In Focus: Fischer Panda UK to refine desalination offering

Fischer Panda UK (FPUK) has been involved with desalination since around 2000. And, according to Chris Fower sales and marketing director, it’s time to refine the offering as the company responds to new technology and market trends.

Although Fower says growth in the desalination sector has been good (there has been a gradual increase with year-on-year growth), and while there are the usual ups and downs with the odd dip, he says shrinking the wide offering FPUK currently offers will help the business grow further.

“Currently the range is very broad so we will be looking to refine this which will enable us to offer a higher level of expertise in top quality desalination products and solutions,” says Fower.

“New technology is coming through all the time and the market is driving a focus on efficiency and lower power consumption. Essentially, as is the case for many equipment manufacturers, desalination products are looking for higher output with lower consumption. We are also seeing more of a focus on DC 12v, 24v and 48v systems now as opposed to AC systems.”

But, while Fower is mirroring the market demand in the leisure market, he’ll also be addressing other opportunities. “We will look to grow within the commercial sector where Parker [for whom FPUK is a premier distributor] is already a well-known and respected brand worldwide, so we can build on this reputation.”

Fischer Panda UK has been trading for nearly 30 years, and after building itself by promoting, installing and supplying diesel generators, moved to sell the items it was powering – including desalination and air conditioning.

Now the company has a linear approach. “We work on systems integration, and so our range of watermakers form part of our portfolio of onboard equipment solutions for our marine customers,” Fower says. As a complete systems provider, FPUK is able to assist with powering systems efficiently and effectively using its various power and energy solutions. This is really beneficial to help decrease the costs associated with units for vessels requiring high volumes of water.

A big part of that is working with UK OEMS (original equipment manufacturers), and this is where Fower sees the continuation for the majority of the business.

“We have a strong demand for equipment sales and will continue to supply spare parts to the marine market across our product ranges. There’s likely to be developments and refinements in line with demand across the range,” he says.

One of the biggest developments in the last ten years centred around automated freshwater flushing. Fower says that this [now] standard feature across most desalination products, and other similar developments, help to make products more viable and extend their life, meaning the impact on the owner is reduced in cost and time.

It’s all part of a drive to improve service maintenance functions which ultimately reduce servicing requirements and reduce the impact of maintenance needs.

“We tend to focus on the UK to support our clients, but we do branch out across Europe as we support extensively with technical capabilities across Europe,” he says. Fischer Panda‘s model is to sell directly to the market, it’s not a sub dealer network, so Fower is proud of the way the company works “directly with our clients to ensure we can maintain feedback and provide high levels of consistent service to our customers in both B2B and B2C relationships.”

And although Fower says the future is all about automation to create better efficiency, he’ll be continuing that direct contact for many years to come.