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For further information,
please contact:
Deborah McCreadie
07801 723 967 deborah.mcreadie@flaktwoods.com
Jo Hook
07801 723 214
jo.hook@flaktwoods.com
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In July, 1978... Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test tube baby’ was born in Oldham. Bolivia gained a new president after a coup. And, in Halesowen, Alan Jones and David ‘Mike’ Hampson set up WestMid Fans to distribute products from Woods of Colchester.
Thirty years later... Louise Brown can walk down any street unrecognised. Few people outside Bolivia remember General Juan Pereda. Woods, continuing to manufacture top-quality fans in Colchester, is now a key business unit of global leader Fläkt Woods. In Halesowen, however, WestMid Fans is still headed by Alan Jones, still distributes fans from the same leading manufacturer and the company continues to go from strength to strength.
“Mike Hampson and I had worked together in the fans industry for 10 years,” says Alan Jones, “and set up the company because we felt that consultants, specifiers and others might welcome our technical and engineering expertise.”
They were right and the business expanded rapidly, moving some years ago from its original 1,500 ft2 warehouse to a prime site, more than six times the size, in nearby Mucklow Hill. From there, it distributes axial fans, twin fans and associated equipment across the whole of the West Midlands. Mike Hampson retired in 1999, but Alan Jones is supported by a growing staff which includes his two sons, Simon and Timothy.
He says, “Woods was always at the core of the business. We insisted on only distributing products we could trust and have become the sole Express Distributor for Fläkt Woods fans in the West Midlands. We now represent other manufacturers as well, for other types of product, but our 30 years’ experience of dealing with Fläkt Woods means that we have complete confidence in the company, its products and its people.”
Growth has seen WestMid Fans expand in other ways. As the fans industry has evolved and changed, so has the company. It has always placed great reliance on combining a depth of technical understanding with detailed product knowledge, underpinned by solid training. From this base, it has developed a full design and acoustic advice service which is increasingly popular with mechanical and electrical contractors, consultants and local authority specifiers.
Asked for the secret of the company’s 30-year success story, Alan Jones is characteristically modest: “There is no big secret,” he says, with deliberate understatement. “You offer great products, from the best manufacturers. You back these with experience and expertise. You offer competitive prices. You understand what your customers need and always keep your promises to them. That’s all there is to it.”
Neil Yule, Fläkt Woods UK Business Unit Director, has something to add. “Alan Jones and his team are renowned in the industry for customer service,” he says. “Some of their customers have been with WestMid Fans for the whole 30 years and that does not happen by accident. We simply could not name a more professional distributor and we look forward to continuing to work with WestMid Fans for many years to come"
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