Thanks to the light weight and low profile materials, carbon fibre plates have the practical benefits of;
Why do structures need strengthening?
Change of use giving an increased loading
Inadequate design
Poor quality construction
Structural damage
Fire damage
Seismic Loading
Reinforcement Corrosion (If cause treated)
Loss of prestress force
Selling technical products, profitably, within the construction industry invariably means selling to specifiers such as architects, civil engineers, structural engineers and client teams, especially if they are new innovative products. All of these specifiers will have spent many years becoming qualified and will be educated to degree level. All most all of these technical professionals will be looking for technical support from sales people and won’t be comfortable seeing a ‘sales’ person. They will constantly be judging the technical knowledge of the sales person based on the knowledge they have of the product, the understanding of the relevant standards relating to the application and the technical language that they use. They are unlikely to give any sales presentation credibility if they have judged the sales person as not being technically knowledgable.
Any successful technical sales strategy needs several elements to be considered;
Product positioning is important, is it a product which has a technical differentiation to anything else in the market place? If there isn’t, is it a commodity product which needs a different sales strategy?
What sort of sales team will you need? Do you employ people with technical knowledge, but limited or no sales experience, or do you train sales people technically concerning everything associated with the product?
Technical sales tools such as CPD presentations, white papers, Specification Clauses, standard details will all help sales people demonstrate there technical capability and are a necessity in any strategy.
This is one of the most technically demanding structural strengthening projects ever carried out using UHM Carbon Fibre Plates applied to a cast iron structure. Significant research went into selecting the right structural adhesive for the project that would deliver the right level of technical performance whilst being applied in the very challanging conditons. Trials were also carried out to ensure the installation method was achieveable. Well done to all involved in PC44 and achieving this ICE commendation.
Why is it so difficult to get find all the Product Data Sheets for CFRP Plates and Structural Adhesive materials which are available in the UK Market for Structural Strengthening Systems? Many of the major suppliers dont have them readily available on there websites.
Below is a selection of the key products which are generally available in the UK, from Sika, Weber and Mapei. You will probably notice that not all of them are from a UK website, so I hope they are correct. These products are generally for use on concrete structures for flexural strengthening
Click to access Sikadur%2030%20PDS%20(CE).pdf
Click to access carbodur_structstrength.pdf
Click to access 10.010_weber.tec_force_carbon_plate.pdf
Click to access 02.020_weber.tec_EP_structural_adhesive_04.pdf
Click to access 1001_carboplate_gb.pdf
Click to access 1006_mapewrap_11-12_gb.pdf
Next step is to do a product comparision which will appear on the website.
I graduated from Surrey University with Civil Engineering Degree which included a sandwich year working for Specialist Piling Contractor, Cementation. My first post graduate role was with Gifford and Partners working mainly within bridge design and assessment, although I did also design the hull of a Hovercraft at one stage! I spend my last year with Giffords seconded to Hampshire CC working as a resident engineer for the bridges on the Bentley Bypass. As the project came to an end I decided to look for a more commercially focused role and started working for the global specialist construction materials manufacturer Sika. Having started at the grass routes level within the company I progressed, via several development roles, to running the UK ‘Contractors’ Business Unit with a gross turnover of approx £16m. In Nov 2013 I left Sika and after being self employed for a few months I established Structural Refurbishment Solutions Ltd (SRS Ltd) as a consultancy specialising in Technical Sales and Marketing Strategy Support, with a focus on structural refurbishment such as concrete repair, structural strengthening, flooring and waterproofing.
SRS Ltd (Structural Refurbishment Solutions Ltd) specialise in technical sales and marketing support within the construction product industry.
Structural Refurbishment Solutions 