Innovation has always been at the forefront of Addfield successful growth, and this is true more than ever with the recent Engineering, Procurement and Commissioning (EPC) Partnership that they have entered into with AGS Energy Ltd, a fast growing expert in the field of creating renewable energy through Gasification bringing the technology to an entirely new section of the industry.

Through its own patented autothermic small-to medium-scale gasification technology, AGS is making opportunities for Pyrolytic based Waste-to-Energy and Biochar production accessible to organisations across the UK, Europe, and international markets where it was previously unavailable.

This partnership enables AGS Energy access to our award winning manufacturing team to develop refractory kilns for their Gasification plants. Providing AGS with access to more than 40 years of manufacturing excellence, the Addfield team will be working side by side on future projects ensuring the same high standard of manufacturing is achieved.

“Recognising the opportunities available for problematic waste streams around the world and the need for renewable energy the collaboration made real sense to partner with AGS as an EPC contractor where we can support with our industry knowledge and manufacturing experience to bring this solution to market”

We already have large scale installations generating hot water, steam and electricity saving our customers hundreds of thousands on fuel every year. With this partnership we can now offer this opportunity to more customers that would not have been able to access this technology in the past, continuing our goals towards net zero, and giving customers the option to unlock ‘carbon credits’ and achieve increased energy independence. This is a very exciting opportunity for us at Addfield and AGS Energy.” Derek Carr, Managing Director, Addfield Environmental Systems Ltd.

“Our partnership with Addfield Environmental Systems is an important milestone in expanding access to practical and scalable Waste-to-Energy solutions for organisations seeking lower-carbon, more resilient waste management options. AGS Energy’s patented autothermic gasification technology has been specifically designed to deliver renewable energy and resource recovery from suitable waste streams at a scale that many organisations can realistically adopt. Together with Addfield’s proven engineering, manufacturing expertise, and trusted market position, we are creating a powerful platform to help customers reduce disposal costs, strengthen energy independence, support net zero goals, and realise the wider environmental and commercial benefits of advanced thermal treatment.”
Edward McNamara, CEO, AGS Energy

This EPC partnership will give customers access to:

• Cutting edge technology.
• Proven manufacturing and technological expertise.
• Ability to generate clean energy as a byproduct.
• Access Carbon Credits and reduce Carbon footprint.
• Faster project completion timing.
• Increased investor confidence for structured SPV/Boo models.
• Reduce operational costs for years to come.

To learn more about Addfield Environmental Systems Ltd contact sales@addfield.com and visit www.addfield.com

To learn more about AGS Energy Ltd contact info@agsenergy.eu and visit https://agsenergy.eu/

While wood burners are not a modern invention, they are becoming increasingly popular again and can be found in many homes in the 21st century, either as a fireplace or a stove. Wood burners, just as the name implies, burns wood in order to generate heat, and the unit usually consists of just a combustion chamber and chimney.

If we travel back in time to when wood burning fires were at the centre of the home, with the whole family crowded around the stove to warm up and cook, you can imagine the smoke filling the room!

Shortly after, a stove/chamber was designed to hold the fire in the corner of the room, followed by the invention of the chimney, to vent the smoke out of the room.

Even today with modern upgrades, it has been recorded how bad a wood burner can be for the environment, with the emissions released from using them, especially if multiple houses are using them for hours on end to heat their homes or cook their food.

Incineration and cremation may sound similar to wood burning, as both include burning items in a combustion chamber at high temperatures, but that is where the similarity ends.

While incinerators and cremators may not be as old as wood burners, we still have many years of development that has led to the most environmentally sustainable technology designed, throughout the whole Addfield range.

Let’s take pet cremation for example. Pet cremation as a business has boomed immensely over the years with many industries diversifying their business to include pet and horse cremation services. Many businesses will install a pet cremator in residential areas or on their own land if available. When people hear the word ‘cremator’ they may be concerned about what the process is doing to the environment, especially if they live near where the cremator is installed. We are often approached by concerned residents, and we are able to put their minds at ease.

A typical wood burner is a fairly simple system. It consists of one chamber and a chimney with logs and other materials being thrown in and ignited at temperatures fluctuating from 360°C/680°F to a peak of around 600°C/1112°F. These temperatures are not hot enough to produce clean gases. The gases, smoke and odours produced during combustion are released directly into the atmosphere without any cleaning. This is why you will see smoke billowing from chimneys and smell the distinct odour that comes from it in some residential areas.

In comparison, all Addfield incinerators and cremators are purposely built to handle a whole range of waste types safely and environmentally friendly. The pet and agricultural range burn at temperatures as high as 800°C/1470°F in the primary chamber, some equipped with additional hot hearth technology, heating the chamber from above and below to ensure full cremation of the animal. Whilst our medical and more complex machines burn as high as 850°C/1562°F. These temperatures are high enough to release cleaner gases into the secondary chamber.

Not included on a wood burner, the secondary chamber acts as a filtration gas cleaning system, with temperatures reaching 980°C/1800°F for the pets and animal machines, 1100°C/2012°F on the medical side. A 2 second retention time in the secondary chamber is the time the flue gases take to travel through the secondary chamber to ensure complete cleaning.

The secondary chamber always reaches operational temperature before anything in the primary chamber starts to burn, so any gases released from the cremation or incineration are treated from the very start of the process. The machine will never start the burning process until it can safely clean the gases.

