Peak NTD leads the way thanks to Phased Array
Husband and wife technology business, Peak NTD in Derby's Derwent Business Centre, is one of the firms which has seen a marked improvement in its performance over the past year thanks to advice from MAS (Manufacturing Advisory Service) East Midlands.
The company designs, develops and manufactures ultrasonic testing equipment for the power generation and aerospace industries. Their technology enables customers to test metal for cracks using an ultrasonic probe which is controlled electronically.
Company owners, operations director, Andy Whittle, and Alison Whittle, Technical Director, started the business eleven years ago following a breakaway from Rolls Royce. Peak NTD took over one of MatEval's, a Rolls Royce company, main ultrasonic product called Micropulse 3 and have since gone from strength to strength. Andy said: "Since we took over the product, we have further developed Micropulse and developed new products, growing the business to a point where we needed to bring some commercial expertise in to take us to the next level. I've used outside expertise before and MAS ranks up there above them all. Their expertise was great value for money and has real and lasting benefits. We've recently picked up orders with NRG in Holland and UTEX in Canada thanks to a focus on sales that MAS helped us their work."
The MAS expertise was supplied by Derbyshire's Business Advice Team (BAT), a nationwide business consultancy, who identified key strategic issues that were hindering the company's growth. One problem was the focus on the technical aspects of the business and not enough on market development.
Simon Parke from BAT explained: "This company is developing leading edge instruments. Other companies supply similar products, but Peak's are world class. I have been re-focusing the business on a commercial footing rather than a technical one. They need to go out and sell more products to customers across the world.
Peak's leading product is the Micropulse Phased Array system which they developed thanks to a DTI Smart Award. The product enables customers to inspect the metal for defects using a multi element electronic probe which can be made to simulate probes at set angles, rather than the previous technology which relied on a number of separate probes at set angles. Some of the potential benefits can be a quicker inspection as customers don't have to keep changing the probes. In the nuclear industry, this reduced operator intervention could lead to a lower frequency of exposure to radiation.
The company currently exports to markets all over the world, including Argentina, France, Holland and Italy and has just completed an order for an organisation in Slovakia that inspects nuclear plants.
