Over the last 25 years, Bender UK has grown its market share, increased its number of employees and achieved tens of millions in revenue annually.
However, despite being perhaps one of Cumbria’s biggest SME success stories, managing director Gareth Brunton and the team believe they still need to do more to make people aware of the business and what it does.
In order to do this, Bender UK has unveiled a new customer showcase area at its Ulverston headquarters - known as Suite 97 - complete with a cutting-edge demonstration operating theatre and intensive care unit, as well as a “wonder wall” showcasing the many sectors and applications for its equipment.
“Not enough people know about Bender and that is one of the reasons that we've invested so heavily in this suite and why we want to bring people here,” said Gareth.
Bender UK is part of the Bender Group, which employs over 1,200 people worldwide, with representation in over 100 countries.
Walther Hans Bender founded the business over 75 years ago, in Grünberg, Hessen, Germany. In very simple terms, it makes solutions that monitor, alarm, and maintain critical power systems to provide advanced warning of electrical failure and to keep systems running in the event of an outage.
Its systems can be found in myriad sectors including healthcare, rail, oil and gas, data centres, maritime, electrical vehicle charging and renewable energy.
The Bender family initially served the UK market via a company in London, which was followed by a move to Barrow when Bender UK was established in 1997.
It is now based in a purpose-built facility on Low Mill Business Park.
The company’s growth was given a boost in 2004 when a change in healthcare standards in the UK put much more demand on the resilience of power networks in hospitals.
It began installing its equipment in hospitals across the UK and Ireland and growing its team to cover commissioning, service and maintenance.
Today its team of 130 is spread across the UK and Ireland, with over 50 based in Cumbria, and it is on track to generate revenue of around £40m by the end of this year.
The new suite is being used for both demonstration and training purposes for existing and potential customers. It incorporates a large meeting room for hosting guests, which is also available for use by the local community.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here