Innovation Award winner doubles production
The prestigious Spirit of Innovation Award at Seawork 2009 went to KPM Marine D.E. Ltd last week for its versatile KPM Run Dry Pumping System.
The rubber impeller pump has innovative chambers, port configuration and KPM Tibs Seals, which allow for many run dry sessions without damaging the impeller or the pump. With the impeller running on PTFE and brass discs set in rebates in the end cap and nose cone, there is far less friction and much greater efficiency than with competing pumps which the KPM 80 has been designed to replace.
KPM’s design and technical director Julian Morgan draws upon his experience as a water speed record holder, and designer of a craft in which he hopes to one day reach 450mph, to incorporate mission critical performance into every product. Customer driven product development resulted in KPM’s stand at Seawork 2009 showing not a single item carried over from their 2008 display.
KPM’s is yet another Seawork success story, with their very first appearance leading to an order from PD Ports which accelerated the push of product development. Within 24 hours of winning the Spirit of Innovation Award at the Seawork Gala Dinner, response at the KPM stand was so overwhelming that instructions were sent to their Stratford upon Avon factory to double the manufacturing capability.
‘We got a good reaction as first time exhibitors in 2008, KPM sales director Peter Norman told MJ, ‘but this year has been absolutely superb. People need to see you here more than one time. Some people are reluctant to accept new technology but this award has changed that.’
Orders sufficient to necessitate the doubling of factory output was not the only beneficial consequence of KPM’s presence at Seawork 2009. The company also met fellow exhibitors with whom to enter into two joint venture product development projects.
One of them is with Scotseat Direct Ltd, the UK’s largest supplier of tested vehicle seats, which came to Seawork this year to extend its manufacturing in the realm of boat seats. The joint venture with KPM will see Julian Morgan again calling upon his boat racing experience to design suspension units for a fully compliant safety seat that will optimise ergonomic function for marine applications at a most competitive price. He told MJ that vertical shock cushioning was not the only factor in preventing impact injury and that he would be concentrating on a design which also allowed the seat to protect from abrupt lateral movements of the lower back. No other designer on the planet will have more relevant personal experience to draw upon.
