Company makes American breakthrough with revolutionary invention

A North-East company has broken into the American market with its revolutionary invention, which combats odour and dust pollution.

The Probe Atomiser, built in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, by Probe Industries is a misting system, which uses water to deliver neutralising agents to eradicate bad smells and dampen down dust in a range of industrial settings

Probe Industries, which was created ten years ago, has been steadily developing an overseas market.

The breakthrough into the USA followed a mission to the States by Managing Director Phil Rutherford, who visited Massachusetts in March this year.

Probe Industries has worked closely with Ray Jones, RTC North’s International Business Development Manager, to tie up a deal with American company Air One, which is now committed to distribute Probe Atomisers in the USA.

The Directors of Air One were so impressed with the product, that they have changed the name of their company to Probe USA.

Mr Rutherford said: “Probe USA has become our main distributor in the USA and has adopted our brand. They have set up a sub-distributor in Florida, which is growing rapidly and we are looking at new distribution centres in Iowa, California and New York. This is a major breakthrough for us and we hope it will allow us to develop our export market even further.”

With support from RTC North’s new service, RTC International, Probe Industries has also secured another distributor in the US and is following new leads in Asia and the Middle East. It already has distribution deal in Ireland.
Mr Rutherford, who set up the company, hopes that the latest breakthrough will mean that turnover can be doubled within the next 12 months.

The company was established after Mr Rutherford spotted a gap in the market. He said: “I dealt with Water Authorities for more than 20 years and they were using masking agents or perfumes that you just sprayed into the air at places such as Sewage Treatment Works.

“I felt they could be improved upon and we have since developed a series of groundbreaking products and neutralizing agents for use at treatment works, refuse transfer stations, chemical plants or food manufacturers.

“The biggest breakthrough has been the Probe Atomiser, which we have developed as an efficient delivery system. Traditional nozzle-based delivery systems can be inefficient on water and agents and are prone to blockages.

”The Atomiser is a small motor attached to two mesh disks into which water and odour control agents are injected. The water is reduced to very small droplets, which are blown through the air by a fan within a cylinder.

There is nothing else like the Atomiser on the market, so when inquiries about it began arriving from distributors abroad, Mr Rutherford decided to seek some expert help. He called in RTC North after reading about its success with international joint ventures and strategic alliances.

He said: “We have been in business for ten years but what RTC North allowed us to do was to concentrate on developing new markets. The help we have had from them has exceeded all expectations and the speed with which the American side of the operation has taken off has been remarkable.

“We used to get inquiries everyday from people in Turkey, India, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand asking to be distributors, but we just haven’t been able to take full advantage of them until now.

“Dealing with RTC North has been like having our own export division. It has set up all the distribution agreements, price breaks and letters of credit and taken us through each step of the process. ”

The Atomiser is also attracting interest for a host of other applications. Mr Rutherford said: “The Atomiser has excellent cooling qualities and people are seeing applications for it in hotter countries as a cooling system. There might also be potential as an irrigation tool.”

For the moment, though, he is concentrating on building up the export market, saying: “The main thing is to make sure our export side is professionally set up and RTC North is helping us greatly. “It’s a very exciting time for Probe Industries and provided we are sensible with our growth plans we should have a successful international business on our hands.”

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