Where a wood burner is designed to released heat out of the chamber, it is quite the opposite for an Addfield machine. Each chamber is lined with an advanced brick refractory, our alumina infused fire brick holds and releases the heat back into the chamber, behind the brick we have two further layers made up of insulation brick and board, these layers block the heat from escaping meaning it can only go one way from the fire brick and that’s back into the chamber. This means no heat is lost from the chamber, completing the cremation using 40% less fuel and is significantly safer to operate compared to alternative solutions.

This technology is what makes Addfield machines smoke and odour free, the most you are likely to see coming out of the chimney is a faint heat shimmer, which is very miniscule compared to the amount of smoke from a wood burner.

Even with the latest regulations that came into effect in 2022, meaning that all wood burners had to meet certain environmental standards and guidelines, Addfield incinerators and cremators are proven significantly more environmentally friendly due to the added filtration of the secondary chamber and brick lined refractory.

Addfield has always prided itself on its accessibility and dedication so if you have any question on the real world impact of one of our machines in your neighbourhood, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@addfield.com

The first day focussed on the High Capacity and Waste to Energy approaches to sustainable waste incineration delivered by the team at Addfield Projects. The second day presented a number of exciting innovations coming to the world of pet cremation from AES that are launching this spring. Welcoming visitors from the 27th to 28th March the two days were an incredible success keeping both teams busy as visitors travelled internationally and nationally to see the future of waste management and cremation.

“This was a great opportunity for us to celebrate not only the opening of our new facility for Addfield Projects, that they only moved into a few months ago. This new site enables them to build these massive plants from start to finish all in one place which is a real boost to the business. It was also a great opportunity to invite and meet with so many new and expanding pet cremation businesses to show them the latest upgrades that we have been working on behind the scenes, and help them to choose the perfect cremator for their business needs. This was a really impressive turn out over both days and the two teams did a tremendous job putting the days together.” Derek Carr – Managing Director, Addfield.

Addfield has always prided itself on quality, continuously reinvesting to develop new and more sustainable approaches to thermal treatment that ultimately benefit the end user and the environment, no matter what industry they are in.

Having made incredible progress in the past decade, from a business and operational perspective achieving record growth in 2024 for both AES and Addfield Projects, it was agreed that there was no better time than the start of Spring to celebrate the future opportunities that lay ahead.

The feedback from the visitors reflected how seeing the facilities up close was incredibly useful when thinking of their own project.

Kicking off the first day, Addfield Projects exhibited a completed, high-capacity waste to energy facility ready to be tested before shipping to Guernsey to manage the islands general waste. Being able to take a tour around a completed facility is not an opportunity that comes up often and so attendees came from across the country from councils, consultants and private businesses. As large as it was the team are set to begin work on a machine two and a half times larger very soon. Visitors had the opportunity to speak with the many experts at Addfield Projects who will be designing and building their projects, and learned about previous installations that may be similar to their needs.

The second day, the team focussed on some of Addfield’s more compact solutions in comparison. Showcasing two new approaches to pet cremation. An industry achieving enormous growth in the past 5 years from private and individual businesses. Beginning with the newly redesigned PET200 one of the worlds most popular solutions for pet crematoriums displaying for the first time a number of updates to increase performance and operational comfort. Alongside that was the A50 IC 2 a four chambered pet cremator for the larger operator which in this instance was fitted for the first time with a number of additional options which can lead to an increase in throughput of more than 30% in operation. Attended by existing and start up customers some flying all the way from the Middle East for this opportunity to see what’s new.

This was a perfect way to welcome in Spring and the new financial year. The success of the events have reinforced the decision to continue to organise more in the future. It was great opportunity for the two companies to come together to share the celebration of the combined success over the years and commitment to providing the most robust, reliable and efficient incinerators and cremators. Dedicated to our customer values, the open days allowed Addfield to present several 1-2-1 sessions simultaneously ensuring every customer need and question was met – another reason why they say that Addfield is Simply Built Better.

Since 1982, Addfield has evolved hugely through dedication and teamwork, pushing itself to become global leaders in the sustainable waste management industry. The Addfield name can be found in more than 150 countries, showing the worldwide reach that the companies have reached.

For more information about Addfield Environmental Systems, visit www.addfield.com

To learn more about Addfield Projects, visit www.addfieldprojects.com

Many farmers know the stressful time of year that is lambing season, there are many things to plan and prepare for months ahead. You need to factor in the possibility of diseases that could potentially devastate your farm during this period, making biosecurity a key focus.

Common diseases during lambing season.

Watery Mouth Disease (WMD) is a severe bacterial infection that can affect lambs at the very start of their life, with most cases of WMD occurring in the 6 to 48 hours of being born. The causes of WMD can be due to many things, from the ewe’s milk lacking nutrients like colostrum, stress, weather conditions or infection from contaminated tools or bedding.

The symptoms of WMD can be identified by the lamb showing signs of drooling, this is the most common symptom to look out for. The lamb may also appear more sluggish and more reluctant to feed.

If left untreated, WMD can cause malnutrition or death of the lamb.

Due to infection, if you have a lamb showing these signs, fast action is required to prevent putting the rest of your livestock at risk.

Bluetongue Virus has spread this year.

Bluetongue Virus (BTV) is a virus transmitted by Ceratopogonidae (biting midges) which is a family of insects that are usually around Europe in the Autumn season. You are probably wondering how this can affect lambing season which usually takes place around Spring time. BTV can infect lambs before they’re born if the ewe is infected while pregnant.

Farmers have been advised that if their lambs are born small or with deformities or are stillborn, there could be a chance that they were infected with BTV in utero.

