DIGITISATION
APS eyes long-term partnerships as key to helping industry move forward Food & Industry Beverage News explains why at just 18 months old, APS is already making waves in the automation sector.
APS has a huge portfolio of gear for automating plant.
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PS was born on March 1st, 2018, a time seen by the company as when it provided industry with a new choice by consolidating what can at times be a fragmented market. It brought a range of high-visibility brands in the industrial low- and medium-voltage electrical and automation space under one roof. Headed by industry leader Lloyd Thomas (chairman – APS Group) and David Hegarty (managing director – APS Industrial), APS came into being when two companies were acquired – Ramelec and HiTech Control Systems. Thomas and his board then quickly set about putting national distribution deals in place with highly rated global manufacturers such as Siemens, Rittal and Weidmüller. Siemens has a leading global market share, but less so in Australia. It was the apple in Thomas’s eye
"The advantage we bring to local customers is that not only do we sell quality products but the breadth of our portfolio is so impressive. Our global manufacturing partners produce an incredible number of products and that’s what we give the local market access to. We are giving consumers a large choice in one place." when he thought about putting APS together. Building on that, APS then signed national distribution deals with a range of other German companies including the aforementioned Rittal and Weidmüller. Other brands under its umbrella include KATKO and Epcos (TDK). In Hegarty’s words, APS has become a “one-stop shop for industrial automation and power distribution needs”. As if to reiterate
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the point, Hegarty is also clear on what APS has to offer the market. “The advantage we bring to local customers is that not only do we sell quality products but the breadth of our portfolio is so impressive,” he said. “Our global manufacturing partners produce an incredible number of products and that’s what we give the local market access to. We are giving consumers a large choice in one place.”
APS is here for the long game, and doesn’t consider itself an overnight success, despite its rapid rise in the industrial electrical space, said Hegarty. He also knows the direction the company is heading is the right one. He feels that the sooner the industry can appreciate the benefits of Industry 4.0 and commence their digital journey, the better for all companies participating in the Australian industrial ecosystem. “I was at the Siemens Digitalise 2019 in Brisbane, and it is clear a key challenge that the industry is going to face is getting started on their digitisation journey,” he said. “There are already early adopters paving the way, and there are going to be more examples of this over the next six months where companies are willing to take a step from what they are currently doing manufacturing, product and process wise. They’ll say, ‘we’re on the cusp of something big here and we are going to take these first steps to go down the path of digitisation and are ready to commence our journey. It takes courage, but we are going to do it because this is how we will survive and thrive. We have to’.” Siemens invest billions of euros globally on research and development and the whole idea of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing, said Hegarty. They are leading the way and that APS can exclusively help bring this to Australia is a unique point of difference for him. “Take a brand like Siemens – when all of your products are from the same manufacturer you get unrivalled communication and integration capability – power distribution, automation, motor control – everything comes from
