WJA Member Spotlight – TST Sweden AB
Company name: TST Sweden AB
Company representative: Peder Lindström
Job title: Market and Sales Director, Co-owner
What services do you deliver to the water jetting industry?
We design and manufacture PPE products that protect the operator from water jets with pressures from 200 bar (3000 psi) up to 3000 bar (43,500 psi).
We also have a suite of workplace safety solutions that deliver a range of advantages, including projecting other people and machinery, and collecting water.
We distribute our products in more than 80 countries, from Australia to Canada and all countries in between, though our main market is Europe.
What new service developments should we look out for from you in the next year or so? Ones you can tell us about.
We will launch next year to the market a new boot, this will be a new product that provides great safety for the feet that we’re well known for, but with great flexibility.
What are the three most important elements of service for your customers?
To deliver the product on time. Provide products with consistent quality over time, and deliver a transparent service to all customers.
What has been the business highlight for TST Sweden AB over the last 12 months?
To see that awareness of safety is picking up more. Now it’s more common for water jetting companies to use PPE products rather than not to.
Tell us something that you think anyone outside the industry will find amazing about your products and/or services
That our product protect against a pencil jet with a pressure from 2,000 bar (29,000 psi) to a 3,000 bar (43,500 psi) rotating nozzle. When we tell people that they can’t understand how fabric can withstand this force.
What’s the biggest change in technology or process you have witnessed in your service sector in recent years?
I think the biggest change has been the attitude towards safety, especially in relation to using PPE products. It’s like downhill skiing. Once, no-one wore a helmet. Nowadays everyone is using helmets.
I think that we are moving in that direction as well in the water jetting industry. What concerns me is that as soon as you are using a robot or automation, people think they are.
We at TST are not against robots or automation, quite the opposite, but the operator or the machinery is still around high-pressure water and needs to be aware of this. I am worried a sense of false security will grow and that could lead to injuries.
What do you think will be the biggest changes or challenges over the next 10 years?
Implementing and using the power of AI in our industry is going to be a huge change. When I asked our customer about AI a year ago, they looked at me as if I was from outer space. We are already using AI in our work, though not in PPE products or workplace safety solutions products, yet. But who knows about the future?
What are you most proud of about the way your team supports your customers?
That everyone at TST has the same mission, to save lives in the industry 365 days, 24/7.
How long has TST Sweden AB been a member of the WJA?
Over one year.
Why did the company decide to join?
As we are a big part of the industry and our mission is to save lives, we need to be close to the organisations that work closely with the end users, to hear where the market is heading and what new challenges it will face.
What advantages do you get from being a member of the WJA? We have only been a member for a year so maybe it’s too early to give a full answer. But getting news and information about the water jetting industry in the UK is very useful.
Why is it important to have a member organisation for the water jetting industry?
One of the main reasons is that it helps establish common standards for safety, training, and working methods. It helps to develop guidelines for how water jetting operations should be carried out safely.
It also helps to reduce accidents by introducing safety protocols and training requirements. Through standardisation, it becomes easier for companies in different countries to collaborate and ensure that equipment and working methods maintain the same level of quality and safety.
What key issues do you think the WJA should focus on over the next three years, and why?
To continue the work to establish common standards for safety, training and working methods. The important thing to always remember is that the standards will be adopted into the work on the field and not be a product made in the office behind the desk.
If TST Sweden AB was an animal, what kind would it be?
A hard question, but it has to be a Swedish Elk. They can survive in warm weather just as well as in very cold weather. It’s a majestic creature here in the northern part of the world. Just as TST Sweden is, too!