Although BTV cannot affect humans, outbreaks of the virus on many UK farms can cause problems with trade restrictions. This highlights the importance of biosecurity not just during lambing season but year-round.

2024 saw an increase of the virus spreading across many British farms, and not only affecting lambs or sheep, but also cattle, goats, deer, and even alpacas.

Prepare yourself.

There are many other diseases that can cause issues during lambing season, and while every farm will have their own obstacles to overcome, it’s in everyone’s best interest to be prepared and bio secure. Make sure supplies have been stocked and easily accessible. Provide clean and disinfected lambing sheds and pens to minimise bacterial infections like WMD.

Act quick when disposing of contaminated materials or carcasses, to reduce the risk of spreading diseases, keep your farm clean and saving you time in the long run.

Addfield have worked with many farmers in over 40 years of being in the industry, and we understand the importance of being organised when it comes to lambing season. Many farmers opt for onsite incineration with an Addfield agricultural incinerator when disposing of lamb carcasses, as it offers them convenience, savings on cost & up to 40% on fuel and gives them more time to focus on their remaining livestock.

Act fast now and speak to an agricultural incineration expert today or discover our range of machines: https://addfield.com/machine-categories/animal-incinerators/

We love to shout out about Addfield being an international name and how we’re helping so many countries with their waste disposal needs, but none of that would be possible without our international representatives, who are dotted around the map and have the knowledge about their specific region to help Addfield make a global impact from our factory in the heart of the United Kingdom.

Romeo, of Waste Incinerators Canada/HealthCeuticals, is our Canadian representative who has been working with Addfield for over a decade and has supported on many projects that have been installed in Canada.

Although Romeo has been in collaboration with Addfield for around 12 years, he only recently had the opportunity to fly to the UK, and visit our factory in Burntwood, Staffordshire. Accompanied by his wife Sara, he spent a few days touring our factory, attending meetings about the exciting future for Addfield in Canada, sightseeing in Lichfield, and even had the time for a short interview.

During this interview Romeo talked about the different types of industries Addfield support in Canada, from pet cremation to cannabis incinerators, and spoke about Addfield Projects who are a separate entity from Addfield Environmental Systems, that focus on the high capacity, complex waste disposal.

He also discusses his visit to Addfield, seeing firsthand the engineers working on the machines, Romeo says, “You can see every section of the process, and how they are mostly handcrafted and I believe it’s the most dedicated technology and the most robust incinerators right now on the globe.”

Agriculture is one of the biggest sectors in Canada, with biosecurity being very important for regulations, Romeo recognises that Addfield craft the most compliant and bio secure agricultural incinerators in the world to meet the Canadian regulations.

Romeo is also excited for the future between Addfield and Waste Incinerators Canada, and is very optimistic about the projects that we have in the pipeline.

You can watch Romeo’s full interview on YouTube to hear more about Addfield in Canada.

June marked a significant milestone for the team as we were awarded the Express and Star Business Awards for 2024 (ESBA24) award for ‘Small to Medium Business of the Year’. This year held at the Wolverhampton’s Civic, the event was a night to remember as we celebrated in the company of a number of other outstanding businesses.

The night started with a reception prior held at the Wulfrun Hall, with a black-tie dress code, an electric atmosphere and the team letting their hair down with a lot of selfies to show for it. The main ceremony included a diverse range of companies in their own fields and it was an honour to be recognised amongst other distinguished winners of the night.

The SME of the Year award recognises small to medium businesses who demonstrate ongoing success, and as a company with its roots in a small town in the West Midlands, that now has installations across more than 150 countries this is fantastic recognition of the success we have recently achieved.

“It was a wonderful evening and a real privilege to have been able to bring our team together from across all departments to celebrate our success together. Whether we had won or not it was going to be a celebration just being shortlisted but when we heard our name read out as the winner it was just the icing on the cake of a great evening. We are really proud of the impact we have been able to have on a global scale from our head office in Burntwood Staffordshire.” Ian Gilbert, Sales and Marketing Manager

As we reflect on this recent achievement, we really could not have done it without every single member of the team, from in-house employees to our international distributors. This award is not just about celebrating our past achievements, but to also inspire us to strive for further excellence in the future.

The recent announcement of the cross-contamination of a human with Swine Flu has raised discussions once again about the importance of biosecurity. Although this isolated case in the UK has made the news, is it something that you really need to be worried about?

African Swine Fever (AFSV) is a very serious disease that decimates livestock globally and sadly there is currently no cure. It can spread rapidly from wild pigs and boar into agricultural swine and decimate industries.

The Pig Flu that has crossed over into humans is not Swine Fever it is in fact A(H1N2)v which is a subtype of the influenza A virus that can infect you and is commonly just referred to as the Flu.

‘A’ types of influenza are the only type that can cause pandemics as they are capable of mutating and infecting various species, which is the case with A(H1N2), which can also infect pigs. In fact, the H1N2 variant contains genes from human, swine and avian influenza viruses, which makes it particularly potent and adaptable.

Should I be worried about Pig Flu?

According to the evidence, the answer is simple. No, not really. Autumn and Winter are commonly referred to as Flu season, and the H1N2 variant is just one of many that are floating around. The one person infected in the UK only suffered mild symptoms and recovered fully in only a couple of days.

In this instance it is nothing to worry about but what about next time? you may ask yourself.

