Syspal, a market leading manufacturer of stainless steel products for the quality conscious food and pharmaceutical industries, turned to Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands to help it tap into export markets when the time came to diversify.

Now its newest product, Hydrophysio, which allows both humans and dogs to exercise on an innovative treadmill in water, is selling all over the world. Consequently, Managing Director Chris Truman hopes that increased orders will lead to more jobs at his factory, which currently employs 127 people at Cockshutt Lane in Broseley.

Truman, an industrial designer, explains: ‘The benefits of exercising in water have been well known for centuries, although until now have not been widely available to the general population.  Now, veterinary practices, hospitals and rehabilitation centres from all over the world are taking advantage of our unique hydrotherapy products. Canine Hydrotherapy came first as a result of purchasing a veterinary business and developing the product range. Working closely with veterinarians we developed an innovative hydrotherapy system providing the features they required, which is now widely accepted as the best system available in the world today. As a result of this several international patents were filed and the brand Hydrophysio established.

‘The human version started with the development of the Hydrophysio Lifestyle Trainer; again this was developed in collaboration with medical professionals to provide an improved environment for training and rehabilitation. Since we were aiming at the medical market, which was new to us, we needed some assistance. MAS-WM were able to provide considerable support with international marketing and in achieving ISO 13485, the international quality standard to produce medical equipment.

‘Although we did not have much experience of exporting, the potential is huge, not only in hospitals where it can be used for rehabilitation purposes but also universities, fitness clubs and for training purposes in sport. The innovation could even help control the national obesity, crisis as exercising in the Lifestyle Trainer can reduce weight on the joints by 50% allowing those with problems, such as arthritis and limited mobility, to exercise comfortably in a relaxing, warm water environment.’

The Lifestyle Trainer features a curved glass enclosure and underwater treadmill, together with underwater lighting and resistance jets, where training staff are able to get a full view of how the patient is moving which helps with the detection and treatment of injuries. Accessibility is a key factor; users simply walk in, close the door and select water depth and treadmill speed via a touch screen user interface.

The Canine Hydrophysio costs from £22,000 and veterinary practices all over the country are investing in the equipment, which is already in use by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association for rehabilitating and conditioning their service dogs. It is also very popular with small animal practices where the benefits of hydrotherapy are becoming well established in assisting with, for example, weight management, rehabilitation, after treatment and fitness training.

The human trainers, which range from £35,000 to £55,000, were launched at the Medica exhibition in Dusseldorf last November. It has already been sold to Athens, Italy and the USA. ‘It appears that foreign countries are more prepared to invest money in keeping fit and healthy than we are in Great Britain’ observes Truman. ‘With the 2012 Olympics based here, Hydrophysio could be just the thing to help our British athletes boost both their fitness and endurance whilst reducing the risk of injury.’

Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands’ John Kelly adds his support: ‘We’ve worked very closely with the company on the manufacturing process of this excellent new product, bringing in Wemtech to help on fine tuning the design so it met industry guidelines. This allowed the firm to change certain features without reducing performance - a real win-win situation.’ Now, with a network of eight international distributors established, Syspal is expecting its world-class product to lead to a major boom in orders.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service - West Midlands (MAS-WM) is funded by Advantage West Midlands and delivered by West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium Ltd, a partnership between Business Link West Midlands, EEF West Midlands and Warwick Manufacturing Group. Established in 2002, MAS-WM has assisted over 4000 companies to improve their products, productivity, processes and people, adding over £108m to the turnovers of those firms that have embarked upon in-depth business improvement projects.

www.mas-wm.org.uk

Thu 15th May 2008