Key Highlights:
- Hi-Tech found that the most successful automation companies historically serve their home markets which is exactly what the company did from the outset.
- Hi-Tech transitioned into an Employee Ownership Trust in January 2023 which enables equal ownership of the business for all employees through the Trust.
- The funding of capital equipment such as enhanced server management, a new electric fork truck and a laser welding machine have all been possible since the profit of the business is re-invested in an unconventional way.
Hi-Tech Automation is a well-established and growing company in the field of automation, serving as a valuable link between moulding machine manufacturers, robot suppliers and end-users, helping mainly plastic producers improve their efficiency, quality and fill the labour shortage gap.
For nearly thirty years, Hi-Tech Automation has serviced the needs of customers who want to invest in practical automation with a very strong return on investment. The business believes a broad and open approach to automation allows it to focus on flexible solutions rather than selling a specific product. The company’s experience is predominantly “Press Side Automation”, secondary operations relating to part removal, insert loading, vision inspection, finishing and packing. Finding innovative, cost-effective solutions using the latest technology to improve efficiency, reduce build time, cost and maximise OEE.
In this interview, Mandy O’Brien caught up with Gary Probert, director of Hi-Tech Automation, to explore its core business model, and how a recent transition to an Employee Ownership Trust model is shaping its company culture.
What is Hi-Tech Automation’s core business model?
Our core business has been slowly increasing from a relatively low base in medical device manufacture some ten years ago. We diversified into other areas of plastics manufacturing and medical device automation that require a different approach due to detailed validation documentation from URS to FDS, FAT and other technical documentation. This is a shift in direction that is helped by other parts of the business such as design and controls engineering that already produce complex documentation.
We find that the most successful automation companies historically serve their home markets which is exactly what Hi-Tech Automation did from the outset. We have however found that over the years exporting to the rest of the world has been customer-driven and has happened organically. 2023 saw a rise in exports to North America and Ireland, contributing to 39% of our sales. The “Digital Revolution” has allowed us to have “Machine to Machine” communication through web-based firewalls allowing us 24/7 access to equipment regardless of its geo-location. Customers can have programme, HMI or PLC changes that have been tested offline immediately loaded to a machine, we can assist with any level of fault finding or support remotely in real-time.
Our USP would be the level of integration, ease of use and error recovery applied to our applications. Plastic components can vary due to materials and processes so being able to start and recover a complex system quickly is something we are good at. We are increasingly using industrial six-axis robots to communicate with the moulding machine, cavity pressure monitoring systems, vision and pass this data onto the customers' QMS (Quality Management System).
The Moulding machine can report a complete reject shot but the robot can isolate a particular cavity to reject when the process is validated, isolate individual cavities rejected by the Cavity pressure monitoring system, look for black spots through vision and collate all rejects with a simple visual representation of the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness). This would have required third-party industrial software and a PC only a few years ago but simple Ethernet connections allow the sharing of data for viewing on a low-cost HMI. This added value is relatively simple to add and can’t generally be achieved with simpler cartesian robots commonly used for pick and place. We have applications where the industrial robot is communicating directly with the moulding machine, monitoring the Hot Runner Temperature, measuring flow to the mould tool circuits using flow and RTD (Resistance Temperature Sensors), interfacing with Temperature control units using ethernet or standard RS485 wired networks. This allows the robot to parameterise the machine ancillaries to ensure process control is within set limits and alarm if the machine or ancillaries are out of range sometimes due to operator input.
Could you tell us more about Hi-Tech’s Employee-Owned status?
Succession planning and retirement, even if it is well over the horizon is something every business owner thinks long and hard about, long term planning is important for any company to succeed. Hi-Tech is now a well-established business with strong IP, industry experience and a good customer base.
Building the company from the ground up, Gary Probert and Ricky Thompson continued success for the business well into the future so that the talented individuals employed with the company can in turn be part of it. We want our customers to know that the company’s future is secure and that our employees are part of the journey and will ultimately benefit from everyone’s success. The ethos of the business will continue through a collective understanding that we are all in it together.
Hi-Tech transitioned into an “Employee Ownership Trust”, or “EOT”, in January 2023. This type of model enables equal ownership of the business for all employees through the Trust. We have three additional directors, all of whom are also employees who sit on the Trust's board of directors. Gary Probert and Rick Thompson, co-directors of Hi-Tech Automation Ltd still run the company day to day as previously, but major shareholding decisions are made by consensus with the other three Trust directors. This inclusivity is viewed very positively by employees.
The main difference for Gary Probert is: “We have signposted the long-term future of the company for those who wish to take part in its future success”, “staff retention is no longer something we worry about, we have reduced the company’s employee average age and have recruited two new talented engineers.”
In January 2024, on the anniversary of our first year as an “EOT”, the five Trust directors paid a substantial tax-free bonus to all employees as is allowed by HMRC. The funding of capital equipment such as enhanced server management, a new state-of-the-art electric fork truck and a laser welding machine have all been possible as the profit of the business is re-invested in a way that isn’t normally the case with a shareholder model. The promises and assurances that the company will be owned and run for the exclusive benefit of the employees finally came to fruition.
What do you hope to achieve from exhibiting at Interplas 2026?
We do not sell a simple commodity that can be marketed heavily and sold in multiples. Our sales window is what we do, the quality of the workmanship and the ingenuity of our solutions.
An exhibition is the ideal place to present innovation. Our orders typically come from customers who have known us for some time and where a relationship of trust has developed. To have customers visit you in one place, benchmark what we do against all of the other exhibitors and discuss future plans is a real highlight. Interplas 2023 was great for us and our partners, the after-show entertainment was also greatly appreciated and was well attended giving an additional networking opportunity. I hope the same for Interplas 2026.