Frost & Sullivan Award Highlights FAS's Commitment to Customer Value Enhancement

LONDON, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2010 Frost & Sullivan European Solenoid Valves - Customer Value Enhancement Award for European Life Sciences OEM customers is presented to Fluid Automation Systems (FAS).

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A history of innovative valve design, coupled with technical expertise, strong customer orientation and OEM specific solutions has enabled FAS to bring enhanced customer value to a variety of industries.

Recognised as a leader in miniature fluid control technologies and engineered solutions, FAS has established a solid reputation for offering continual precision performance to even the most demanding OEM applications. FAS's success stems from their competitive differentiation strategies which include sector specific engineering expertise, LEAN manufacturing and the creation of measureable added value for their customers. This value is delivered through three primary objectives: 1) The creation of a co-development partnership; 2) The development of tailored OEM applications through high precision engineering solutions; and 3) A lower total cost of ownership for their customers.

FAS offers an established, global sales network. This is driven by their KAMs and BDMs who are structured according to typical industries of operation and the global FAS and parent company – IMI / Norgren - network. This enables FAS sales teams to provide industry expertise alongside comprehensive OEM application advice. A critical link with the customer is established; rapid feedback into the Norgren continuous improvement process is enabled which, in turn, drives productivity improvements, innovation and technology. A local level approach to industries and product engineering ensures a rapid and measureable response. This has helped to build the FAS brand, whilst simultaneously providing Customer Value Enhancement too.

As such, FAS valves have gained a global reputation for providing highly reliable, highly durable and highly consistent products – among others  within the most demanding hospital, clinical and home healthcare applications. Indeed, medical device OEMs across the world have turned to FAS Life Sciences to build and co-develop application-specific gas and fluid control components and solutions.

"A co-development oriented approach, supported by professional project management, allows the company to design OEM application-specific valves. This creates measurable value for the customer which the company then leverages in terms of pricing" remarks Gokhale, Frost & Sullivan analyst. "FAS have a value-driven pricing structure that has enabled them to maintain a competitive edge over low-cost products from Eastern Europe and China, whilst their market share in these same areas and global regions continues to grow".

In co-ordination with the Life Sciences sector, FAS has engineered and co-developed hundreds of other 2-way and 3-way miniature solenoid valve designs and configurations. These are used for the environmental, food & beverage, printing, semiconductor, oil & chemical, analytical sciences and rail markets.

Following an acquisition by IMI Norgren in 2004, FAS has successfully run a number of customer-focused initiatives that have helped OEMs order products and parts online. Norgren's "Engineering Advantage" initiative provides direct access to the FAS engineering team, who hold the skills to design the right product for even the most critical pneumatic/liquid control functions.

The Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement is presented each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies which proactively create value for their customers, with a focus on improving the return on investment made by product/service purchases. This Award recognises the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer-base expansion.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets who demonstrate outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan