Sebo Shop Interview with Justin Binks, MD of Sebo UK

In this exclusive interview with us at the Sebo Shop at Manchester Vacs, Justin Binks, Managing Director of Sebo (UK) Ltd, delves into the rich history and evolution of Sebo in the UK. Gain insights into the company’s origins, the dynamic development of its product range, and the underlying ethos driving its success. Discover more about Sebo’s commitment to innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction as Justin shares valuable perspectives on the brand’s journey and future endeavours.

Transcript below.

MV: I’m Stuart from Manchester Vacs and the Sebo shop, and we’re very lucky to have up here in Manchester today, Justin Binks, who’s one of the directors of Sebo UK. Welcome to Manchester, Justin.

Justin: Thank you for inviting me, Stuart. It’s a pleasure to be here.

MV: Very nice to see you. So we thought we’d ask Justin a few questions today. Just for anybody who doesn’t know a great deal about Sebo, perhaps you’ll get a little bit of interesting background from it.

So what I wanted to ask you first, we know anybody who’s researched Sebo or looked into the brand knows it was started in 1978, in Germany by two gentlemen called Klaus [Stein] and Heinz [Kaulig].

But Sebo UK, I believe, is a second-generation business that was started by your dad.

Justin: Correct, yes.

MV: So could you tell us maybe the journey of how he came to meet the German guys, and how Sebo UK came to pass; the timeline perhaps of the story?

Justin: Well, my Father used to work for a company that sold industrial vacuum cleaners. He was the machine marketing manager, and he met Mr Stein in Germany when Mr Stein worked for Vorwerk and was one of the chief designers at Vorwerk, a German vacuum cleaner and carpet company.

Vorwerk set Mr Stein on developing a proper commercial upright vacuum cleaner and Mr Stein had lots of really good ideas for this machine, one of which was having a hose on an upright vacuum cleaner which no one else had done before. There was one called an Advance Carpet Twin that had a hose on the inside, which I think is where he got the idea from.

And he thought, well, if I put that hose on the outside, then you could actually use it as well. Anyway, moving through the story, Vorwerk decided not to press ahead with a commercial vacuum cleaner, and Mr. Stein decided to leave and set up on his own.

And because he knew my father in his role in the UK, he suggested to my father that he could set up Sebo UK, which my father was more than happy to do. So, that was in 1981. It started on a very small scale operating out of my dad’s garage. And I joined the company a couple of years later,

My dad had a brown Ford Cortina saloon, and I used to have to go off and do sales and deliveries with it. And I could tell things were going quite well when I had to take the back seats out to fit more vacuum cleaners into it. And yes, we built up from there.

MV: This would have been the BS machines at the time, wouldn’t it?

Justin: It was, yes. That’s the only machine we had, and we sold it obviously to dealers. And they were going into hotels and it was a revelation of a machine because every other machine before that was of the old-fashioned kind of Hoover style with a cloth bag on it. That was the first modern vacuum cleaner.

MV: And that machine remains the best-selling upright commercial in the world today, I believe.

Justin: I would say probably it is. Sebo are still the top-selling professional commercial upright vacuum cleaners in the world. And to the best of my knowledge, the BS is the main seller of those.

MV: When did they branch into the domestic sector then, that would have been the early 90s?

Justin: Well, me and my dad can sort of claim credit for that. Because in the American market, they wanted a lightweight professional machine and Sebo Germany, in particular, Mr Stein developed a new vacuum cleaner which had fantastic new features like a computerised automatic height control. When me and my father saw it, we thought, well, you know what? That would make a brilliant domestic vacuum cleaner.

We were doing fine with the BS commercially. It’d be better to open up a new market with that X1, as it was called, and sell it as a retail machine. And it was the first machine at £199.95 as a retail price in shops.

MV: And that’s the machine that’s evolved into the X7 today?

Justin: It has evolved. Well, it was a really good design. And that’s a thing I think with Sebo, that our designs don’t change massively much over the years. Sebo tries to get the design right in the first place. And you know, people haven’t become ten feet tall. Carpets are kind of similar to how they were before. So the basic ways of working remain the same. You know, our machines are always durable and ergonomic and do a good job on the floor.

MV: One of the things we’ve always liked about the brand is that, as you just touched on, the machines evolve through the years. Some manufacturers try to reinvent the wheel every three years and then spend the next two years ironing out the mistakes under warranty claims only to reinvent something else. But Sebo doesn’t do that. They take a good machine and later they go along and they say, “Well, we can improve that” and “We can improve this”.

Justin: No, totally. It’s an evolution. Well, obviously they try to get it 100% right in the first place. But as time goes on, you think, “Oh, we could do that a bit better and that a bit better”. And they do evolve the machines. And I think you’re right. You do see many manufacturers who bring out something. They claim it’s the best thing since sliced bread. And then a few years later it’s disappeared, they say, “Oh yeah, that one did have loads of problems. But now there’s our new one that’s as good as sliced bread”.

