A family-owned business established nearly 75 years ago is winning strong overseas sales for its advanced instruments for quality control of a diverse range of products from jet fuel to lipstick.

The company, Stanhope-Seta Ltd, is led by two enthusiastic, energetic brothers, Martin and Giles Verity, who together with a dedicated team design and manufacture pioneering instruments at their base in Chertsey, Surrey, near London.

 The company has become established as a leader in the field of quality control testing and has built strong relationships with customers across the world. It was awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2012 in the International Trade category, with more than 80 per cent of its products going for export to more than 120 countries.

Stanhope-Seta designs and manufactures petroleum test equipment and quality control instruments used to measure the physical characteristics that determine product quality and consistency. Its range of petroleum test instruments includes flash point testers, vapour pressure testers, oil test centrifuge, particulate analysers and distillation apparatus.

Research and development activity is carried out in-house and a key part of the development process is participation in international specification meetings. The company has an active presence in groups that include the Energy Institute in the UK, ISO in Europe and ASTM in the United States.

The company recognises that maintaining links with industry and developing innovative instrumentation will increase future growth and it actively strives to engage with universities, colleges and customers in the development process.

The latest innovation, a unique instrument for the measurement of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) in marine fuels, is the result of a six-year development project. The analyser provides a rapid and accurate measurement of the levels of H2S, allowing the industry to remove it and thereby improving the safety of the fuel and minimising environmental impacts. The H2S analyser has been adopted by all major oil companies, inspection organisations and the shipping community.

Lloyd’s Register Fuel Oil Bunkering Analysis & Advisory Service (FOBAS) worked with Seta Analytics to develop the original H2S analyser, and the subsequent addition of the vapour phase processor (VPP) provides improved precision and accuracy of IP 570.

The latest edition of IP 570/12a gives the marine industry a more robust specification tool for monitoring H2S by removing any interfering chemical species previously shown to be present in a small number of fuels.

The H2S analyser and VPP provide an excellent tool for supporting product quality control and safety ensuring the product is within approved specification. It is also ideal for product remediation treatment of feedstock components and off-specification products with fast repeat sample measurement capability.

Gases emitted from the H2S analyser test vessel are passed through a cooled sorbent cartridge before they are measured by the electrochemical sensor. Hydrogen sulphide passes through the sorbent cartridge whereas methyl mercaptans, dimethyl sulphide and other volatile chemicals are slowed or trapped by the cartridge.

A range of innovative instruments is planned for 2013 and 2014 and the company is preparing for a series of high profile product launches in the coming months. Regular workshops in the UK and abroad will keep customers up to date with fresh developments.

Stanhope-Seta’s instruments are made exclusively in the UK, with the majority of production located at the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chertsey, where an extensive lean manufacturing and six sigma program has been successfully implemented.

These initiatives have ensured that the company has been able to meet the new demands in the most efficient way, keeping lead times short and quality levels high.

The development of the next generation features heavily in the company ethos, recognising that encouraging young people to develop their engineering skills is the best way to retain and grow the skilled engineering resources for which the UK is well known.

Each year Stanhope-Seta opens its doors to apprentices, work experience students and university industrial placements. In every case it has been a win-win situation for the student and the company.