Not all the thousands of exhibitors and visitors to inter airport were representatives of the big GSE suppliers or buyers of their equipment; many either work for or own the huge number of small businesses that remain active – and play a vital role – in GSE manufacture and provision
Mike Day, managing director of MD Technical Services (MDTS), owns and manages a relatively small GSE and custom precision engineering company in the south of England that specialises in the provision of GSE components such as air start couplings, air start hose assemblies and parts for toilet servicing and water replenishment units.
MDTS also maintains and repairs those components and has its own precision engineering service available for machined components made to customer specification. While it can’t carry the inventory of some of the big GSE parts suppliers, it has maintained a loyal and sizeable market by continuing to specialise in a niche area of the market. “When somebody needs something a little bit specialised in our area, they tend to come to us,” Day notes, pointing out that the company’s customers include the big ground handlers, original equipment manufacturers and maintenance companies.
While the bigger players have undoubtedly taken a huge share of the GSE parts business away from smaller operations such as MDTS – American competition, for example, has had a lot of success in building a huge market share in the UK and elsewhere – there remains a lot of scope for a niche supplier in its own local market, he insists. It has a local expertise and also, being a manufacturer as well as a distributor, MDTS can bring a good deal of specialised knowledge to bear, Day explains.
He wants to expand the company’s manufacturing capability in producing couplings and other components, grow its product range and increase its inventory. Greater promotion of its capability will also be an important part of the business plan – while the phone has, up to now, kept on ringing to bring in new business, Day knows that that isn’t something to be taken for granted.
