Last week I, along with other members of our trade press, were invited to the official opening of a new building at the Howardson Group’s factory site at Kirk Langley, near Derby, by the company’s managing director, Megen Oliver.
The factory site is now home for brands such as Dennis, SISIS, Lloyds, Hunter Grinders and Syn -Pro.
Howardson Group is a family run engineering business that was established in 1938, run and cared for since then, by the same family in Derbyshire. The business has evolved over the decades to become the world-class design and manufacturing facility it is today.
With over 70 employees, the business has continued to grow and maximise its potential, boasting the ability manufacture all their products on site.
The latest investment is a new £1.5 million facility that provides storage and office space, along with providing further key production areas for their new Hunter Grinder products. It also houses additional Randex sorting bays for parts to speed up production.
The company’s new MD, Megan Oliver, took over the reins of the business from her father Ian Howardson two years ago to enable Ian the time to project manage this new facility.
Megan began working full time for the company some six years ago with the aim to take over the running of the company as part of their succession planning, that in recent times has also seen the appointment of several new members of staff.
The official opening of the new building began with a few words by Megan to thank all the press for coming and explained the importance of this new facility and what it meant for the company. After the cutting of the ribbon, we were given a guided tour around this impressive facility and had the chance to hear from Megan and senior staff members in the new impressive board / training room. All were keen to elaborate on their roles within the company and to talk about future opportunities.
Three new key members of staff are Darren McMahon as the new head of marketing, David Williamson, commercial director who oversees all sales teams and Chanel Crocker heading up a new HR department. Megan was keen to point out the welfare of the staff is critical for the success of any business. Having Chanel on board brings a wealth of new HR initiatives, such as developing appropriate training and corporate staff days to thank them for their ongoing commitment to the company.
As for Darren’s role, what attracted him to join the company was in his own words, “the fact Howardson is a family-owned business, decisions are made for the long term. There’s a very high drive for product quality, which I believe is extremely important. Customers should receive the very best product that we can manufacture, and the product should do the job for which it’s purchased. To support these products in the Dennis, Hunter Grinder, SISIS, and Syn-Pro ranges, there’s a crystal-clear focus on delivering the kind of service our customers would expect from a premium business.”
Since joining, Darren has already had an immersive introduction to the industry. Within his first five weeks, he attended three major exhibitions in the UK and USA, met with dealers, customers, and industry experts, and even got hands-on experience using Dennis and SISIS machines on both natural and synthetic surfaces.
All three new members have been warmly welcomed and are looking towards the many challenges they face in keeping the company brands at the forefront of the industry’s diverse and ever-changing working environments both here and abroad.
As the Howardson Group celebrates its 86th year, its investment into new products and the fact that it is willing to embrace new technologies certainly bode well in solidifying its position in the sports turf and amenity industry.
The recent acquisitions of Hunter Grinders and Lloyds will no doubt attract a lot of new potential customers. For me, the opportunity to buy a set of simple, effective trail gang mowers that are easy to use, service and much cheaper than a ride-on triple mower will be a big attraction for many grassroots cricket, football and sports clubs.
I would like to thank Megan and her staff for their kind hospitality and for the opportunity to view their developments which will play an important role in the further development and success of a unique family run business.
