Case Study - SpaceVac International

Advanced Composites Engineering and our team of specialist engineers have been a crucial part of the extended SpaceVac team over recent years as we have helped them to develop and expand their product range based on improvements and developments in our own processes.

SpaceVac International is a specialist manufacturer of cleaning equipment based in Northampton, UK. The product is a simple but highly effective one – with operators interlocking a series of lightweight carbon fibre cleaning poles to reach and clean high-level areas from the safety of the ground floor both inside and out.

It was the supply of these interlocking poles that brought SpaceVac to us for the first time. Prior to engaging with us, the team at SpaceVac was supplied by a Chinese manufacturer which – while attractive on price – was presenting a number of problems to the manufacturing team including:

• Supply times – Shipments to the UK by sea were adding a number of weeks to all orders, making ordering a long, drawn-out process.
• Time Difference – The difference in time and working patterns meant the team often waited days and sometimes weeks (during national shutdown periods) to receive updates and information.
• Quality Control – Ultimately, without a local point of contact keeping regular watch on production, the team were experiencing significant quality control issues with shipments often featuring misshapen, incorrect and unusable parts.

Partnering with Advanced Composites Engineering allowed SpaceVac to solve a number of its operational problems immediately – providing a UK point of contact who could translate technical information clearly and act as a timely point of contact for the team whenever required. Moreover, our experience of carbon fibre engineering allowed us to develop and improve SpaceVac’s range of products over recent years.

The manufacturing process of these interlocking poles is based on the roll-wrapping of carbon sheets around a central mandrel – and ultimately this base material will govern the final properties of the pole – from its weight and durability to the amount of flex the pole is subject to. In the specific case of SpaceVac – these properties ultimately governed the total height that the system can reach in operation.

Partnering with our engineering team, however, has given SpaceVac access to a range of different base materials – constructed using different carbon blends and woven in different ways to produce a range of poles that reduced the overall weight while offering substantially greater rigidity and durability.

The use of these new materials has enabled SpaceVac to develop and launch a range of new products for use in different environments (such as the specialist high-voltage pole which can withstand up to 50,000 volts) and pole systems capable of reaching over 20m in height.

As a result, this focus on innovation and product development has allowed SpaceVac to open up new revenue streams and business opportunities all over the world.