Burdens Utilities Technical Director (Water and Gas) Graham John announces the latest partnership and product offering from Burdens.
To meet the ever increasing demand to supply ‘a complete package’ to the Utilities and contractor customer base Burdens Utilities are continually progressing discussions with manufacturers and suppliers of new, improved, or innovative products for the water and waste water industries. The Burdens product portfolio has been steadily built up in preparation for current and future water utility business and includes the Extensive range of pipes and fittings in all materials, valves, coupling and adaptors, joint sets, water meters, protection systems, tooling, accessories and access systems and distributed via a network of UK branches. One sector of the industry that has undergone extensive evaluation with Burdens is the pump market, I.E. centrifugal pump, packaged pump station, booster and irrigation pumping products for the M & E, O.E. & M. and civil engineering markets.
Whilst the UK pump market is huge and appeared to be well served by a large amount of existing distributors and pump manufacturers, research with contractors and installers highlighted that in many instances lead times were prohibitive if the pump was not of common application and the application of pump was compromised if it was required on an emergency basis (compared to a specified pump that could be pre ordered in advance).
Whilst acknowledging that Burdens supply chain distributes whole packages of products to the water industry, we identified that there was one obvious product offering that was missing from Burdens, that being pumps and pump related products, hence the evaluation and compilation of a business plan to progress forward.
SAER Pumps
Choosing the correct partner to enter a new market is always an exciting time, it can also be a fraught one, therefore with this in mind Burdens objective was to find a long term sustainable partner with Visions and Values similar to its own, and who would also harbour ambition and growth to develop in a country they did not have a large presence in, and this partner was discovered in the form of SAER Elettropompe.
Founded over 50 years ago by Carlo Favella, SAER is family owned and operated by his two sons Franco and Mauro Favella. SAER currently has four manufacturing plants in the High tech Parma region, of northern Italy (Motor Valley – think Ducatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini etc.,) and is soon to progress construction of a new 25,000 sqm factory, ensuring that all production of the pumps is done in house and proudly carries the ‘Made in Italy’ tag. The range of pumps is very extensive, and new developments and initiatives are constantly forthcoming, indeed SAER offer their products in cast iron, carbon steel, stainless steel, and bronze. During 2011, Duplex will also be an option on some products.
SAER pumps distributor
SAER operate in just over 120 countries and are poised to be amongst the leading pump manufacturers in the world, thus the choice of Burdens as the main distribution partner for SAER in the UK and republic of Ireland was an easy and obvious one and during the next few months will see Burdens stock the range of SAER pumps including single impeller centrifugal pumps, submersible pumps from 100mm – 350mm, single stage monobloc centrifugal pumps, peripheral electric pumps inline vertical multistage pumps, horizontal multistage centrifugal pumps and sewage pumps amongst others. To follow will be the range of vertical and horizontal multistage pumps in stainless steel to 304 or 316, high performance split casing pumps, and booster sets.
Distributed through the network of almost 50 Burdens depots, a range of SAER pumps will be available to collect locally, or by delivery next day from the Burdens central distribution warehouse.
SAER works very closely with its main distributors, and Burdens will promote the range of pumps as SAER UK, and are currently compiling marketing and promotion campaigns, catalogue and product literature and a new web site devoted entirely to the pump market.
To ensure thorough product knowledge and expertise of the range of pumps, a specialist team of Burdens Utilities technical managers will undertake visits to SAER for comprehensive product training and general awareness of requirements for the pump industry, in addition to spending some time with the SAER design technicians and the SAER marketing team. 
The pump portfolio is not in isolation as a product offering, as Burdens also supply ductile iron pipes and fittings to EN 545 and EN 598, PE and barrier pipe, couplings and adaptors, penstocks and flap valves, gate, sluice, air and non-return valves, flanged joint sets, double flanged joint sections, fixings and fasteners, tooling which all complement the requirements for installation of pumps and in 2011 Burdens will work with strategic contracting partner Pumpac to offer a design, supply, installation, commission, and service package (or any of those in isolation) for customers in the UK and R.O.I.
To fully complement the pumping solutions package, Burdens are also able to offer the Domopac which is amongst the first domestic booster set built to meet a white goods dimensional specification and an answer to low water mains pressure for the water company’s domestic customers, and thereby the supplier. The Domopac is available in stainless or powder coated steel and can be situated inside or out of a dwelling, with various sizes to suit small flats through to large houses. Aesthetically acceptable in a domestic environment, the unit conforms to break tank regulations (with a Type AB air gap option available if required), it is fully insulated and uses energy efficient inverter driven pumps. There are twin tank and twin pump options and plumbing is no more difficult than a domestic washing machine. A very cost effective solution. The system is exceptionally quiet and aesthetically acceptable for use in a domestic environment.
The target market for the Burden - SAER pump partnership is the uk contracting base, Utilities additionally, UK pump distributors are also being sought, if you require more information, product catalogues, please contact Graham John, Burdens Technical director Water and Gas (07711 771616) or email gj@burdens.co.uk
