New joint managing directors for DC Drive supplier

Phil Black - PII Editor 27/06/2014

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Sprint Electric Ltd., manufacturer of DC drives in Arundel, announces two new managing directors. Dr. Mark Gardiner and Gary Keen have been appointed joint Managing Directors and run the company from 11 June 2014 on. The former managing directors, Edwin Prescott, co-founder of Sprint Electric, and R&D director Dr. Aris Potamianos, will remain at Sprint Electric as technical advisors on a part time basis.

“This change is a very important step for Sprint Electric and allows it to continue for the foreseeable future under new, younger and more dynamic leadership,” says Gary Keen. “There will be no sweeping changes as the formula so far has been successful – however, we will look to improve all areas of the operation and put in place some goals and strategies for growth which will see the company become more successful in its present fields of activity and enable greater penetration of its key markets.”

Gary Keen, former Sales Director, has been with Sprint Electric since 1998. He can look back on working in the drives market for 34 years. He started his career with SSD and formed an award winning company in the 1990s, successfully designing and building control panels and systems. Dr. Mark Gardiner joined the company in 2013 and held the position of Technical Operations Manager. Before joining Sprint Electric, Mark Gardiner worked in R&D for Eurotherm Drives before becoming Technical Manager for motors and drives at Edwards High Vacuum.

Sprint Electric Ltd. was founded in 1987 by Edwin Prescott and David Van Der Wee, both previously involved in the drives market for a number of years. The product range started with single phase DC drives up to 48 amps. Backed by many years of system experience and a rigorous approach at the R&D stage, the company quickly expanded its product range. R&D director Dr. Aris Potamianos, who joined Sprint Electric in 1997, was responsible for the design and engineering of Sprint Electric’s well known PLX range.

Today the company offers a wide range of DC motor control, with over 150 models from 12 up to 2250 Amps covering both 1 phase and 3 phase, regenerative and non-regenerative DC motor applications, together with field controllers, digital slip ring motor controllers and thyristor stack controllers. Whether in retrofits or original equipment, DC drives from Sprint Electric are being used in many different applications including metal processing, the pulp and paper industry, rubber and plastic processing, lifting equipment, food processing, leisure industries and many more. The products are sold all over the world, with an export share of approximately 80 percent of its annual production.