Celebrating 35 Years of Able Systems
It was a pleasure to celebrate our landmark 35 years in the industry with a charity triathlon recently.
As we approached 7th May, the date of our anniversary, we wanted to find a challenging but fun way to mark the special occasion. Most of our team had never taken part in a triathlon before, but fancied pushing each other and their bodies to the limit.
Almost a third of the Able team took part in the event, held in Nantwich, Cheshire. Comprised of a 500m swim, 20k bike ride and 5k run, our willing participants certainly had their work cut out, but did fantastically well to raise in the region of £1,500 for the North West Air Ambulance Service.
We fielded three relay teams in the event, along with software design engineer Gareth Jones and his wife Sarah competing as individuals. Ready, Willing and Un-Able, Over Excit-Able and Indestruct-Able, our three aptly named teams, all did brilliantly and can be really proud of their achievements.
This was also a fitting sport for us, with our thermal printers often used at events like this to print times for competitors once they have crossed the finishing line.
But as well being a fantastic way to our mark anniversary year, the event was also our opportunity to give back to North West Air Ambulance, after its amazing staff helped our friend Deon Zwanepoel recover from a motorcycle accident last year. The care he received from the ambulance service was second-to-none, and so we couldn’t think of a more inspirational charity to fire our team to victory.
More than anything else, it is our dedicated staff which has enabled us to become one of world’s leading suppliers of mini printers. Now, over 60 per cent of our products are bespoke solutions, with more than 40 per cent of the team working on design, engineering and development. Exports now account for over 40% of our turnover, and our longest-serving staff member has been here since 1987!
Right now, we look forward to the future with the same enthusiasm Mike Robinson and Steve Pardoe had all those years ago in 1982 when they founded Able Systems.
To learn more about what we do, visit www.able-systems.com
To make a donation to the Able Systems triathlon team, see www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Able-Systems-Ltd.