VAKI Scotland celebrates five years

Over the past five years, VAKI Scotland Ltd has established a reputation for delivering superior customer support and service for clients in the UK and Ireland. As the company observes it fifth anniversary, Gareth Hammond, the area manager for the UK and Ireland, shares his thoughts on the accomplishments and challenges of the subsidiary. 

Proudest moments

The accomplishments of the Scotland office, which manages all sales for the UK and Ireland, as well as customer service and support, are numerous. “Personally, I’m most proud of the Aquaculture Awards UK last year,” said Gareth. “I submitted our entry for our VAKI SmartFlow system into the technical innovation category and we were one of the finalists.” The awards go to companies that employ the highest standards of aquaculture husbandry.

Another standout accomplishment for VAKI Scotland is establishing the service centre in Dingwall. “The effort that was put into getting this side of the business up and running was a great accomplishment,” Gareth said. “We now have a workshop in Dingwall along with a dedicated team who provide our customers with onsite service, training, installations and repairs. This has ensured that we are able to give our customers the best support that we have to offer when it comes to using our products. Off the back of this we have been able to successfully grow our business here in Scotland and within the rest of the UK and Ireland.”

Experience and commitment

VAKI’s successes have been driven by strong products and services, dedicated employees and decades of experience in the sector. “We have been in the industry for 34 years and in that time we have always worked closely and in collaboration with our customers in developing our products, especially our counter range,” said Gareth. “At VAKI we are committed to continuous innovation and development and will continue to expand our products to offer more features and benefits for our customers.”

While the successes are plentiful, there have been challenges, especially this year with Covid-19. “This presented us with a whole new challenge, particularly when it came to onsite installations and service and the restrictions imposed,” said Gareth. “So, in order to combat this we produced a series of service videos which were step-by-step guides that our customers could follow and were well received by everyone.”

The future looks bright

VAKI’s suite of services will be expanding in the near future, an exciting development for the company. “There are some new products in development that I am very excited about and I believe our customers will be as well, but at this moment in time all I can say is watch this space,” said Gareth. “In the last 12 months, however, our latest product – the VAKI Smart Grader – has continued to do well with sales in Norway, Chile and here in Scotland.” The Smart Grader delivers accurate fish grading while minimising the impact on fish as they pass through the outlets.

Exceptional staff

Company-wide teamwork across offices has been key to the Scotland office’s success. “I would like to make a special mention of David Jarron, whose vision it was to form and establish Vaki Scotland Ltd, and to thank him for giving me the opportunity to run this fantastic business in his stead,” said Gareth. “I would also like to thank my service team for all their hard work and commitment over the years, and here’s to five more!”

A plan was in place to celebrate this exciting milestone, but the party will have to wait until next year. “The plan was to invite our customers to a reception at the Aviemore show this year but due to it being postponed because of Covid perhaps we will keep the cork on the champagne for now. Maybe a celebratory lunch will have to suffice for the time being, and we will hopefully do something at Aviemore next year such as ‘five years plus one!’”