Engineering and entrepreneurship

Phil Gillatt of Silentair

"I am a qualified engineer and have been in engineering all of my life.  I got the taste for enterprise early on.

My first business was a light manufacturing company making equipment for the caravan industry which was very successful but fell foul of the recession.  That’s the previous recession, not this one I am talking about.  I developed an interest in air conditioning systems while I was doing some research for a company I was working with.  I held onto the ideas I had come across and when the chance came I set up on my own again this time from a unit at the Hanson Lane Enterprise Centre.  18 months ago the trading conditions got tough and I just couldn’t quite make it through.  I folded the company and after settling my debts I re-established in Hanson Lane.

As an apprentice trained qualified engineer, I am always looking for better or different ways of doing things.  It’s in my blood.

My new company is Silentair.  That’s what it is called and that’s what it does.  It is a new approach to air conditioning I have developed myself and this unique system has applications for use in film studios, voice over booths, boardrooms and home cinemas, in fact anywhere you need air conditioning without the noise.  I am working up a design for a national contract at present with the NHS as the final client and my product was featured on the gadget show a while back.

Follow the link below:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid16457163001?bctid=46500289001

See Silentair chilled the gadget show!

What I have learnt in my business life is never give up.  If times get tough and you fall over just pull yourself up, think about what went wrong, learn by it and get right back on the road to success."