MV: Well, we show people the X1 you’ve just been talking about in here. We have some over in the corner so that we can show them the evolution. And we can say, “Here’s where it started, and here’s where it is now. And as you can see it’s not that much different”. And don’t fix it if it’s not broken.

Justin: Exactly. Yes.

MV: So of all the machines that they’ve made through the years, which has been quite a few now. I mean, there’s a range of X machines, there’s Felix’s, there’s lots of cylinders. The range evolved somewhat. Do you have a personal favourite?

Justin: Well I would say I’ve got two favourites. Probably one is the X machine. It works beautifully. It’s got fantastic features. But I also really like the Felix. And I would say that at home I tend to use the Felix. Because it gets underneath furniture. It’s very practical and versatile machine. And it cleans really well.

MV: I still use an X4 at home because back when we first started selling Sebo six, seven or eight years ago, it’s the first one I took home and said to my wife, “Can we try this?” And she had a Dyson DC14 at the time and she said, “I’m not convinced. Can I keep both?” And two weeks later she sent the Dyson back and kept the Sebo. We’ve still got it. The same one.

So I wanted to ask you about the best-selling machine. We sell lots of Sebos. I know which is our best-seller, but obviously, you’ve access to different markets than we’ve got. So can you speculate, or do you know what is the best-selling machine?

Justin: Well for us, it’s the X7 Pet. People really like it. It’s got a lovely luscious black colour to it. The silver parts highlight really nicely on it. You get a really good range of accessories and you’ve got the boost on it and also the LED light. So it’s got everything for everyone on that machine.

MV: Yes that is our best seller. The BS360 in the commercial range. And yes, the black X7 Pet certainly is our best-selling domestic machine.

We mentioned earlier on about other manufacturers and evolved designs. One of the things that we’ve always like about Sebo is that there’s very, very good spare parts availability, and even back to the very early X1 machines, you can get 99% of the spares. Is that kind of more by luck than judgement, or is it by design that they want the machines to be repairable for 20-30 years, which most manufacturers don’t? Can you comment on the company ethos surrounding parts availability, repairs and sustainability?

Justin: Well, it is by design that machines last a long time. And I know with Sebo Germany that they always look at what the machine’s got to do. What life it’s expected to have, how long it’s expected to last, how reliable they want it to be. And that they use that to create the machine, the parts, and the quality of the parts.

And because they want the machines to last and they want to look after customers, it’s a duty, responsibility and a wish to have parts available long term. The only time that we ever don’t have parts is when we are using a supplier, say, of motors. And they just stop making those motors because there’s no demand from anyone else anymore. But otherwise, we always have spare parts for customers.

And with Sebo, they’ve always been in favour of sustainability. Every part is marked with what it’s made of, so it can be recycled. Machines are screwed together rather than clipped together. At the factory [in Germany], they collect all the water from the roof and filter it so they can use it in the toilets and things. And recently they just installed heat pumps as well. And they generate their own electricity.

MV: How do they do that, solar?

They’ve got two big Mann diesel engines that are super efficient. The coolant is used to heat the building. The electricity runs the factory. Excess electricity is sold into the German grid. But I think they are also bringing in solar at the moment as well.

MV: That’s innovation. You don’t see very much of that in factories in this country.

Justin: No, it’s not done by coal power.

MV: Finally, I wanted to touch on new products and forthcoming products. Recently we’ve had the Softcase BP60, which was launched not so long ago. Which is, as a lot of people will know, the first cordless upright vacuum for Sebo. Do you know, or can you share, is there anything in the pipeline that we should know about?

Because people are wondering why maybe Sebo hasn’t made a handheld, cordless or a particularly lightweight machine. Is there anything you might know, or something you’re able to share?

Justin: Well, we wouldn’t want to have something that’s just a “me too” product. I can say for sure that Sebo has got a pipeline. What’s in it and when it’s going to appear, I couldn’t possibly say.

MV: Right. So it’s fair to say that things are in development, but we don’t know what they are?

Justin: Things are definitely in development, yes. Things are definitely in development.

MV: Excellent. Well, it was it was very, very nice to have you up here in Manchester.

Justin: It’s been a great pleasure. Lovely to talk to you.

MV: And it’s nice of you to spare the time to come and have a look around our place and to come and talk to us.

Justin: It’s been fascinating. Seeing your place.

MV: Yes. Brilliant. So thank you very much for coming. And thank you for doing the interview for our followers and subscribers.

So that was Justin from Sebo UK. And if you’re watching this on YouTube, you can click the link underneath and you’ll be able to go through to our Sebo Shop website where you can find Sebo vacuums, spares and accessories. And also you’ll find another link below that will go to a blog where there’ll be a transcript of this video, and there’ll be lots of other Sebo-related stuff there as well. So please like the video and subscribe and share where possible to any of your social media groups. Thanks for watching.

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The Sebo Shop at Manchester Vacs are approved Sebo dealers offering next-day UK delivery on all domestic and commercial Sebo vacuum cleaners and spare parts.

Sebo Vacuum Service & Repairs in Chester: as an official Sebo service centre and parts stockist, we undertake repairs to all Sebo vacuums.

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