. Our Company remains highly focused on our customers with many long hours of hard work being put in by everyone. This ethic of hard work has been learnt from my 17 years with the Powerscreen Group in the UK, Ireland and USA.

Impact on Lifestyle - How do you recharge your batteries?

My main hobbies outside work are soccer related and I have been involved for the last 30 years as player and more recently as manager in the Mid Ulster League. I have found this to be a tremendous way of getting rid of the many frustrations I we have to overcome daily, in the highly charged atmosphere of industry.

Role Models – Have you a role model who has influenced your approach to business?

My role model during my time with the Powerscreen Group was Shay Mc Keown their Chief Executive, who gave me my first start in this industry, as far back as 1982 when I first qualified as an Accountant. His approach to business was very direct and he always aimed to develop employees and to maintain a competitive instinct at all times. I would like to think that I have tried to maintain similar competitive standards within Fintec and to be supportive to all employees. Indeed my policy has always been to communicate with everyone and keep all employees motivated, with good working conditions.