Allight is celebrating its 30th year as a major contributor to business. Since bringing together leading industry brands Sykes Group and Allight, the company now proudly supplies a world-leading range of pumps, lighting towers and power generation equipment.
Allight opened in WA in 1988 – with just seven staff. Today, Allight boasts more than 200 employees worldwide and supplies over 6000 products.
One of the original founding fathers of the company was Peter Breen. Now the Executive General Manager Sales (Africa), Peter remembers a much humbler time.
“When Allight started, our mission was simple and single-minded – to sell and supply the best industrial lighting solutions on the market” he said.
However, with the acquisition of the Newcastle based Sykes Pumps business in 2011, Allight brought a globally recognised brand into the company. Now known as Allight, they now had the ability to provide unique lighting solutions.
With its expanding world-wide sales and support footprint, the new and improved Allight was servicing a range of national and international markets across mining, municipal and civil.
With a focus on excellent customer service skills, the company grew exponentially and quickly became an established market presence. The key product lines now include FG Wilson generator sets, mobile lighting products (with many manufactured in-house), plus Perkins engines and Sykes Pumps.
Paul Thompson gives the customers’ what they want.
The Allight CEO for 3 years now, Paul Thompson has overseen many positive changes, including substantial growth and major improvements in product quality.
“In the last decade, it’s become an increasingly price-sensitive market” Paul explained.
“One of our biggest challenges has been the rise of new players entering the market offering our existing customers the alternative of low-cost but low-quality products.
“To combat this – and remain competitive – I immediately set the entire worldwide team a big picture task – find innovative ways to identify savings and reduce supply chain costs.
“It’s been absolutely central to our overall business strategy in recent years – to pursue competitive market advantages whilst still keeping our high-quality standards,” he said.
As part of ASX-listed Seven Group Holdings, Allight has quickly expanded its reach in the Australasian region to operate across Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and in New Zealand.
Even more, the company’s global reach extends to operational centres in the Middle East, North America and Africa. In addition, these are supported by three manufacturing facilities – two in Australia and one in Dubai.
Paul is very happy to report that “It’s been a very successful business strategy – our customer’s soon realised that the cheaper alternatives represent short term thinking”.
“Any successful business understands that high quality is a fundamental for long term growth. Which is why Allight has gone from strength to strength over the past 30 years”.
“Looking forward, I believe customer expectations will continue to rise in terms of product quality and performance, but especially in terms of aftermarket,” Paul said.
“Additional service and support capability will be just as important as the product itself. Yes, we will continue to see clients driven by price, but overall we see expectations rising in terms of product design and support.”
“That’s why we continue improving product quality. Even more, we’re further extending our service network to ensure we always have our customer’s covered” he said proudly.
Paul explained that in its 30th year of operation, “Allight continues to focus on streamlining our supply chain whilst extending our product and service network.”
“Both our operations and product offerings are constantly reviewed so that we are able to provide the most effective solutions and innovative equipment to our customers.”
“In fact, our dedicated in-house engineering services allow us to design and build bespoke units with direct customer input,” Paul Thompson explained.
“And by investing heavily in our Aftermarket business unit, we are able to provide service, parts and maintenance to customers that have their own mixed fleet, while we support our own supplied equipment.”
Paul Thompson added that Allight would continue to focus on better understanding its customers’ future needs, which he said, “is something that we believe to be the key in providing true service value over time.”
Over the next decade, Paul Thompson said the company would continue to grow its traditional markets, both nationally and internationally, and be responsive to evolving market demands.
“As new technology advances, we will remain at the forefront of innovative design and manufacturing, building reliable, high-quality products that our customers want – which in many ways, is the successful recipe behind our amazing growth over the past 30 years”.
Global reach with local knowledge – the road to continued success.
By creating a long-term strategic focus on the concept of global reach and local knowledge, Paul is proud to say that Allight is the power behind many well-known global brands.
“With our extensive global presence – including manufacturing hubs, distribution centres and a suite of offices dedicated to after-sales support – we are closer to the action than ever before” said Paul.
“This means Allight is quick respond to any client’s request, no matter how complex the job. With our integrated technology systems and advanced communications, we empower each staff member to connect and share with our international network of specialist expertise”
“Everyone at Allight is just one call – or one click away – from world-recognised experts and industry leaders in the fields of lighting, engines and power generation”
“With our extensive global reach – coupled to unparalleled local knowledge – we look forward to another successful 30 years, improving on-site safety and optimising the productivity of our customers’ operations” Paul proudly concluded.
