Sales Director Dave Humphries gets a kick out of collaborating with customers and turning visions into reality.

Dave Humphries knows aluminium inside out. The Sales Director of Sapa Profiles uk has worked in the business for 35 years, starting out as an apprentice with British Aluminium. Although trained as an accountant, a job offer came along and he found himself working in sales “quite by accident.”

After working for Hydro Aluminium Extrusion in the uk and in Norway, he moved to Sapa in 2005. Extrusion applications are what got him interested in the industry initially. “Extrusion applications are limitless, and getting over the conservatism of people used to steel is always a challenge,” he says.

Tail lifts in aluminium

Humphries’ history in product development started back in the 1980s and his first major achievement was to convince the uk road transport industry that tail lifts could be made from aluminium instead of steel. “We went to the biggest manufacturer in the  uk with a design in aluminium that we believed met their specifications. They said it wouldn’t work because there was no welding involved.”

Humphries offered to make a prototype that they could run through their trials and told them to contact him if they liked the test results. They liked them – a lot. “Within three years’ time, every one of their tail lifts was made of aluminium, adding up to 500 tonnes a year,” he says. The competition quickly followed in their footsteps.
More recently, Humphries recognised an opportunity to supply the Middle East with walkway covers in anodised aluminium instead of traditional plastic. After 18 months of detailed development, the covers are currently being delivered in containers to be assembled on site.

“Trust breaks down a lot of barriers and this leads to finding the optimal and best solution.”

While he truly believes in the benefits of using aluminium, Humphries also insists on telling customers when it is not the best solution for their application. “By understanding what is commercially viable and getting to know our customers and potential customers’ businesses well, we can make a value judgement between competing materials and help them make the right decision,” he says. This helps create an environment of trust which he believes is the single most important factor between a supplier and its customers. “Trust breaks down a lot of barriers and this leads to finding the optimal and best solution. It takes time to earn it, but once you have that trust there are endless possibilities.”


Started Sapa Profile Academy

The Sapa Profile Academy, which he started in the uk in 2009, is also built on “endless possibilities” in extrusions. The two-day event for customers and designers is geared towards industries that might benefit from the use of extrusions. In addition to workshops, participants from the different industries have an opportunity to share insights and experience with each other, something which Humphries says has been a real success. “We were over-booked for the second Profile Academy, which basically came from recommendations after the first one.”

Such activities are very satisfying for the uk sales director who says that the best things about his job are working in an environment where people are empowered and motivated at work – and breaking through with customers and their solutions. “I get a huge amount of satisfaction in building relationships with customers and developing new products with them,” says Humphries. “If you can be part of the invention process then you can make a difference to what the future holds.”

Cari Simmons­