How to Prevent a Pandemic

The agricultural industry is in a continuous war with viruses, and with all wars, there are often changes in which side is winning. In recent years, we have seen livestock and even countries decimated by African Swine Fever and Avian Flu; a small number of bird flu variants have crossed over into humans, resulting in minor illnesses. However, as we saw with the recent COVID-19 pandemic, it does not take long for a mutated virus to wreak havoc globally.

There is an old saying that goes, ‘Prevention is better than the cure’, which seems to be an approach that an increasing number of international governments are taking note of and are getting prepared for.

Biosecurity is the answer.

When a biosecurity crisis breaks out, it is often too late to order a solution that could take weeks or even months to deliver, depending upon the remoteness of the country. As such, in recent years, we have been supplying several countries with a number of our Rapid 1000 incinerators. These are our largest traditional machines, and when you need to dispose of infected livestock rapidly and securely, they are often the only option capable of handling up to 1000kg at a time.

In the same way, you will find fire engines parked up and waiting to jump into action at a moment’s notice to prevent the spread of fire. These trailer-mounted incinerators have been positioned in critical locations inland and near ports able to roll out and handle the disposal of the culled livestock within hours, dramatically reducing the risk to health and to industry.

Biosecurity has been a key factor within the farming industry for many years. An increasing number of countries now require every farm to have an onsite incinerator, and the benefits are clear. Beyond providing a cost-effective and timely way to dispose of fallen livestock and waste throughout the year, if an infection occurs, they can save their business with swift action, removing the virus at its source before it spreads across their grounds.

Addfield has been supporting the agricultural industry for over 40 years and have worked with farmers throughout multiple outbreaks as such we are experts in the field and available to answer any further questions you have.

Here at Addfield, we have supported dozens of successful pet cremation businesses to launch and grow over the years. Most commonly installing our PET200 or A50 IC 1 household pet cremators. However, occasionally we will install something a little larger the TB AB Equine.
Not as widely discussed as household pet cremation due to the misconception of its demand however in recent years and with the change of regulations across many horse-owning countries, the demand for something larger has grown considerably.

In no small part, simply due to the size of the animals but also to do with how they are considered amongst different communities. To some, a horse is a work animal, the same as cattle to others, a beloved pet, the same as your cat and dog would be. This is where the regulations can become a little muddied. In most countries, working horses cannot be buried, whereas Pet Horses can, for now, assuming you have the space.

Once again, the benefit of cremation comes in as even the smallest of gardens could provide big enough for the average household pet if the owner chose that option; however, having the ability to move and bury a horse on your own land is not likely to be available for most.

The majority of horse owners keep their horses on other people’s land or in privately owned stables renting the space. Once their horse has passed it may not be a location that they will return to and is not likely one that will want to become a horse graveyard.

The market is currently untapped, and the potential is great. Globally the number of horses owned as pets is phenomenal, with the USA leading having 1,600,000 million households owning (7,250,000) horses compared to 374,000 (847,000 horses) in the UK. Followed by personal horse ownership in the millions across Mexico, Brazil, China, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

Although not widely publicised, the opportunity for a full-service Equine Crematorium to provide collection and return of ashes is potentially the next stage in the global growth of pet cremation as a business.

Horse Cremation is a side of Pet cremation that not everyone will be able to fulfil however, if you have the land and the opportunity, it can be incredibly rewarding.

At first appearance, horse cremation could appear to be more complicated than traditional pet cremation however it really is very similar. Agreed, the size of the animal is going to be closer to 500kg than your average 15kg dog. The process will still be the same.

Instead of a lifting table, you can choose a winch system or forklift truck to load the horse. The TB AB Equine is a top-loading individual cremator with reinforced heat and impact-resistant loading zones. Its loading chamber is more than 4m3 and capable of holding even the largest of horses without additional processing.

Once in operation, the TB AB Equine will run in the background for the day, before cooling overnight, ready for deashing the next day. The ashes, once removed, can be loaded into our special equine cremulator for final preparation before returning to the owners.

A very similar process to our traditional pet cremation. One of the most significant differences is income generation. Based on our customer feedback, we understand that the average cost of a pet cremation in the UK is generally between £150 -£200, depending upon location. The fee for a horse is consistently around the £1000 figure. Combining low operational costs and high-profit margins, the return on investment on a TB AB Equine can be very quick, and as they are built to the same standard as our traditional agricultural range, they come with an expected life expectancy of over 20 years with regular servicing.

We keep in touch with our customers and hear many stories the most incredible that we have heard yet is from one of our customers based just a few miles from a local Zoo, while we never intended for the machine to cremate a full-grown adult Rhino, in this instance it was the only option available. The machine was once described by one customer as being built like a tank that cremated the closest animal to a tank.

As with all pet crematoriums, having a strong business plan at the start is essential. If you have any questions about setting up an equine crematorium in your region, we have a team of experts available to help guide you through your regulations, expectations and opportunities to begin what could be a very lucrative next business venture.

You can see our TB AB Equine horse cremator here – https://addfield.com/machines/double-equine-crematorium-machine-tb-ab/

Recently our Managing Director, Derek Carr had the opportunity to spend some to time being interviewed by Scott Wallis from the podcast WTA Freight Club part of the WTA group. The interview covered a range of topics looking to help new businesses to begin their journey as exporters.

We are already active members of the Exporting Champions initiative as part of the Midlands Engine where Derek regularly presents and supports businesses to follow in our footsteps.

It was a great interview and uncovered a number of valuable tips for businesses. To ensure that this information will be available for the future we have transcribed the podcast and also uploaded our own version to Youtube which you can watch here.

