Company profile

Watson-Marlow Pumps Group celebrated 50 years of pumping innovation in 2006.

For 50 years we have helped industry, science, medicine and commerce transfer concrete, mining slurry, paint, ink, beer, vaccines, live human cells, piping hot coffee and every precious, delicate, abrasive, viscous or corrosive fluid you can think of. And then some.

Our pumps employ the simplest possible pumping principle - nature's own - with sophisticated precision and control which make them pre-eminent wherever smooth, accurate fluid flow is required.

Squeeze a tube filled with fluid between your fingers, slide them along the tube - the fluid moves. The only contact is between the tube and the fluid. It is the perfect pump.

Nature's peristaltic process contracts muscles to move fluids, completely and efficiently; Watson Marlow has built upon this tough principle to meet the requirements of industry and science. Watson-Marlow pumps offer:

• Optimum flow rate control from microlitres to hundreds of litres per minute
• Solutions for pumping the widest range of fluids from the delicate to the troublesome
• The highest possible reliability, with no valves, seals or glands to break down or maintain
• Watson-Marlow pumps improve productivity, eliminate downtime, and minimise maintenance

Watson-Marlow history

Watson-Marlow began in 1956 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and moved to Falmouth in 1969 with 12 key employees, producing mainly medical pumps. In 1977, the company became part of the Smith + Nephew Healthcare Group and, in 1988, the factory was extended to accommodate the expansion of the business into industrial and scientific markets.

In June 1990, reflecting the rapid expansion of sales into process markets, Watson-Marlow became part of the Spirax Sarco Engineering Group, which operates a world-wide specialist steam control business from its Cheltenham headquarters.

Acquisitions

On New Year's Eve 1996, Spirax Sarco purchased Bredel Hose Pumps BV, the world leaders in high-pressure hose pumps.

Since then we have acquired Alitea, a Swedish manufacturer producing small precision pumps. Alitea allows us to offer a wide range of peristaltic solutions to OEM customers. We have also bought Flexicon Liquid Filling of Denmark, a company which has built a worldwide reputation for its peristaltic-powered aseptic filling and capping systems; and MasoSine of Germany, manufacturers of unique, gentle, sinusoidal rotary pumps for food and cosmetics.

Watson-Marlow process pumps offer the most complete range of any world manufacturer, providing flow rates from microlitres to 100 cubic metres per hour.

Tubing

Watson-Marlow offers a wide choice of tube materials and over 60 sizes of tube bore and wall thickness to cope with fluids thick or thin, mild or aggressive.

Our home base

At our head office, we enjoy just over four hectares (11 acres) of parkland on the outskirts of Falmouth in one of the most beautiful parts of Britain, where around 202 people work in the factory and offices, with 11 specialist sales engineers based in every region of the United Kingdom.

Exports

Watson-Marlow exports over 85 percent of its production to more than 60 countries, and has its own sales companies in the United States of America, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, China, Korea, Malaysia, Denmark and Switzerland. Our success is created by a team of nearly 450 people around the world.

The future

Throughout our history we have offered customers excellent products, knowledge and service. We are the world's largest peristaltic pump manufacturer, and Europe's largest positive displacement pump manufacturer. We have an exciting, expanding future.