17 April, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Godwin Pumps® Factory Expansion Provides Quicker Deliveries, Better Product Availability

GLOUCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND – After more than 100 years on the same site and nearly 30 years in the same factory space, Godwin Pumps Limited (GPL) in Gloucestershire, England, has received a major makeover that includes a 1,421-square-meter (15,300-square-foot) expansion. Not only has the expansion enabled the factory to be more flexible and efficient, but Godwin Pumps officials say it will also benefit end-users by providing quicker deliveries and better product availability.

“By adding to our original factory, we gave ourselves the ability to provide faster, more flexible deliveries to our customer base,” said John Miller, GPL managing director.

Godwin Pumps, the worldwide manufacturer of the original Dri-Prime^® automatic self-priming pump, has been manufacturing pumpsets at the U.K. facility since the end of the 19th century. It supplies a range of pumpsets for the construction, municipal, oil and gas, petrochemical and industrial markets through a worldwide distributor base. In addition, Godwin Pumps also manufacturers a range of fire pumps, to both LPCB and FM specifications, which are sold to many countries around the world.

In August 2005, construction began on a 1,421-square-meter (15,300-square-foot) expansion that includes a new fitting shop assembly area, office space and storage area. Godwin Pumps workers began using much of the new area in September 2006. The final phase of the construction was completed last month.

A majority of the space – 1,115 square meters (12,000 square feet) – has been used to enlarge the factory area. Before the expansion, Godwin Pumps workers assembled components into bare shaft pumpends and then fitted them onto an engine and base assembly all in the same fitting shop. But today, the original factory area is used only for building bare shaft pumpends, which are then moved to the added workspace and mounted to the engine and base assembly. Along with eight new fitting assembly bays, a new service area and a new electrical department, Godwin Pumps has added a new and improved test facility. The fully acoustic area enables workers to test flow rates up to 2,800 cubic meters per hour (10,000 gallons per minute), pressures up to 25 bar (370 psi) and powers up to 450 kW (600 hp).

The remaining 307 square meters (3,300 square feet) was designated for offices. The top floor comprises 65 percent of the additional office space and is devoted to the design and engineering department, which includes seven computer-aided design (CAD) stations, project engineers and the service management and quality assurance departments. The lower floor houses the purchasing department, new production control room and offices for the production and materials directors.

“With the new offices and new engineering department, it gives us the capability to do more design, development, research and value engineering of the product,” Miller said. “Pumping applications are not all the same, so we have to be as flexible as possible in our approach to the ever-changing worldwide markets.”

Revamping the storage area was another major component of the Gloucestershire manufacturing facility’s makeover. Two new carousel storage systems created more storage space by enabling workers to move smaller components from shelves onto the new carousel system. A new racking system was also installed to accommodate Euro-style pallets, doubling pallet storage.

Serving customers worldwide, Godwin Pumps is the manufacturer of portable rental pumps with a fleet of more than 5,000 rental units, U.S. rental branch offices, a worldwide distributor network of more than 100 locations and manufacturing facilities on two continents. Godwin Pumps also offers customized sales and service training to its distributors.

Godwin Pumps, Dri-Prime, Sub-Prime, Heidra and the color orange for pumps are registered trademarks of Godwin Pumps of America, Inc.

Media Contact:
Bryan M. Gassler
Marketing Specialist
Godwin Pumps
One Floodgate Road
Bridgeport, NJ 08014
Tel: 856.467.3636
Fax: 856.467.2419
email: bgassler@godwinpumps.com