Be Trendy - Go with the (air) flow and grow your business

Chemical Flame Arrestor (bottom half cleaned) - a fine filter designed to vent flammable materials without allowing the passage of flames.

In these troubled economic times amid all the talk of credit crunches and layoffs we have seen an increasing trend towards refurbishment and cleaning rather than replacing. For example in laser cutting CNC machines we have cleaned the ventilation bellows of 4 different companies over the last 6 months. Likewise in the print industry we have attracted over 6 new users this year of scruffite, our descaling solution, specifically for the cleaning of plate making machinery. Both these applications have been mentioned before in our February 2009 newsletter but what is striking is this movement towards repairing and cleaning rather than replacement. It was further demonstrated by a new job we have taken on this month, the cleaning of a flame arrestor from a blue-chip chemical Company. The same factors were at work here, refurbishment rather than replacement, and attention to health, safety and environmental issues.

This may be pure economics caused by the current climate in which case it will be short term. However we also see longer term underlying trends towards recycling and re-using equipment and using environmentally safer cleaning products. These trends have caused our business to continue growing over the last 12 months. Possibly even more astonishing is the fact that most of our customers' businesses also appear to be growing.

Without seeking to understate the difficult times we face and the continuing economic problems it may be worth looking at trends in your own industry and the wider economy and swimming with the tide of these trends rather than pursuing paths that run against them. And of course Sonic Solutions are happy to help you follow these trends of re-using rather than replacing and using environmentally safe cleaning methods.