DARLINGTON, UK – As you walk through the entrance of Vortex Global Limited’s newly renovated offices in Darlington, United Kingdom, you might think you have entered a local supermarket. There are shelves full of familiar, everyday products – Yorkshire Tea, Lavazza Coffee, Daz Washing Powder, Pringles Crisps, Jacobs Biscuits, Dunlop Tyres, Guinness, and Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, to name a few.

“It is sometimes hard to describe what we do,” said Travis Young, managing director at Vortex Global Limited. “This display essentially shows the range of materials and brands our equipment handles. It helps connect the dots for those unfamiliar with Vortex and the dry bulk handling industry as a whole."

Vortex was founded 40 years ago in the USA. The company's United Kingdom-based operation, Vortex Global Limited, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary. Vortex Global Limited is responsible for the corporation's business activities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In April 2016, Vortex Global Limited moved into a newly renovated industrial building near Darlington town centre to house its primary offices and distribution centre.

“The new premises not only provides a great work environment for our employees, but also offers a lot more room for growth,” Young explained. “We routinely host representative agents and clients from all over the world at our facility for training courses, so the large conference room and product demonstration area are welcome additions.”

Vortex contracts with 40 sales agents who cover more than 75 countries worldwide. Its clients include many blue chip companies, such as Dow Chemical, Nestle, DuPont, Sabic, BASF, Kraft Foods, P&G, Rio Tinto, Cargill, and InBev.

"The range of processes we are involved with is staggering," said Andrew Davies, application engineering manager at Vortex Global Limited. "One day we will be working on a cement project in the Jordanian Desert; the next we will be in a Dutch factory producing whole, roasted coffee beans." 

A Ten-Year Marathon

Sir Richard Branson was quoted as saying: 

"There are no quick wins in business; it takes years to become an overnight success." 

The same is true of Vortex's expansion outside of the Americas.

"For Vortex, it has been more of a marathon than a sprint," said Laurence Millington, international sales director at Vortex Global Limited. "Ten years ago, Vortex had a huge mountain to climb. When we started in the UK, we had only a handful of clients throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Despite this, we knew if we could assist our clients by solving their processing problems, whilst striving to deliver excellent service and response, Vortex would find its place in these new markets." 

The proverbial mountain mentioned by Mr. Millington involved a wide range of challenges, which included:

• Offering equipment certified in accordance to EU Directives; and
• Developing equipment to conform to metric versus imperial standards.

"The first three years were more about investing in the future, rather than turning over profits," Young explained.

The April move marks Vortex Global Limited's third relocation in ten years, in order to accommodate a growing staff and create additional warehousing space. Prior to its move to Enterprise House in Darlington, the company was located in the Morton Park Industrial Estate.

"Much of our growth can be attributed to Vortex employees," said Young. "We have a great team of people who maintain our company's core values of respect, integrity, passion and humility – in both the UK and the US." 

Vortex Global Limited is now located at: 

Vortex Global Limited
Building 1J
Enterprise House, Valley North Street
Darlington, DL1 1GY