Barry Graham joins Reeco as Technical Sales Manager AMRs

16/9/24

Barry Graham: Technical Sales Manager AMRs

Welcoming Barry Graham to the team

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Reeco is delighted to announce the news of Barry Graham joining as Technical Sales Manager for AMRs. This marks a significant milestone in both Barry’s career and the ongoing rapid growth of Reeco as a leading integrator of cobot technology into end-of-line automation solutions. Barry is well known and widely respected in the industry, having spent the past 32 years in a variety of roles at leading automation manufacturer, OMRON, for whom Reeco is a Solution Partner.

Reeco’s MD, Rosie Davies, commented,

"Barry’s move to Reeco symbolises the story of close collaboration and partnership between OMRON and ourselves, and will significantly enhance the value we can provide to customers. We’re thrilled to have him join us."

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Career timeline

Barry started his technical career immediately on leaving school, joining an engineering apprenticeship with Dunlop Systems and Components and then Dunlop Aviation. Alongside the apprenticeship, he studied at Coventry University for his HNC in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.

After eight years' hands-on experience and completion of his training, Barry then moved into sales roles at first Newey and Eyre and then LC Automation. During this time, he proved himself as an accomplished salesman but never lost the character of being an engineer at heart. His prime focus has always been on identifying the best technical solutions for customers, rather than pursuing pure profits.

Barry then joined OMRON in 1991 as part of the sales team tasked with spearheading OMRON's OEM sales into the UK, replacing the UK distributor model they had pursued until then. During Barry’s 23-year period in this role, OMRON's UK presence significantly grew as a direct-to-market manufacturer of automation parts and components.

In 2017, OMRON added collaborative robots to their industrial robot portfolio. Increasing the need for a departure from OMRON's components-only focus, it required a new strategy to gain a foothold in the UK market. Once again, OMRON turned to Barry to head up the new venture, and he set about finding UK partners that could provide integration of OMRON's cobot technology.

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The Reeco and OMRON partnership

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OMRON met Reeco almost by chance, introduced by Unilever, a mutual customer of both companies. After working together on a Unilever automation solution, OMRON persuaded Reeco to become a solution partner for cobot sales and integration, with Barry leading the introductions and negotiations. It turned out to be an unbeatable marriage of technical excellence, with Reeco’s expertise in robotic kinematics perfectly blending with OMRON's outstanding proficiency in control systems.

It required a powerful springboard to introduce OMRON cobots to the UK market in the face of existing brands already established there. Reeco founder, Llewelyn Rees, suggested focusing on a specific cobot-based solution for which there was known demand: a localised palletiser. OMRON provided close support for Reeco in this development, headed by Barry, and the RB Palletisers were born soon after. Offering significant advantages over other cobot palletisers, they are now the go-to solution for all OMRON's cobot palletising enquiries, and are being exported to other OMRON partners across Europe and beyond.

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"It was an amazing collaboration, really. The combined expertise of Reeco and OMRON delivered exceptional results, and Barry Graham was at the heart of the effort. To have him join us now is just incredible – I can’t wait to see what we can do."

Llewelyn Rees

Technical Director, Reeco Automation

The introduction of AMRs

In 2021, after the outstanding outcome of the joint venture on RB Palletisers, Barry asked Reeco to become OMRON's preferred UK partner for AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots), which he had been made responsible for. Reeco accepted and the next development programme commenced, exploring ways to combine AMRs with the palletisers, as well as apply them for wider goods-transport purposes.

Throughout the years since, Reeco has worked closely with OMRON on many developments, including further advancements to the palletiser range, cobot-powered case packers, and specific client projects using AMRs. Barry has often operated alongside Reeco in developing customer solutions. His integration now right into the Reeco team offers the chance to provide customers with a totally seamless flow of expert advice and the assurance of finding the best solution for every need.

Barry himself commented,

"I’m so excited to be joining Reeco. They’re an outstanding team, and I know it will be great to work even more closely with them. Often when talking to customers about their needs, I’ve had to stop short of discussing the ultimate solution, because it needed to be handed over to Reeco! Now I can be part of that end-to-end solution development, applying my knowledge of OMRON technology in full. Bring it on!"

It's clearly an exciting time with huge opportunity. Watch this space!

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