Ellis Patents has added another chapter to its export success story having secured a specification to supply its UK designed and manufactured cable cleats to a pulp and paper producer in Brazil. The North Yorkshire company’s 2F+ cable cleats were used to secure electrical cables in the multi-million Brazilian Real (R$) extension of the Brazilian company’s factory in Imperatriz – a city with a population of over half a million in the state of Maranhão. Kelly Brown, Ellis’ export sales manager, said: “The success of our export business is built on relatively simple foundations. We thoroughly research any new market and appoint a local distributor prior to even considering commencing sales. It does, of course, help if your products are widely viewed as the best available anywhere in the world.” “In the case of the Latin American countries this research showed we needed another local layer to help develop the various individual markets, which led to us recruiting a business development manager – a role carried out by Gabriela Castro-Fontoura from her base in Montevideo, Uruguay.” Since commencing export sales to Latin America in 2009, Ellis has secured a string of high-profile specifications for its electrical safety products, including most recently an order for its Vulcan+ cable cleats for installation in an $800million desalination plant being built as part of the $2.5billion expansion of BHP’s Spence copper mine in Chile’s Atacama desert. “We don’t solely measure the success of our export operation by the number of cleats specified,” continued Kelly. “We also like to look at the reasons for securing orders, and in this case we were delighted that the project engineer saw the value added benefits of Ellis Patents cable cleats and specified the products on the back of that.”