Scaling strategic expansion across North America, Ramtech redefines site safety standards on a global scale
From construction sites and industrial facilities to marine and infrastructure projects, safety demands smarter, more connected solutions. At Ramtech, innovation has long been driven by a simple goal: to protect people while delivering the data and insight needed to raise safety standards across complex, high-risk environments. Working closely with leading contractors, developers, and facilities owners, the company’s wireless safety systems transform how risks are managed, offering seamless integration in some of the world’s most demanding job sites.
Manufacturing Today sits down with James Pecz, Vice President of North America and Global CX at Ramtech, to uncover what lies ahead for the company as it expands into the US market. James begins, however, by providing some insight into Ramtech’s history, which saw it grow from a single product to a world leader in onsite safety.
“Ramtech was founded in 1990 in Nottingham, where our global headquarters is still based today,” James says. “In the early days, our core products were wireless security alarms for the leisure industry, designed to be installed in caravan parks, holiday homes, and so forth. As we’ve progressed over the years, we’ve moved more into the industrial and construction markets as the Joint Code of Practice was developed, requiring the use of an interconnected temporary fire and evacuation system on all construction sites in the UK. At the time, there weren’t any wireless systems on the market that were specifically designed for challenging environments such as construction sites, and we were approached to develop a product that could meet the new code requirement.
“We’ve now sold over half a million devices in 36 different countries across the world. Over the last few years, we’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. We’ve supplied systems for the construction of data centers for Amazon and Microsoft, we’ve worked on the Tiffany Building and Javits Center in New York, at Walt Disney World in Florida, and for some of the biggest contractors across North America, such as Turner Construction and Skanska.”
Now in its 36th year of business, Ramtech continues to build on its legacy of innovation. Ramtech’s WES3 system, for instance, sets a new benchmark in site safety. The WES3 is an advanced wireless fire and evacuation system built for demanding, high-risk environments. Fully EN54-25 compliant, the system delivers site-wide fire detection, evacuation alerts, and medical alarms without cabling or mains power, resulting in reliable, 24/7 protection trusted across multiple sectors worldwide.
“The WES3 system is the third iteration of our WES system product,” James elaborates. “Every time we release a new variant of that product, we take into account what our customers and the market need and how we can improve the product to further enhance fire and life safety. We’re currently developing new variants of the WES3 whilst also having our eye on the future with the early stages of development for the WES4. The WES4 is still a few years away from release, but we’re always looking to adapt and improve to ensure that we’re offering industry-leading technology that, most importantly, enhances safety for the customers and industries that we serve.”
Expanding safety standards across North America
With these developments underway, Ramtech’s strategic expansion into the North American market forms an integral part of its future-focused philosophy. The business must ensure the evolution of the WES3 is matched by local presence, robust infrastructure, and the responsiveness needed to support its US customers as demand grows.
“We currently work from a central hub in the UK, which works fine for serving our European market, but we recognized the need to establish more of a presence in North America to be able to support the growth that we’re seeing now and anticipating in the future,” James explains. “We decided to establish an office in Charlotte, which has allowed us to bring support in-house for our US customer base. We have a warehouse there where we can hold around three months’ worth of stock, which has allowed us to be much quicker with our delivery and response times; it’s also given us the ability to service and repair our products in country rather than ship them back and forth across the Atlantic.”
By virtue of this strategic approach, Ramtech is well-positioned to build further on its US presence. It has already successfully delivered projects for some of the world’s biggest names, providing a strong platform for future growth. James describes two such projects, starting with its work on the Hudson’s Detroit megaproject – covering over 1.5 million square feet with a $1 billion project value.
“Hudson’s Detroit was a flagship project for us and one of our biggest. The development decided to use our products as best practice to enhance evacuation and fire safety for that build. Our sales and support teams carried out the installation of 250 devices across the project, and we got some amazing feedback. The client was extremely happy with the services that we provided as our systems gave them visibility and real-time alerts of any emergencies, which really elevated their safety standards and ensured that they were able to go above and beyond the code,” James details.
“Another of our projects was Mill Creek in Charlotte, North Carolina,” he continues. “Unfortunately, there was a serious fire on that development in 2023 where two people lost their lives. Following that incident, the developer and contractor understood that, even though they’re not required by code to do certain things, they need to take responsibility for the safety of the people and the property, and so they installed our WES system onsite to enhance safety.”
As Ramtech looks to the future, its North American expansion will continue to be driven by a combination of proven technology and customer-led innovation. With the continued evolution of its WES3 system, the company remains committed to raising safety standards beyond compliance and is well-positioned to accelerate its growth across the market.
“We have a lot of exciting initiatives underway,” James reveals. “We’re going to focus on continuing to improve our support and resources in North America to facilitate growth in the two main verticals we serve there, which are the construction and marine industries. In fact, over the next five years, I see us doubling or tripling our staff levels. We’re very ambitious. I believe we can treble our turnover in the next five years in the North American market in terms of sales.
“It’s a very exciting time for Ramtech,” he concludes. “The world is our oyster and opportunities are endless; we just have to employ the right strategies and work with the right people to achieve full potential.”
