SUCCESSFUL Made IN THE UK COMPETITIVE

KFC for chicken lovers, WBA for football fans, TVR for sportscar aficionados and in our own industry there's only one - JCB - for lovers of yellow kit!

But now a new set of initials is making its presence felt - SMC. It stands for Sandhurst Manufacturing Company and Tim Dean is the man behind it.

So why not TDC instead of SMC? Well Tim isn't that kind of bloke. He's been running his own show for almost 30 years (and he's not yet 50!) so he isn't on an ego trip. In fact he changed his company name from Dean Plant Services, 23 years ago when Sandhurst came into being. 'I just happened to live in Sandhurst,' said Dean with a grin, 'that's Sandhurst, Kent by the way not Sandhurst, Surrey.'

Everybody knows that Sandhurst was a red-hot seller of Montabert hammers and Nissan mini excavators then latterly had made the switch to selling Krupp hammers - again successfully.

But the switch from being a selling organisation to being a manufacturer, well, that's a whole new ballgame. So, why?

The self-effacing Dean makes it sound almost accidental, except you know that it wasn't. 'We'd already designed and introduced the CX 220 Starlifter crane,' he said, 'but it was built for us by Richard Smalley here at Bourne. When we heard the news that Smalley was in financial trouble it meant we were in a different kind of trouble. We had to relocate our manufacturing needs.

'But we'd been up to Bourne and gained an insight into the kind of people who were about to lose their livelihood. And we were impressed to the extent that when the receiver made us an offer we found ourselves owning a factory. It's that simple really. But now we have exciting plans and it gets hold of you.

'I believe that Britain has lost its way in manufacturing and we want to help a little to put something back. That's why we designed the CX220 in the first place. We knew there was a need because customers had told us and we thought we could fulfill that. But at the same time we'd be helping someone else with manufacturing expertise to keep his workforce employed.'

The deal to buy the factory was just about a year ago and now SMC is properly up and running with new ideas fizzing out in all directions.

'It's a bit embarrassing,' said Dean, 'there's a hold on new ideas just at the moment. We've had so many that we can't keep pace with developing the new machines properly. We have machines we want to develop but we aren't going like a bull at a gate. It has to be right.'

New machines have already come for SMC. They include the Telelight mobile lighting tower/generator and the newest incarnation, the MX 14-1 mini excavator. Not very high-tech you may say. But there's nothing like sticking to what you know best (and selling successfully!) is there?

That doesn't mean the old was swept away to be replaced by the new. SMC still builds and sells the WX 425 gravedigging excavator which has a history stretching back 20 years since it was first designed by Richard Smalley.

'It does the job it was designed for very well,' said Dean. 'Local authorities love its abilities and there'll always be a need to dig graves.'

So what does the future hold for SMC? Dean doesn't hesitate (he has a reputation for doing his thing at a million miles an hour). 'We'll be turning over œ40 million a year by the end of the decade,' he said. 'But there'll always be more chiefs than Indians because we'll be the ideas generators here. Then when those ideas become metal we'll be the ones to check the workmanship and the total quality. We aren't aiming at a 40 acre manufacturing complex, others can do that, but we are aiming at a British-designed and British-built range of kit which will be sold in a large proportion of the world.'

There's a gritty sincerity about Dean which makes you believe him - every single word.

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