When asked for a one word reason why Watkinson’s are the chosen lifting and transport provider for Winder Electrical in Leeds, Operations Director Andy Pinkney said we’d have to settle for two, “Trust” and “Partner”: -
“We’ve worked with Watkinson’s for over a decade now and the relationship has evolved; those years of really getting to understand what we do and how we do it are invaluable and Watkinson’s perfectly complement Winder’s total commitment to customer service”.
Andy is a key member of the management buyout team which took control of RF Winder – a company established in Leeds for over a century – in 2005.
Europe’s most modern transformer plant
Joining the original company back in 1986 as an apprentice, Andy worked on the shop floor across various disciplines before his organisational and management talents moved him inevitably up the ladder to his present position…
Winder specialises in the design, build, deployment and management of power transformers and distribution transformers – all of which are built in what is probably Europe’s most modern transformer manufacturing plant in Leeds – the company’s UK manufacturing facility.
And, incidentally, 80,000 sq ft of the brightest, most spotlessly clean facility this interviewer has ever seen!
Customers include Amec, Scottish and Southern, EDF Energy, Yorkshire Electricity and Scottish Power and Watkinson’s deliver Winder transformers the length and breadth of the UK – “from local to Europe” says Andy, with loads varying from 2 tonnes to 60 tonnes.
Going for growth
“We’re happy with Watkinsons” says Andy and cites a couple of examples of how their partnership works:-
“Firstly, they don’t have a huge management team, so you’re dealing with the experienced team doing the job ‘on the ground’ as it were…
Next is attention to detail, best illustrated in the current planning of a delivery to the island of Jura, via Islay, on the West Coast of Scotland.
Company chairman Keith Watkinson has been to the location twice to double check that the small ferry which plies the islands can take the transporters and the loads – which it can – and now he’s worrying about the logistics of negotiating the farm track he’s discovered they’ll be faced with on the final leg of the delivery!
The point being that “I’m not the one worrying about the farm track!”
Winder Electrical is going for growth having weathered the recession well, and the company’s reputation is burgeoning not only for the design, quality and performance of new transformers but also the on-site or in-house refurbishment of existing transformers to breathe into them a few more years of service before replacement becomes necessary.