To hear more from the WTA Freight Club Podcast you can visit https://uk-podcasts.co.uk/podcast/wta-freight-club and also visit WTA Group directly by visiting here: Freight Forwarding Experts – wta group

We hope you enjoy the interview, and if you have further questions, please feel free to reach out to us via email sales@addfield.com    

So over to Scott and Derek

Scott: Hello and welcome to another edition of Freight Club, a WTA Group podcast. Today we’re taking lessons from Addfield, a British SME who are world leading manufacturers of incinerators Addfield, began their exporting journey in 2012, and they now export to a staggering 140 countries worldwide, making managing director Derek Carr ideally placed to give advice for businesses exporting for the first time and established exporters looking to expand their portfolio.

And Derek joins me on the podcast today. Brilliant and so thanks very much for joining me on the podcast today. Derek So if you could just start then by just explaining Addfield and your products and what your role at the company is?

Derek: Yeah, of course. So the business is called Addfield Environmental Systems Ltd and I am the Managing Director of AES and Addfield Projects Ltd. So a base in Staffordshire and we design manufacture and export goods to 145 countries around the world.

Scott: Yeah. So it’s like incinerators and things as is the.

Derek: Yeah, that’s it. So we’re going back to the very beginning. We was very much a British manufacturer for British farmers when they would have fallen stock onsite. There’s the risk of vermin spread of diseases.

So they would manage the waste onsite. It started for British farmers. It got to a point in the last recession where we realized that we were putting all of our eggs in one basket, which generates risk. So we started working more with it used to be called UKTI, and then its, the Department of International Trade and the Department for Business and Trade so its changed its name a few times, but really to actually have an export plan to say, okay, who is Addfield?

What’s our USP? Which markets may be interested and get us focused? And so, not all have all our eggs in one basket. So the journey in exporting world really started in 2012.

Scott: Yes. So talk me through that then. So you started looking at exports in 2012. How has it moved since then?

Derek: I think at the very beginning it was very much, as I said, British manfuacturers, British farmers. Our telephone numbers on the website, which was 01543, is very much thinking of small business and it wasn’t internationalised, so it was all .co.uk.

It was really looking at the business as a whole. We went through a big branding exercise. So even though the name hasn’t changed on every van or marketing material, it will say it will just say Addfield Incinerate Cremate. Right. So it says exactly what we are. Get away from all the fluffy stuff. That that’s what we do we build incinerators and cremators and then look to internationalise the business.

So change to a dot com, changed to a +44 making sure that people felt like it was a bigger company. Even if at the beginning there was. I remember when I joined the business in 2010, there was three of us in a two and a half thousand square foot factory. So we we knew where we wanted to be and we knew that we wanted to give the market the best products on the market.

I’d love to say when we did our export strategy, we went to the neighboring countries, Europe, where obviously before Brexit there was trade agreements in place which made it a lot easier. But actually our first large one, which turned a bit of a corner for us, which allowed us to reinvest, was everything that was happening in Libya with Gadhafi and aid agencies being able to support hospitals with their medical waste.

So that was our first large export one. And it was a bit of a journey because we we had it was a quarter of a million time contracts on one contract then. And at that time, our turnover was only around 600,000. So it was a big, big project for us, which we had a small team. We had to project manage and bring in other contractors

To help us build it. that this was equated to of the top my head. It was about 6 40ft containers worth of goods, so it was actually understanding who we’re going to use, how we’re going to get there, how we’re going to get it insured, what inco terms we was going to use. So it was a whole new journey for Addfield. Yeah. So it was a bit of a rollercoaster at the beginning.

I know that there was a few lessons learned that I looked at. Like letter of credit said, Never worked with a letter of credit before and feeling you had to educate yourself. It felt like there was no one really that to speak to. But once the turnover increased and once we started to do more, the lessons learned and the systems in place our SOP’s in place, policies in place.

We found then we could find where our weaknesses are. Look to recruit people to to fill those gaps.

Scott: Yeah, Addfield is a great example really to talk to about exporting because or in the recent history you’ve kind of gone from from that introductory stage that you’ve spoken about there to becoming sort of an established, a very well-established exporter that’s, you know, distributing to 140 countries.

So I suppose the message here, the lesson for for business leaders could be that the opportunities in exporting can lie in perhaps the most least expected areas.

Derek: No you are totally right, yeah, I think you have to be opportunistic and look at what’s happening around the world and saying, okay, well can you bring added value? We did a project for UNICEF, which was in Togo and the commissioning engneers.

Imagine they are very used to Europe at this time. So put bins outside. It was taken away. You go to the hospital, you find bandages taken away. They are put in separate bins, everything is coded where the went to this facility that was in Togo, where they had all the medical waste that was near the hospital in an open pit. Animals were living off the land.

So where all this medical waste was, the people were living off the animals, so they were using the milk from the goats where the goats were eating from this land. And that whole circular economy was just wrong. It didn’t mean they were wrong. It was just that whole education of how you manage waste is different. So it allowed us to look into, okay, what do we want to do?

We just want to sell as an incinerator or do we want to sell the idea of a solution? So it then came into saying, okay, I don’t want to just manufacture them put them on a boat and allow the customer to have them plug and play, but it was really that we go in there and say, okay, this is why you have these products to prevent this from happening. This is your risk.

