PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Minebea Intec recently appointed Mark Clifford to the newly created position of new business account manager for the UK and Ireland in a bid to help break into new markets and further solidify the firm’s position as a major provider of high quality and reliable checkweighing, X-ray and metal detection equipment.
Mark will work closely with Andrew Hallitt, inspection systems specialist, as the business looks to expand and offer customers – including those in Scotland – a first-class service.
Both men recently spoke to Packaging Scotland about innovation, 24/7 responses and standing out in what is an extremely competitive marketplace.
Q) WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT RECENT PRODUCT INNOVATIONS AT MINEBEA?
AH: We’re always trying to stay one step ahead of the game and the competition. Recent features such as fingerprint access and Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) access into our units, for example, are fairly unique.
On the service side, we’ve just launched a new product called miRemote. This allows our service team to direct customers to specific issues on their machine by using cameras from mobile devices, meaning we can help resolve problems even quicker and from remote locations. We are also the only inline inspection company in the UK to offer a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week onsite service response.
Q) WE UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS HAS CREATED THE NEW ROLE OF NEW BUSINESS ACCOUNT MANAGER. WHAT WILL THIS ENTAIL AND WHAT ADVANTAGES WILL IT BRING TO THE COMPANY?
MC: The business has been leading in the food and pharma industries for some years and had huge success in the pre-prepared and snack part of the food industry. I come from the other side of the business, with expertise in the fresh food side, and will help develop these markets using previous successes within the pre-prepared sector and demonstrating that the equipment is capable of handling and performing in the wetter, harsher side of the business – products such as meat, poultry and fish. This means we can further expand the business into new markets within the food and pharmaceutical sectors.
Q) HOW IMPORTANT IS THE SCOTTISH MARKET TO MINEBEA?
AH: It is very important. It’s like any other area in the UK – it needs nurturing; it needs visiting; we need to show the customers we care about them. In the pharmaceutical industry, we have a number of installations looking for very small missing components, down to about 0.3 / 0.4 grams. We’ve got canning lines in Scotland, which are running at 425 cans per minute. We’re weighing those on our checkweighers – it’s quite unique. Also in cheese portioning, we’re controlling portioners to give optimum portion size and to provide as little giveaway as possible.
MC: I’ve covered Scotland for the best part of 15 years now and whilst the geographical distances tend to be quite large between customers, I think if you work with customers well and show them a great service, they tend to be very loyal. I think there are some really good opportunities and of course there’s been some excitement in the fish industry there for the last couple of years – again, that’s something that we’re going to be targeting more with the Minebea product portfolio.
Q) WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE THE SCOTTISH MARKET TO BE ONE YEAR FROM NOW?
AH: A very, very important part of our business.
MC: We want to be the number one inspection provider in Scotland. There’s a bit of work to be done but we’ve got the right team in place to make that happen. Everything that we do is about the customer experience. We want to give them the best experience we possibly can so they have no reason to go anywhere else or consider any of the other options within the marketplace, particularly what I would call the ‘usual suspects’ that have been around for many, many years monopolising that marketplace and possibly not giving the right level of support that the Scottish market needs.
Q) DO THE NEEDS OF THE SCOTTISH MARKET DIFFER TO THOSE IN ENGLAND?
MC: The experience I’ve had over 15 years is the higher you get up the country, the less support you get. With our 24/7 and boots-on-the-ground response, our customers can be confident that in the worst-case scenario, somebody is in a car; somebody is on the way up. We’ve got other technologies such as miRemote where, using augmented reality, we can give immediate support using cameras and phones. But ultimately if somebody needs to get in a car to come to site then that distance has started to be travelled before 8:30am in the morning. Everybody else’s office is generally opening up and they’re organising engineers and such; we could have already been at that point at 1am in the morning. For me, that’s very, very important for the Scottish customer – the service element of our business. It puts us maybe half a day or a day ahead of where our competitors would be. AH: And that’s why we say it’s all about the 15 years after the installation. Our focus is that we want to show customers that we care and we care a lot.
Q) HOW DOES THE COMPANY STAND OUT IN WHAT IS A COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE?
AH: Lots of small things, such as our service promise, all add up to a large thing when you put them all together. You might not be aware that Minebea is the largest weighing company in the world with the backing of MinebeaMitsumi, an eight-billion-euro company. This means we have a lot of expertise and resources to ensure we continue to invest in innovation and supply our customers with the best products and services. Also, we’re the oldest metal detection company in the world. We are now focused on ensuring that the Scottish industry understands our full offer that makes us a leading supplier of checkweighing, X-Ray and metal detection equipment and really does set us apart from the competition.
Q) HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO CONSTANTLY INNOVATE AND PRODUCE NEW CONCEPTS FOR CUSTOMERS?
AH: We currently lead the competition in many areas, but it doesn’t stop here as we continue investments in our product development and innovation, developing leading technology. As we have mentioned, our new technology such as miRemote and RFID are already ahead of the game.
Q) WE RECENTLY SAW MINEBEA EXHIBIT AT PPMA SHOW 2018. HOW VITAL ARE THESE KIND OF TRADE EXHIBITIONS FOR THE BUSINESS?
AH: It’s all about brand awareness, isn’t it? First point, it’s showing the customers we’re here, who we are, what we’re about, what we feel is important. As a company we always feel it’s not just about the 12 weeks leading up to the machine being installed; as we have said before it’s about the 15 to 20 years after that machine has been installed. We’re very focused on the service side of the business, and of course, PPMA does generate a number of leads, which are very important for shorter-term business.
Q) THIS IS THE FINAL ISSUE OF THE YEAR FOR PACKAGING SCOTLAND. LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM MINEBEA IN 2019?
AH: It’s going to be a very exciting year for us and our customers, really all I can say is watch this space.Â
