Our MD, Steve Cant has been in the gasket and sealing industry since 1976, and over those years has seen a lot of changes.
Here he recollects some of the more memorable clients in the last 43 years – some of whom we still deal with today. Many others unfortunately have been taken over, merged with other companies or been liquidated – or simply no longer manufacture or use our products.
Over the years, I’ve worked with all types of companies – from small 1-man operations, to multi-nationals employing 10’s of thousands across the globe such as Rolls Royce Aerospace.
Some of the memorable ones from my early days in the industry were companies such as Bestobell Engineering, Shorts of Belfast, Atco Qualcast (now Bosch), Plessey, Mirrlees Diesels, Paxman Diesels, Beldam Packing and James Walker. As a major supplier to trade customers in those days, many of the products were sold on with the ‘middle-man’ reaping most of the profits!
As a bit of history, I’m fortunate to still have all the old accounts ledgers – hand-written – from those days – with figures going back to the 1960’s!
In the last 30 years, the diversity of customers has continued – here are just a few to give an idea;
Rolls Royce Aerospace, Perkins Diesels, New Holland UK (later to become CNH), BP, Dennis Eagle, Bombardier, English Welsh and Scottish Railways, Federal Mogul, Honda, Dorman, Caterpillar, Applied Energy Products, Knorr Bremse, Ideal Standard, Ford, Hoover, British Steel, ITT Jabsco, Hitachi Automotive Products, FKI Energy, Jacuzzi, Eurostar, Crosslee PLC, Lotus Cars, Electrolux, Lister Petter, Cummins, Norgren Martinair, Mono Pumps, Marconi, Nortel, Thales, Weir Group, British Telecom, Spirax-Sarco, Severn Trent Water, Astucia, Wabtec, Alstom, Vickers, Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Nissan, ABB.
Many of these are well-known companies in the UK – and most still thriving even in today’s ‘Covid19’ marketplace!
Behind each customer and company, no matter how big or small, there’s always been a story – each often with their own plot-line – and sometimes with unexpected results.
Give us a call, or email us with your particular enquiries – if we’re not able to help, we’ll always do our best to refer you to someone who can !
Thought for the Day !