This is how you would turn that into a solution and we’ll stop this reoccurring. So I think this is the one I feel that Addfield is quite special. I go to many events and a lot of people are involved in export would say if it’s I’m going to say food and beverages, but we can talk about any market and say that there are so many great stories about whiskey at the moment, which is great and it’s really helping the British economy, but you normally find it won’t sell.

It to the end user. You sell it to supermarkets, get within the beer community or the pub. So wherever you are going to sell it to where with the incinerates Because you’re getting straight to the problem and understanding where are these machines really bringing value? And I think this is where it brings us in quite grounded as a business instead of like just selling the machines and patting ourselves on the back, it’s actually feeding back to guys who were doing all the fabrication, doing work in the factory and actually appreciating you’re actually building these machines and making real-life differences in country and people are reaping those rewards.

With managing waste correctly.

Scott: Yeah, I thought it was really interesting what you said about when you sort of said you’re kind of not just selling the incinerator, you’re selling a solution. And I think the the lesson here is absolutely around, you know, really focusing in on what the issues are for the buyer and to have success at exporting, you know, finding a solution that fits that that pain point or that problem that they’re having.

I just wanted to ask you, though, about because you’ve said about how basically in 2012 was when the exporting began and now you’re you’re exporting to over 140 countries, which is a phenomenal, phenomenal scaling by any standard. You know, how is how has that been achieved in such a short space of time to have such a widespread export portfolio in such a short time.

Derek: No, great question.Sometimes go to these events and I sit back and to think of that journey and how fast it was the right thing to take on board from this podcast is one, having the right type of support and the people around you. So they always say the difference between a manager and a leader. I’ve always seen myself more as being a leader instead of someone micromanaging.

So a lot of the guys that’ve been with us since the very beginning are still with us today, moving up the ranks. So you filled all of those lessons learned being stored in the business, keeping an open relationship with the Department of International Trade or DBT. So you do get to bounce ideas. I’m not going to say that they have all the answers because they would just generically know about international trade, but probably not about incinerators.

Don’t think they’ve got a magic wand and they will do everything for you. You have to do that journey yourself as well. But also not being scared of it. I think often you will make mistakes. I’m not going to sit here and say, as I said about the DBT, there isn’t a magic wand and you’ve just got to have a plan, maybe go for the low dangling fruit in the beginning.

So if it’s the fact that you want to only work in GBP and the euro go to the countries that are going to be able to trade in those markets, If you if you scared of looking at international trade and you’re thinking of inco terms instead of just worrying about it, speak to competent logistic companies, pick two or three that best suits your business and only offer them.

Don’t go and try and be everything to everyone. Don’t make it so much the scary burden and just make little bite size each stage and think you might enjoy it. I have. It’s been a great experience and a lot of our distributors now I would regard as friends.

Scott: Yeah absolutely This is some great really good stuff There and lessons for certainly people kind of starting their export journey which you know, so many SMEs are.

I was hoping that if we could make the conversation for this, the second half to, to talk more about the challenges that you now have as kind of an established exporter?

Derek: Probably the biggest issue that we’ve got at the moment, I feel, will be whenever you go to the seminars, is having the right people to fill positions, all the jobs.

That’s the probably the biggest problem that we have. There’s lots of job applications out there. People don’t want them and that really concerns me. Definitely Brexit. Now we had a lot of the European community that would fill these jobs, whether it was for British farmers or it was drivers. Yeah, there’s so many jobs I’d love to be able to offer to people, but everyone just wants a nine to five Monday to Friday.

So that weekends is a no-go for people now. And so we’ve looked to get sponsorship from the UK government, which we pay for, to bring people over from the likes of Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan to actually have these guys working in our factories for a period of two, three years. I’d love to see the British government doing more to support businesses.

If we can’t fill those positions, they should allow us then to make it easier to bring people into the country to fill those positions. If you’re going to say my biggest headache at the moment is recruitment and then the larger projects. The guys at UK Export Finance are brilliant. However, to get some of the more problematic jobs which are here of export UK export finance is that we don’t want to lose any jobs, any orders that should be coming into the kingdom.

But there’s so much of a due diligence process and there’s certain countries say the likes of Egypt, which have got their currency locked at the moment, it makes it difficult to get some projects over the line. So yeah, really trying to to see how we can put some energy into those more difficult countries and look at the recruitment Brexit.

I feel like we have gone past that now there’s obviously new trade agreement that’s been put in place for Australia and New Zealand, we just installed a large incinerator for a mining facility in Papua New Guinea, but that was sold through our Australian distributor. So I mean these trade agreements really energises him to say I’ve got some great case studies.

I can do more with these because they’ve installed they’ve commission, the customer loves it the case studies back. These trade agreements really help for him to sell more. Yeah.

Scott: What is your advice for for finding new distributors then in a particular region because that that seems that sounds like a you know, a key ingredient on your supply chain.

Getting to the end buyer. What what sort of things do you look for when you’re trying to find new distributors in new parts of the world that you’re perhaps exporting to for the first time?

Derek: I think that communication is the big one. So straight away that there’s no point going to somebody. And saying I’ve got a great product and giving them a leaflet and saying, look at this great products you’ve got to believe it as well.

So if people start doing their due diligence on you and so they’re going to look at your website, look at your social media pages, what type of culture are you building within the business, and then actually get on the plane and go to some of these exhibitions. So if you believe in your product that much, speak to the DBT, to all those other groups where you can get grant funding for, see if you can get any support with the grants jump on a plane, have a look at the exhibitor list because it would already be on their portals, see if there’s any synergy in any of those.

