Lancashire Telegraph Business Awards: Technology (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Lancashire Telegraph Business Awards: Technology

3:52pm Monday 23rd November 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

SOME companies can brag about leading the way in Lancashire or nationally, but Apeks Marine Equipment is ahead of the field across the world.

The company, which operates from an unassuming base at Blackburn’s Roman Road Industrial Estate, places a heavy emphasis on research and development.

It was that commitment that led Apeks to launch the FLIGHT regulator this year, a hi-tech device that regulates divers’ breathing while also being incredibly light.

And our judges, impressed with the trailblazing qualities of the product, honoured Apeks with the Technology award.

After picking up the gong, design development manager Andy Davis said: “We have been developing the FLIGHT regulator for three years and it is now the lightest of its kind in the world.

“Our products are leading the world when it comes to diving and I think this will too.

“However, it has been very hard work. It has been ups and downs and we have had things that have been difficult to overcome but it has been worth it in the end.”

Apeks was founded 36 years ago by Ken Ainscough, a businessman who turned his hobby of diving into a company that now turns over £7million a year.

The back story explains world-leading Apeks’ presence in landlocked East Lancashire and current staff said Mr Ainscough would be proud that his tradition of pioneering research and technological excellence was being continued today.

Mr Davis added: “This award shows us how important it is to invest as a company in technology.

“It means a lot to the company but we could not have done it without the teamwork of everyone involved.

“We set out to achieve something that was light, so it’s easy to travel with, because that is the way the industry is going. And I think we have that.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)