2017 Vendor Pitch Winner
Date: 22-Nov-2017
The Vendor Pitch session, introduced at the 2017 Annual Forum, aimed to fund the newly created Queensland Water Regional Communities Innovations Program (QWRCIP) which allows approved scholarship holders to spend time visiting SEQ service providers, attend the Annual Forum as well as a Technical Reference Group meeting.
We caught up with Rod Wellings, winner of our inaugural Vendor Pitch session, to see what the win means for him and his company.
Can you please tell us a bit about your decision to enter the pitch and your subsequent win – what does it mean for you / Royce Water?
Thank you for including a vendor pitch session. I have been in the water sector for almost 15 years. Our customer are used to the "Royce Boys" turning up with new toys and technologies to solve their problems. These toys are usually imported from manufacturers in the US, UK and Europe. I wanted to let my customers know we now have a manufacturing capability to make some of the equipment they use in their water and wastewater plants in Brisbane. Hopefully they will ask for and support a Queensland manufacturer.
What are you / your organisation trying to achieve with the sector and what excites you?
"Insanity is a journey that starts with a good idea"
With much of the equipment we import, we need to make a local modification so the sensor will suit the local conditions. When there is a supplier price rise it is too easy to keep passing the increased cost on to the customer. Eventually you look at the price and ask yourself if you can make the item yourself for less money and still maintain good margins. With the galvanic dissolved oxygen sensor we have been able to redesign the sensor to improve the functionality and accuracy of the sensor, as well as lower the cost to the customer for the similar sensor from overseas.
What do you think about the current technologies available now and what it means for the water industry?
I started Royce Water in 2004 because generally the quality of process instrumentation available to the water sector was quite poor and outdated. The first step was to find new reliable technologies from overseas and introduce into the Australian market. I identified innovative SMEs overseas who are the development houses for new sensing technology and formed relationships to distribute these new technologies in Australia. In this we have been successful. The next step is to supplement these technologies with locally manufactured sensors.
Is there anything exciting in the pipeline that you are looking at bringing to the market?
Yes, but I cannot say at present. We are in R&D on new sensing technologies for use in water and wastewater treatment. It is all very exciting and a game changer in the area of analytical measurement. More on this next year!
In the meantime, check out the current products and services on offer:
Hydrostatic Level Sensors: Aquameta CG420-0.5VPU, Aquameta CR420-0.5EFE, Aquameta CR420-0.5NPU, Aquameta CR420-0.5VFA, Aquameta CR420-0.5VFU, Aquameta CR420-0.5VPU, Aquameta PF420-0.5VPU, Aquameta PG420-0.5VFU, Aquameta PT420-0.5EFE, Aquameta PT420-0.5VFD, Aquameta PT420-0.5VFU
We thank all our 2017 Vendor Pitch participants - Royce Water Technologies, Aqseptence Group and Antec.