Are companies that you work with. And if there’s a gap in their portfolio of goods arrange a meeting with them in getting in front of somebody is still the best way of doing business I know COVID made it difficult, but I feel that now there’s a window of opportunity that people want to travel, people want to shake hands, see the whites of people’s eyes.

So have a look at the best exhibitions that best suit you. Jump on a plane, even if it’s the first one, even if you don’t take a stand and then after that when you’ve got the confidence in going and networking. And that’s key thing. If you’re not used to networking, go to networking events, now every opportunity, go on your own.

Because I feel like if you do it as part of a team, you’re always it’s great to bounce off each other, but you find that somebody else takes control of the meeting if you go to network events on your own it’s more like speed dating. It’s more I that in you more have to sell yourself. So get an elevator pitch. Try building your confidence up so if you can meet the customer’s needs and then you’ve got a great product, but stop wasting time, get on that plane and scream about it and show that passion.

Scott: You mentioned slightly earlier in the answer about about the free trade deal with Australia. You know, we’ve we’ve also the UK has signed on with the CPTPP, which is a group in a group of countries in the Indo-Pacific region. You know, there’s quite a lot of free trade agreements bubbling away. They’re in negotiations with India. What sort of Addfield’s thoughts towards those are you looking at?

Those with real optimism and seeing, seeing which countries trade deals are being agreed with and you’re going to perhaps push for more sales in those particular countries?

Scott: Yeah, definitely. So there are obviously the ones Australia that they’re brilliant that will generate more sales for us organically. I feel like we’ve got the right partners in place, so I feel that’s a big tick, gives them an extra bit of energy to get going.

But I think certain markets. So obviously the agreement now with Chile and Mexico and places like that we do have a lot of work in Chile and we should be doing a lot more work in Mexico. So Mexico is one in the top five pig producers in the world. We build animal byproducts, incinerators. We hardly sell any there. The feedback was was always about the tax and duties contract when it got into country where now by the time that the agreement becomes live, which I believe it’s July.

Yeah, that encourages us to jump on the plane and actually get in front of our distributors and actually understand with the DBT see what opportunity is, are they the right partners for us and then put an action plan. This is how we want to make our products seen in Mexico where we go to an exhibition or go to some agricultural trade magazines or whatever it is.

It’s putting a bit of energy in that type of market. The others areas. So we’re seeing a big growth in the US. So it’s really looking at markets there. Where there is trade agreements there, but not on the whole US. So there’s agreements with certain states in the U.S. where they can actually look, they might actually see some opportunity for setting up a distribution there.

We export to that to that place and then that becomes a distribution hub for machines or even if it’s the fact of sending the machines out 75% complete and 25% is done in country. So we’re still generating jobs in the US market. It’s looking at those opportunities and saying, how might we make this grow? So this year alone we should say 50% of our turnover is probably going to be the US. So we have to look.

Scott: That’s two really interesting points just at the end there about different ways round sort of getting into the U.S. market. I think a reasonably common pain point that you will have had that it’d be interesting to get your insight on is around sort of incinerators by their nature are quite difficult to manage logistically.

You’ve kind of alluded to that you know, much earlier. What is your advice for other businesses that have that concern? They but they perhaps have a big product that they’re very proud of, but they’re just thinking, oh, it’s just going to be a nightmare to to move. Well, how do you get around that particular hurdle so effectively?

Derek: So within AES it’s more a production line they build type 250 incinerators and cremators a year, where Addfield Projects it’s really looking at a customer’s problem.

Then every machine will be slightly different. But we would look and look at it and these are ina design order. So that design order would then makes us look at what is the waste type, who is the client and how are we going to get the waste into the machine? How are they going to operate how are they’re going to maintain it if we can build it and it fits legislation.

Brilliant. Okay. How do we get there? So there’s two thought processes going to happen is, one, can it get on a boat to can the the country that’s taking the goods on board except the weight have to get right cranes on site. So we had a project that was in the Ascension Island, which obviously is a very remote island.

There was about 800 population, but they only have capacity for 20 tonne or 40 tonne cranes. So that was real limited what we could put in each container. So it meant that we need to do more site work with assembly than what we would normally do on another job because we knew that it was brought up in our design, it was brought up in our risks. It allowed us to say, okay, yeah, it’s going to be more headache, but headaches are opportunities.

If you have an inquiry that comes in, in the morning, you’ll probably find all of your competitors have had the same inquiry. So what are they going to choose you above everyone else? A lot of people employ salespeople, but if you become the sales expert and actually understand the barriers and you give them a solution, they won’t look anywhere else.

So the scenario is where we will actually build certain things in country and we will project manage it. Because that’s the only way that we can get there. But if no one else is going to do it. Yes, it does give headaches. We we’ve got a large waste-to-energy system that’s in the factory at the moment that’s got to be for clinical waste.

And its going to generate its own electrical power. It’s going to generate superheated steam to to clean the bins and superheated steam to go to steam engine to generate electrical power. It’s going to be off the grid. So it wont need to rely on a grid connection. It can be self-reliant, but to get that made on time and making sure that it’s not going to flood my factory and sit there for three months because a component isn’t going to be ready on time.

There is a lot of planning that needs to go in there, So it’s understanding within your team you might need a different skill set. So that’s why we split the businesses So the one’s very project minded with project managers where AES is very much building the same products all the time.

Scott: Yeah, it’s been really interesting. Hearing you is kind of the sort of pardon the logistics pun, but the sort of outside the box solutions that you’ve that you’ve come up with to get around problems and find solutions for end buyers.

