In this Spotlight series we aim to introduce you to the talented team at IDS. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him, let us introduce you to the owner of the business Blaise Ford:

Name: Blaise Ford

Job Title: Director

Specialism: Identifying applications and offering solutions for complex challenges by utilising Inverter control.

Number of Years’ experience: 23

Highlight of career: Owning my own business

Toughest moment of career: Owning my own business

What do you love about your job: Every day is different. I get to work with a variety of interesting customers across a multitude of industries all with unique challenges.

Education level: 2:1 degree from Southampton University with Dr PM Schufton Prize (and 1st colours for swimming!)

Length of time with IDS: 19 years

What positive change have you seen in the industry? The evolution of variable speed drives: smaller, cheaper, more versatile inverters.

What one piece of advice would you give someone who is looking at energy saving? Ask IDS to have a look (Energy Efficiency Motor Audit) first and get advice – it’s free!

What do you feel are IDS’ key strengths? Good team, good products, good customers.

What was your favourite project? Poo pump (Reactive pump controller), quite an engineering challenge and success (we won awards with Anglian Water for Outstanding Innovation and Most Innovative use of Existing Technology) unfortunately, to date, this innovation has had disappointing levels of commercial success.

What did you want to be when you were 7? 8

What would you name as the most innovative invention of the last 40 years? The introduction of the phase inverter enabling variable speed/torque control of AC motors. This is incredibly important with the huge increases in energy prices over the last 20 years, especially as most motors were originally over specified when energy costs were not a consideration.

Who is/was your idol and why? David Bowie; quality, longevity, versatility.

Favourite song/artist? Suffragette City by David Bowie

Do you have a claim to fame? I have three wonderful daughters… I don’t need any more fame than that.