Rapid – Helpful, High-Tech and Heroic Mixing Technology.

The HUB visits N.Ireland... 

Rapid International Ltd is recognised as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high quality equipment for the concrete, construction and environmental industries. Located in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, Rapid is a trusted partner to a wide variety of customers ranging from multinational construction groups to small concrete producers. Based in an impressive 50,000 square foot purpose built manufacturing facility, Rapid offers unrivalled in-house manufacturing capabilities, utilising the very latest premium equipment from internationally respected brands.

Rapid’s world class product range includes: pan, planetary and twin shaft concrete mixers, mobile continuous mixing plant (track mounted and wheel mounted), mobile and static batching plant, high pressure mixer washout systems, silos and spare parts. Quality, reliability, efficiency and technological advancement are the greatest aims of Rapid’s workforce. Rapid’s highly skilled in-house technical team continually strive to innovate and have launched a new product annually since 2009.

Rapid was established in 1969 by the late Robert (Bertie) Pickering and Jim Lappin. The company, then known as Craigavon Engineering, originally manufactured agricultural equipment out of a humble domestic garage, not more than 7m x 4m. Later in the early 1970’s, Rapid moved into larger premises and diversified into the manufacturing of plant and equipment for the ready mixed and pre-cast concrete industries. On commencement of exporting in 1984, “Craigavon Engineering” became known as ‘Rapid’. Today, Rapid has a presence in more than twenty countries worldwide via a continually expanding international dealer network.

The HUB team went along to see what makes Rapid what it is today. We sat down with John Pickering (Export Sales Manager), son of the late founder Robert (Bertie) Pickering, and fired some questions at him.

HUB: Tell us about the expansion over the years?
“The factory has expanded considerably over the last four decades. We are currently located on approximately 50,000 square feet of actual production facility. Two years ago, we made a £2 million investment into the construction of a paint booth and shot blasting facility. The purpose of this investment was to establish full control of every aspect of our production in-house.”

“In terms of new product development, we have launched a new product almost every year since 2009. In 2009 we launched Rapidbatch, which is a high capacity mobile batching plant. After that came a redesign to the Rapidmix, a super mobile continuous mixing plant suitable for semi dry mixes, which was first launched in 1997. In response to customer demand, the Rapidmix machine was updated to offer full weighing capabilities in real time. The new machine was relaunched in 2012. Next we introduced Transbatch in 2013, a more compact version of the popular Rapidbatch mobile batching plant. The most recent new product launch was Trakmix. Trakmix is a remote controlled track mounted continuous mixing plant. Trakmix is highly suitable for soil remediation projects and similar. It’s our understanding that Trakmix is the first of its kind to market, so understandably we’re very proud of this latest innovation”

“We are fortunate to work with the KTP scheme here is Northern Ireland, where we have access to a talent pool of newly qualified engineering graduates. We place great value in this scheme and have managed to hire and retain highly skilled design engineers as a result of it. Typically KTP graduates are provided with a new product design project as a result of their knowledge of the latest trends, practices and policies. Their fresh thinking is invaluable to our continued innovation.”

HUB: What is your biggest market?
“Probably our biggest and most consistent market is the USA, which represents approximately 25% of our business annually. We have a fantastic network of dealer representatives for both mobile plant and mixers in the US.”

HUB: Over the years how many units have you sold?
“We have sold in excess of 600 concrete mixers to over twenty countries. Our mobile plant sales are just tipping triple figures. Rapidmix represents the vast majority of our mobile plant sales and would therefore be considered as our ‘hero’ product.”

HUB: What are your targets in terms of units for 2017?
“Unit sales are not a focus for us. We prefer to look at year on year growth. So far we have grown consistently since the recession as a result of strong export sales. Historically speaking, almost 80% of our sales were to our home market, the UK and Ireland. Since the recession, we have shifted the balance towards export markets, which now make up the majority of our sales.”

HUB: How do you operate in terms of sales?
“We operate via both direct sales in our home market and our dealer network in the USA, Australia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. It’s my responsibility to both manage our existing dealer partners and recruit new representatives for markets where we believe demand for our products exists. At present we are represented in over twenty countries worldwide and growing.”

HUB: How many staff do you employ here?
“We presently employ 55 staff members at our head office and manufacturing facility here in Northern Ireland. Our order book is filling up fast for the next 6 months, so we’re in the process of recruiting more production staff to cope with this level of demand. The vast majority of our products are manufactured in-house from scratch. For us, it’s all about having as much control over our supply chain as possible. Quality of product and customer service are of paramount importance to us.”

HUB: In terms of design do you have an in-house team?
“We have six highly qualified and experienced engineers. Also, we can do our own FES testing and hold CE certification for structural steel.

Recently we have been very successful within the offshore industry where the demand for structural safety is at a very high level and there are specific off shore certifications which must be held. We have trained all our operatives to achieve the desired standards and as a result have been very successful to date.”

The HUB team then went on a factory tour and were given a detailed inside view of the processing operation. From the very striking Rapid machine livery to a vast array of CNC, plasma cutters, drills, rolls, lathes and mill machines and the highly impressive shot blasting room and paint booth the whole factory was geared to the highly efficient manufacturing of the company products. It was also interesting to see how the team react swiftly to a demand for a spare part and ensure it leaves the factory in the shortest possible time – making it indeed a very RAPID transaction.