Uni researcher's bright idea 20 years ago puts business on the road to success across the globe

By oastley

THE machinery was designed and built in Derbyshire then sold through a Chinese agent to a customer in the Congo.

From Cooper Technology's premises in Ripley, machinery to test materials for road building are shipped across the globe.

The order book lists customers in Columbia, France, Canada, Switzerland, the UK, Dubai, Turkey, China and Poland.

Sales and technical support staff each have two passports, while visas have to be constantly kept up to date so they can jet off at a moment's notice to any corner of the world.

Last year, the business sold into 34 countries.

The latest Polish order is of particular significance.

Managing director Pete Grafton said: "At around £700,000, it is our biggest order to date and involves 24 machines.

"The road infrastructure over there is being totally redone, we have a good agent in Poland and put a tender package together, fighting off competition from Italy, Germany and Australia."

Cooper Technology is in a very specialised global market and has no competitors in the UK.

The technology that has allowed this business to stretch around the world was dreamed up by chairman Keith Cooper.

While working as a researcher at Nottingham University in the 1980s, Mr Cooper struck upon an idea that he felt had real commercial possibilities.

He invented what he called the Nottingham Asphalt Tester, a machine that could accurately and automatically test the bituminous materials used for roadways throughout the globe. In 1990, Cooper Technology was created to exploit the idea.

The basic pneumatic testing machine has evolved little since this time and is still an important part of the growing portfolio of machinery.

A cylinder of asphalt is taken from a road or produced in a laboratory then placed into the machine which sends pneumatic pulses through the material.

Each pulse simulates a car or truck passing over the road surface and software measures deformation and fatigue in the asphalt.

The machinery and the information gathered is essential to oil companies which produce materials used in road building, to local authorities throughout the world which have to monitor the conditions of roads and industrial laboratories and universities conducting research work. Anywhere there are roads being built and maintained, there will be a need to test the materials being used.

One of the facts of life is that every year, far more roads are built than fall into disuse, meaning a constant global demand for asphalt-testing equipment, especially in developing nations.

And the business continues to expand its reach, proving a worthy winner of the UKTI-sponsored International Trade category at last month's Derbyshire Business awards.

85% of its machines end up overseas, a large proportion going to Africa and continental Europe.

Shell in India uses machines designed and built in Ripley, eight per cent of Cooper Technology's equipment went to South America last year and great strides have been made in developing business with China.

Mr Grafton said: "The great barrier to doing business in China is cost because transporting our machines is a little bit too expensive so we have started a Chinese subsidiary."

The general manager of the Chinese operation will be in Ripley prior to manufacturing starting next month.

"It will have taken us a year to get to this point and it has not been easy because you do keep getting knocked back and it takes time.

"I've been out there myself six or seven times because if you don't then you will never get anywhere," said Mr Grafton.

The last few months have yielded the big Polish order, the new Chinese factory and a from manufacturing organisation EEF and the aforementioned Derbyshire Business Award.

This purple patch that the business is experiencing is not down to luck or more favourable trading conditions in the asphalt-testing industry.

It is largely due to decisions that were made around four years ago when the business was based in a small unit in Heage Road.

For about 15 years, the family business ticked over nicely and expanded the product range slowly but within Cooper Technology it was recognised that there was untapped potential.

The most startling evidence of this was the fact that in the early days of the company, Mr Cooper had sold one of his machines to an Australian company.

That firm made a few modifications to the equipment and, with a more aggressive business model, had transformed itself into a multi-million dollar business and remains a rival to Cooper Technology.

It was around four years ago that the company started its move into the fast lane alongside its more aggressive global competitors.

Mr Grafton said: "Our competitors were £10m and £20m companies and we were under a million yet we knew that our products were as good if not better than theirs."

For the first time in the company's history, a strategy was put together involving more new machines, a renewed focus on sales and marketing, updating an obsolete website and improved customer support.

Ambitious people including multilingual accounts managers were recruited and the business that formerly ticked over started to move forward.

It moved from its modest Heage Road home to a 5,000 sq ft unit in Peasehill Road during 2008, doubling its available space. It now occupies four units and has some 10,500 sq ft of space.

The past three years have also seen the company's turnover grow from just under £1.4m in 2007 to over £3.3m last year and the company is predicting further double-digit growth this year, fuelled by more innovative technology and more aggressive focus on sales.

Andrew Cooper, son of founder Keith, travelled to 35 different countries last year, encouraging local agents to work with the company and even organised a large conference in Nanjing, eastern China.

Before Cooper appoints an overseas agent, they will have visited Ripley for training so they understand all about the machines.

Another means the firm uses to get a foothold in overseas markets is to give machines to foreign universities to carry out research on asphalt.

The thinking is that the more data collected by the Ripley machinery, the more the Cooper name will spread to potential customers and it gives the firm access to more expertise.

Alongside a Hungarian professor, the business has developed a new machine that will test heavier loads, essential given that lorries are getting heavier.

"We want to be the biggest global supplier of asphalt testing equipment in terms of how many machines in our portfolio," said Mr Grafton.

The company has six new machines it is preparing to launch on the market this year and in May new universal software will be ready that will allow people to test to any number of differing global standards.

Given the rate of growth at Cooper Technology over the past few years, it makes you wonder how many other undiscovered manufacturing gems are operating in Derbyshire.

And given the firm's proximity to Derby, how the A52 got to be in such a dire state.