Valeport Company Background 

History

Valeport was established in 1969, in the small port town of Dartmouth in the South West of England, with a simple product range based around the Braystoke Impeller Flow Meter.  It was sold in 1982 to Oceonics plc, who were keen to expand their portfolio with manufacturing companies in the underwater sector.  In 1985 a strategy change saw Valeport put up for sale, and it was acquired in a Management Buy Out by Charles Quartley, Technical Director of Oceonics.

Since then, Valeport has expanded its product range, and developed a strong reputation within the industry for high quality, reliable instrumentation.

In 2003, the company finally outgrew the factory in which it had been based since 1969, and acquired a site a few miles up the river Dart in the historic town of Totnes.  Although not a brand new building, the new factory has been internally modified to suit our requirements, and contains all the facilities necessary for the development, production, calibration and testing of all our products.

In 2005, Charles stood aside as Managing Director to be replaced by his son Matthew, who has been with Valeport since graduating in 1994.  The business now employs around 50 staff, and continues to invest heavily both in new product development, and also in all the facilities necessary to manufacture and supply the quality products for which Valeport is known.

Philosophy

Valeport is a 100% family owned business; there are no external investors, and no shareholders outside Charles Quartley’s immediate family.  Whilst it is of course arguable that outside investment in a business is appropriate under certain circumstances, we feel that it is now one of our great strengths that we do not answer to anybody other than our customers.  Of course we are obliged to act in the best interests of our shareholders, but we firmly believe that this is best achieved by putting the needs of our customers first.  This philosophy of always asking ourselves “what would I want if I were the customer” is at the heart of virtually everything we do:

• Introduction of 12 month service warranty on any Valeport product, no matter its age or history.  Send it back for a service every year, and the warranty never runs out.
• Exclusive use of titanium as standard in virtually all subsea products, in order to eliminate corrosion issues associated with lower cost metals.
• Creation of anti-static environment for all storage, assembly, test, calibration and R&D areas within the premises to virtually eliminate electronic faults.
• Investment in our own CNC machine shop for production of all mechanical components, ensuring total control over quality and supply.
• Every product, both new and serviced, is pressure tested before dispatch so you can be confident it will perform in the field.
• Investment in stock to significantly reduce lead times on standard products, without relying on external factors over which we have no control, such as “Just in Time” supply chains 

Product Design

One of the fundamental principles on which Valeport is built is the notion that we have to be in total control of all aspects of the business, from design through manufacture to test, calibration and service.  With the exception of certain bought in, industry standard sensors, everything we do is designed in house.  This policy requires a diverse range of skills in our R&D department, including CAD/CAM mechanical design, analogue and digital electronic design, a variety of programming languages including VHDL, C++, Delphi, VB and others for both embedded code and PC software, not to mention specialist knowledge in specific fields such as acoustics, electromagnetism, conductivity and radar.

Manufacture & Test

Having our own fully equipped CNC machine shop is critical to our flexibility, and to the quality of our products.  This has been our biggest area of capital investment as we have grown, allowing us to produce and hold stock of every single mechanical part in nearly all of our products – some 1000 different items in total.  In addition, as well as allowing us to rapidly produce prototypes during the development phase, it also enables us to produce our own custom jigs and test equipment to streamline other processes within the factory.

Offering a 3 year new manufacture warranty and 12 month service warranty on our products can only be done if we are confident in the quality and reliability of those products.  Titanium construction is quite robust, so the prime consideration is really one of circuit board reliability.  Since converting all assembly, test, calibration, storage and R&D facilities to static-free environments, we have seen long term pcb failures reduce by over 95%.  This is arguably the most important investment we have made in terms of product quality and reliability.

Product testing is equally critical to maintaining quality.  Every single circuit board that enters the building is exposed to an environmental test procedure, designed to highlight any component or solder joint faults before the board is functionally tested and then allowed into stores.  As well as undergoing a standard functional test, every instrument, both new and serviced, is also pressure tested before dispatch.

Service & Calibration

We recognise that the supply of a new instrument is the start of our relationship with our customers, not the end. As such we have a dedicated team of highly skilled technicians, able to repair, service and calibrate all Valeport products.  Their goal is to return your instrument as close to “new” as possible, so it will automatically receive any appropriate firmware and software upgrades, as well as a thorough clean, a check on all batteries (both primary and backup), a check on all o-rings and sealing faces, and a pressure test, together with our 12 month service warranty.
 

Accurate calibration is possibly the most important part of the whole process of manufacturing or servicing an instrument; if you cannot trust the data then the instrument is next to useless. We therefore continually invest in state of the art calibration equipment and facilities, and the development of new techniques to ensure that the calibration process is as accurate and efficient as possible, without compromising quality.  As an example, in 2009 we calibrated over 2500 separate instruments; we simply cannot afford mistakes.