IT'S a long way from Bury to Beijing but one local business has bridged the massive geographical gap by championing high quality products from China.

Rowe Hankins Components is now involved in distributing to the UK electrical goods from the massive Chint Group in China. The alliance brings together two companies with established reputations for quality, safety, innovation and value.

Chint may be new to the UK but it is a significant force in China with a workforce of 1,200, ISO 9001 quality systems and ISO 14001 environmental approval. Their products are extensively tested by independently accredited bodies to comply with EN60898 and other international standards.

Rowe Hankins, based in Parker Street, Bury, has joined an elite band of distributors in the USA, Russia, Brazil and Germany which handle products from the Chint factories.

Mr Toni Hankins, managing director of Rowe Hankins, explained: "We do rigorous QA checks on all our factored products. We find those from Chint are as reliable and robust as European and American product. This, allied to good supply and keen pricing, means we can recommend these products to UK clients with complete confidence."

The UK team responsible for growing the Chint brand are UK sales and marketing manager Graham Chadwick, and business development manager Qinglin Li.

Graham's role is to build contracts with UK specifiers, distributors and users. Daily contact is maintained with the factories in China by Qinglin, who is fluent in the local dialect. Both men pay regular visits to China to monitor quality and new product development.

Chint designs and manufactures an extensive range of electrical power products. Rowe Hankins can draw on a vast catalogue of low voltage electrical equipment, distribution products, auto electrics, telecoms equipment, instruments, meters and software. Chint invests heavily in the development of existing products and new components in response to worldwide customer needs.

Rowe Hankins, also an ISO 9001 accredited supplier, enjoys a reputation in the UK as suppliers of power protection and panel building components. The company will also be introducing a consumer unit specially designed for the UK by Rowe Hankins and manufactured by Chint.