Newry based PWS Signs is helping to make India’s heavily congested roads safer with its unique range of traffic management equipment.

PWS have formed a strategic alliance with Canadian and Indian partners, establishing PWS (India) Electronics Pty. The manufacturing plant is based in the central Indian city of Nagpur and produces a range of solar-powered directional road signs for the Indian  market.

PWS (India) Electronics Pty, has already supplied portable road signs to Indian contractors, police and road authorities, including the National Highway Authority of India.

Commenting on the joint venture, PWS Managing Director John McAteer, welcomed the establishment of an Indian manufacturing base, “India is a huge marketplace in which substantial investment in the roads network is already underway with a great deal more being planned. India is currently committed to what has been described as the world’s biggest-ever road building programme. In fact upwards of $90 billion is currently being invested to upgrade India’s roads network linking all the main cities over the next five years. It’s an ideal market for the latest solar technology and highly portable directional and warning signs that we have developed in association with our Canadian partner.”

The new venture follows the company’s participation in a series of Invest Northern Ireland trade missions to Indian business centres including New Delhi and Mumbai over the past three years. PWS is a company with almost 50 years experience in the sign manufacturing business, with recent developments including the use of solar powered systems for traffic management. PWS have established markets in the UK and Ireland and more recently, Europe, the Arabian Gulf and India.  

Speaking about recent Invest NI assistance, Mr McAteer commented, “We’ve used Invest NI trade missions to research the market thoroughly, to pinpoint potential clients and partners, and to develop the best access strategy for us. With the advice and guidance of Invest NI’s Asia team in both Belfast and India, we are confident of growing success in India. The Nagpur plant is a modern production facility that’s ideally positioned for the supply of PWS traffic management equipment throughout the country.”

Welcoming the PWS decision to set up in India, Alan Hingston, Invest NI’s Trade director, says: “PWS have used our range of export services to develop and implement a clearly defined strategy for growth in what is now a dynamic global market.  The Indian government has made investment to modernise its infrastructure of roads, ports and airports a priority because it recognises that it needs to do so to sustain the rapid economic growth it has been experiencing over the past decade.”

“Companies can also benefit enormously from the team of trade development advisers that we have now established in India. They are working to help more companies grasp the business opportunities developing rapidly across the sub continent,” he adds.

Following on from success in the Indian market, PWS’ John McAteer and Invest NI’s Bill McGuiness have recently met with the Minister for Transport for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and appointed a distributor for the region.

PWS currently employs 28 people at its plant in Newry’s Greenbank industrial Estate. It has also invested heavily in the Northern Ireland operation to enhance productivity. This has including applying the latest business improvement techniques with help from the Quality Improvement Network to strengthen overall competitiveness in all its markets. Currently over 70 per cent of sales are outside Northern Ireland.

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