Saturday, January 9, 2010

Waterco plans super-sized fibreglass filters

WATERCO Ltd, an Australian water filtration company, plans to manufacture super-sized fibreglass filters used in water desalination plants at its manufacturing site in Malaysia.

Waterco's group chief executive officer and founder Goh Soon Sinn said this is part of its expansion plan into the water desalination industry.

As a new entrant into the segment, such an innovation will give it an edge over its competitors.

With more countries building water desalination plants to address the problem of water scarcity, Goh said there is a need to find ways and means for the plants to be more efficient.


"An average plant will need around 20 filters. With something like this, we could bring it down to 18," he said.

The group is already supplying 2.5-metre wide filters for water desalination plants.

The company has committed RM1 million to research and develop the super-sized filter, which will be bigger than a 20-foot container and take about one year to complete.

Waterco, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, is involved in the manufacture and distribution of pool and spa equipment, pool and spa chemicals, domestic water filters, softeners and purifiers and commercial water treatment equipment and Aqua culture water treatment.

Currently, most of its filters are for the swimming pool and spa market.

Its filter business make up 20 per cent of the group's revenue, which hit A$72.32 million (RM225 million) for the financial year ended June 30 2009.

Its manufacturing plant here makes pumps and filters for the commercial and residential sectors.

The group has manufacturing locations in four other countries, namely Australia, China, the US and Canada.

Goh said he expects revenue to grow by at least 10 per cent for the current financial year, contributed by its filters and pumps business.

One of its notable jobs for the current financial year has been the supply of water filters to one of the theme parks being developed in Sentosa, Singapore.

"It's all very hush-hush, even we were not told the exact location of delivery," Goh said.

>BTimes

Click "refresh" for manual update message

CRUDE OIL LIVE 1 MIN Chart

Commodity Futures Charts