Factory Tour
Wednesday 4th November 2008
Twenty members and guests enjoyed a presentation by one of the Senior Managers at the plant in which he described the history of SSD leading up to it being bought and integrated into the Parker (USA) empire, its past and current products, and current markets worldwide. 380 staff are employed at the Littlehampton site.
The presentation was followed by a full tour of the production facility of this local company, which produces speed, power and direction control systems for industrial AC and DC electric motors. The controllers are used in many applications optimising and controlling the speed precisely while at the same time minimising the power requirement. The tour of the factory was especially interesting as it showed the very latest techniques in the manufacture of solid-state equipment.
Eurotherm was founded in 1965. In 1974 they formed Shackleton System Drives (SSD) Division – Littlehampton, since when it has a chequered history. After periods when the company was owned by Siebe and subsequently by Invensys, it was sold in 2002 to equity partners and the senior management team; it was then sold again in 2005 to the Parker Hannifin Corporation USA. its current owner.
Brian Buckroyd
