Be my Guest…Barry Williams
Liftket UK recently became a full member of LEEA. Here to tell us more is Barry Williams who became director of Liftket UK in January, after taking over from John Jones, who has now retired. The company is excited to launch its single phase hoist Star 1 this summer, thanks to demand for its 110V.
“Becoming a full member of LEEA is something we've always wanted to do, since day one of starting Liftket UK. I’ve known about the association from previous employments, so it was our main aim of 2024 and now that it’s happened it’s fantastic news,” said Williams.
“Even the reaction from clients is positive because as soon as people see you've got LEEA accreditation it's a big thing in this industry. It means that even if you were doing things right before, you are doing so even more now particularly, anything to do with safety. If you are a member of LEEA, you know you are moving in the right direction and that’s the main thing for us.”
Talking about the kind of support the association offers, Williams said anything to do with lifting is important. The safety aspect, documentation and also getting your team trained up to the best standards and gaining the LEEA Team Card.
“Once you're in this industry, you tend to stay and if you've got LEEA membership it's good for everybody,” he added.
“We've always focused on safety and on making sure that our product, when it leaves the factory, is safe to use and the documentation is perfect. We've always done that. Becoming a full member of LEEA means going through a full audit process, which we've done, and it wasn’t easy but it’s made us better as a company.
“Just to see the targets you've got to hit. Not everybody can get there. You have to make sure what you do is correct and that all processes are followed by everyone who works here.”
Liftket UK is based in Ellesmere Port, 15 miles from Liverpool, a prime location for the industrial sector. The company’s head office is in Leipzig, Germany with other locations in India, Canada, Spain and France.
“I always say that if it wasn't for Brexit we probably wouldn't have a company here. That was one of the reasons why we set up in the UK and thankfully I was approached by John Jones, the former director who has now retired, and the rest is history,” said Williams.
“Project wise, any big orders that come in are for the stage industry. We are a small team of five in the UK office, so we try and balance the workload between industrial and stage and try to remain flexible.
“What's next is just getting better, getting more out there. We're still a very young company. We've never marketed ourselves in the UK so maybe that's the next thing we look at.
“We're looking forward to LiftEx in London this year and just getting ourselves out there. We have a fantastic product and aim to keep improving and maintaining our own high standards of customer service.”
Click HERE to watch the video on LEEA YouTube channel.