It’s been really great to chat with you, Derek. Thanks for your time. Just my final question, a final question, just a bit of a cheery one, I suppose. I have heard this from a lot of people I’ve spoken to that have been doing a lot of exporting. It sounds like it’s just above all else, really good fun and really enjoyable to do.

Would you agree with that?

Derek: Yes. So don’t tell my wife it’s that when i’m jumping on the plane and obviously I’m going there for work. And then on the evening and having a few drinks with people who are now called friends it is fun it is hard. It is tiring, definitely at the beginning you see a lot everyday is a fight but you believe in your products.

You believe on what you’re going to bring added value, but if you don’t enjoy it, you’re never going to enjoy it. I feel like being able to be on that plane and being able to say I’m going to smash this. I would. I’m going to go down and come away with a sale I’m going to come away with a distributor and have that positive energy before you jump on that plane.

As I said, it’s with the managers and leaders. If it’s the fact that you show that you’ve got great product, people follow you there’s that old saying isn’t there, if you build it they will come and I think that’s that’s something to to take away to have fun believing you products have a strong USP and shout about it let the world know.

Scott: Great advice. This has been really interesting. Derek, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed chatting to you today. Thanks very much for joining me on the podcast.

Derek: No worries Scott thank you for inviting me.

Scott: Really appreciated Derek taking the time to speak to me on the WTA Group podcast and I thought it’d be worth rounding up his key takeaways for businesses before we wrap up the podcast today.

Firstly, he said that if you’ve not begun your exporting journey, consider internationalizing your business before you do steps like giving it a global phone number and a dot com website address a nice website with up to date relevant content can all give your business an international appeal. The second key point for new exports is centered around selling a solution to a problem, not just a product.

To really ensure you strike a chord with international buyers. For more established exporters, Derek suggested thinking outside the box to solve recruitment issues. Look at sponsorships, although he admitted that does cost but could have profoundly positive impacts on your operational capacity. Asking for government support is another solution to the recruitment issue for finding distributors, Derek said. Don’t be afraid to go to trade shows around the world, but crucially, research the attendees beforehand and set up meetings.

He also made the point that you need to make sure your business’s digital shop window is up to scratch. Your website and social media pages should be full of content, positioning you as industry experts and show off a positive culture with these things in place, distributors you’ve spoken to will feel confident in your credibility. And finally, he said, Think creatively when problem solving a headache is an opportunity I believe was Derek’s mantra.

Using the example of the US market where the UK only has unofficial trade deals with a handful of states and protectionist policy is widespread, Therefore, Addfields best route into the US market has been targeting those states and assembling 25% of the machine in the country. Derek said that I think half their turnover now comes from the US market.

Lots of great advice then for businesses at all stages of their exporting journey? Thanks again to Derek for joining me and I’ll see you next time.

You can now find an Addfield incinerator up and running across more than 145 countries.

To ensure that we can support all of our customers, we have built a network of Addfield-trained and approved engineers.

One of our busiest engineers and one of the furthest away is David Lillo from Eco Burn, based in Chile and supporting many of our customers across South America.

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming David to our factory for a week’s refresher training. Updating David with our latest advances and machines. Before he flew back to Chile, we were able to catch up with him for a quick interview.

For all of us that don’t speak the best Spanish, we have had our resident international sales expert Eduardo provide us with a translation.

So, we will now pass you over to learn a little more about David and the work that he and the team at Eco Burn carry out for us in his own words.

“Hello, my name is David Lillo, and I am the engineer in charge of installations in Latin America. We have installed machines in Guyana, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador, and soon to be Panama and Chile, where I work as an Addfield representative.

I have been working for Addfield since 2020, and the main reason for this was the commissioning of an incinerator that some friends and myself bought together. I was motivated to work with Addfield because of the environmental impact. I like the fact that they are environmentally friendly.

I think that from my experience, the biggest strength I have seen from Addfield is the quality construction of their machines. The technical support and, in this case, the training that is provided to the end customer so machines can be operated correctly.

I think the most memorable installation was working alongside ‘Doctors Without Borders’ in Venezuela, not only because of the installation but also seeing the impact that these incinerators have on the environment and the people that live in these communities.

The most important point is the quality in terms of the material that Addfield uses, which is far better than other manufacturers in South America.

I believe the future of Addfield working in South America is very promising since now ministries in all countries are implementing an environmentally friendly approach.

They are looking for more technologies that are smokeless and odourless, which Addfield brings.

The future of Eco Burn is we will continue to be the representatives and distributors for Addfield in Chile. We will continue servicing and commissioning all of the clients we have across Chile and South America.

And we will continue to support Addfield in Latin America and Chile.

We are planning to increase business with new crematoriums in the future as well as existing ones that are looking to expand into Equine cremation.

The support we offer for the installation of machines in Chile and Latin America is permanent by either telephone or video calls, I am always attentive regarding the time difference. I will answer all calls to answer questions and solve problems or concerns that can happen the first time people start using this technology.

Addfield is Simply Built Better.”

It was a pleasure to finally welcome David back to the UK and our factory and even better seeing all the successes he has had recently. If you are interested in seeing some more of David’s handy work, you can check out one of his case studies below.

Click here for Bulk Pet Cremation Case Study

Click here for Pet Crematorium in Chile Case Study

Click here for Medical Waste Case Study

Click here of Gas and Oil Site Incineration Case Study