Interview with Derek Russell, Managing Director of HFSAB

Thursday, Dec 17, 2009

Derek Russell’s Biography

Derek Russell was born 14th May 1954 in East London.

He studied electrical engineering and engineering management whilst undergoing an engineering apprenticeship with the Ford Motor Company Ltd in London.

Entered into his first job in the cable industry as “long term facilities planning engineer” for Standard Telephone & Cables Ltd in Woolwich during 1974 and later moving on to Telephone Cables Ltd during 1975 as a “Project Engineer”.

During 1976 he joined H. Folke Sandelin AB as a commissioning and development engineer but was based at the companies London agency.

In 2003 H. Folke Sandelin AB was sold to the large Canadian mining company, Teck Cominco Metals, (now known as Teck Ltd).

It was during this period that he relocated to Sweden and became joint managing director along with his colleague Kenneth Gustavsson who retired during 2008.

After 34 years in the cable industry he remains as managing director of H. Folke Sandelin AB, based in Motala Sweden where he and his team of 20 strive to achieve and maintain an excellent reputation within this industry.

What makes HFSAB unique to the cable & wire industry?

H. Folke Sandelin AB has been designing, manufacturing, delivering and supporting the Hansson Robertson Lead extruder since 1949. During this period we have worked closely with our cable customers and modified the equipment to the requirements of the industry. Today with its latest horizontal design we believe that the equipment is possibly one of the most reliable cable machines in the industry.

These extruders are very different from traditional plastic or rubber extruders because their operation depends on a complex blend of temperatures, speeds, pressures and numerous other metallurgical factors. All of which are so important to producing an excellent product and that is where we achieve our uniqueness to the industry.

What targets does HFSAB have in place to counter the current financial climate?

H. Folke Sandelin AB obviously understands that in these difficult financial times it’s of paramount importance to be flexible. Two important questions must be considered here; where would the cable industry be without the cable equipment suppliers and where would the cable equipment suppliers be without the cable industry?. The answer is very clear, that we share a joint dependence upon each other.

In the current financial turmoil equipment suppliers with this joint dependence in mind must reflect this with pricing and payment terms. But also on the reverse of this cable companies must reflect on the fact that when they purchase equipment it’s not just steel and electronics. The development costs that go into these machines are massive but to all intense and purposes remain invisible for the sale of the equipment.

How do you see HFSAB market base expanding into new markets in the future? i.e. Areas such as China, West Africa, and Asia?

H. Folke Sandelin AB was one of the first to deliver European cable equipment to China with the first sale in 1979.

We see that the developing markets and also the our existing markets need and require much more information and support to achieve there goals and to this end we were fortunate at the end of 2008 to enrol the services of our new, Marketing and Technical Support Manager, Mr David Smith, whom many will know from his previous position at Northampton Macinary/MGS Manufacturing.

Are there any new products and technology developments in the pipeline?

We recently introduced a new piece of equipment that can greatly assist cable companies in reducing costs.

This machine the CRRS, “Cable Repair and Recovery System”, allows for the repair of manufacturing faults by enabling the SAFE removal of the faulty cable layer so that the cable can be reprocessed.

Alternatively the equipment can be used to strip the cable back to bright conductor whereby this conductor can be re-used or scrapped at a much higher value than in its insulated form. The equipment is fast, easy to use and has a quick payback of costs.

What are the key unique selling points that make HFSAB better than the competition?

Our best selling point is what we deliver:

1. We deliver quality products, designed and specified for their particular application

2. We deliver not just the equipment but also the “know how” of how to use the equipment

3. With over 50 years experience HFSAB are the only company in the world that can deliver technical support, parts and services

With climate change becoming an issue; how does HFSAB see this affecting the energy sectors?

Growing concerns regarding “Green House Gasses” and the world’s environment will impact our industries product demand and range of cables.

The use and demands for electrical power will escalate disproportionately to the world’s industrial growth.

Only recently the Indian government have promised that every house/dwelling in India will have electricity within a certain time frame. When you consider this statement in just this part of the world; what does an extra 1 billion people having access to electrical power do to requirements of cables!

Globalisation and Power Sharing is well on the way to being reality. Ongoing and new massive submarine networks are gradually moving silently across the world’s sea beds linking and sharing power demands.

Re-building of an aging and under-powered European infrastructure, re-usable power, wind farms all of these will demands on the power sector clearly show that “Energy Cables” have a very strong future in the worlds economy.

Has it been a good year for HFSAB and are there any particular projects that re-iterate the strength of the company?

The first 3 quarters of the 2009 were strong and the company will have a good year but this work was mainly the remaining deliveries from the peak time of 2008. The last quarter of 2009 has been very slow but orders are arriving for parts and services.

We have seen an increase in the request for quotations within the last month.

There are numerous incidents that illustrate the strength of our company, but the one that springs to mind is where a major European cable producer ran into problems during the routine service of lead extruder. Within 2 hours of the telephone call it was determined that an engineer was required and despatched immediately as the extruder was required for production within 2 more days. After his arrival 5 hours later, it was determined that parts were required.

These parts along with a further engineer were dispatched after the fitting of bearing etc to the parts.

Within 36 hours of the telephone call the equipment was back up and being heated for operation.

I’m proud to be part of this company!

How does HFSAB view on-line media, advertising and promotion and how can this help a company as big as HFSAB?

We are already member of the cable directory and this company’s assistance with our new web page only illustrates the importance we put on the On-Line aspect of our business.

Also of the lead extruders we have delivered since 2005 have the possibility of being remotely accessed and supported by our engineers via Internet.

What have been the key factors behind the success of HFSAB?

Primarily our success is our products and our Know How. It is very much a niche market for this kind of equipment and what we need to deliver is quality, reliability, support and most important confidence.

Are there any other recent developments by HFSAB that our readers should be interested in?

Our latest machine the CRRS (Cable Repair and Recovery System) is something for all types of cable manufacture and we believe that the system will have a respected place in the cable industry as a means of controlling costs by reducing scrap and also increasing scrap value.