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Solutions
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
2 A Word From The Chairman
2-3 Airedale Mills & Investment
3 Global Reach
4-5 Specialisation & Service
6-7 People
8 Our Purpose
CONTACT SOLUTIONS
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+44 (0) 113 386 7654
Special Edition from Benjn. R. Vickers & Son Ltd.
Celebrating 100 years of incorporation
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A word from the chairmanWe celebrate, this year, the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Benjn. R. Vickers & Sons as a limited company, in July 1913. The business had already been trading in oils and lubricants for 85 years before then, growing from one man (Benjamin Randall Vickers) buying and selling oils and fats, to a commercial enterprise with 12 employees blending its own brand of specialised lubricants. But the act of incorporation in 1913 provided the structure which enabled rapid growth of the business in the 1920s on.
Already in 1913 certain values and characteristics were apparent, to which the company has held fast and which still apply today. Among them are technological expertise and leadership; customer service; ; focus on exports; care for all employees; and complete honesty and integrity in all dealings.
In 1954, it was noted that “two threads in particular are apparent: a relationship of respect between owners, managers and all employees; and an intention on the part of those conducting the business to do what is right.” That is still true today.
It is a pleasure to offer you this reminder of some of the things that we’ve been and done over the last 100 years. Happy Anniversary!
Peter Vickers May 2013
Airedale Mills & Investment
The 1877 auctionpurchase deed for Airedale Mills
The Airedale Mills expansion 1974
Construction of the new Tank Farm 1993
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Benjamin Threlfall Vickers bought the first part of the current site in 1877. Farrar acquired additional strips in the 1920s and 1930s; and John & Gurney a further one in 1971. The Grosvenor Road offices, acquired in 1935, were sold in 2001 after construction of offices at Airedale Mills which meant that the whole Company was together on one site. Retained profits have been reinvested over the years to construct larger, better planned buildings and to modernise plant and equipment for blending, pumping, storing and filling oil. There has been continuous investment in testing and development laboratories, with the newest one established in 2012.
Both the Vickers family and the family business have always had a global reach. In 1882 the business started to export to, and import from, the United Sates, and Benjamin Threlfall Vickers went there personally to develop business. By 1913 three of Farrar Vickers’ siblings – Agnes, Helen and Randall – were in Asia as medical/educational missionaries, while Farrar himself (with his father) was undertaking sales trips around Scandinavia, the Baltic, Russia, and the Low Countries. Already in the 1930’s the Company was exporting to 33 countries on every continent. Now more than 80% of our business in conducted outside the UK.
Global Reach
5, Grosvenor Road, Headingley (company offices 1935-2001)
Farrar Vickers and his two sons, John and David with African visitors at Airedale Mills c. 1950
Airedale Mills 1967-68
Airedale Mills 2013
In the early years, to make a living, Benjamin Randall Vickers would “buy anything and sell anything” but already by the 1860s the wool processing industry in Yorkshire was a principal market, followed by the leather tanning business, which was another key sector in the Leeds economy. The development of a New Engine Oil (NEO) in 1882 for
marine engines led to the development of NEOX sterntube oils (trademark registered in 1900 & still going today!) and the VISTA sterntube gland.
In 1928, the 100th anniversary of the business, Farrar wrote, “The firm does not attempt business in ordinary lubricating oils, but confines its attention to those lines in which they have a long experience
and regarding which they have the facilities for keeping in touch with the latest requirements, information and practice”. In other words, a niche marketing strategy!
That specialisation of markets has been led by first class products, constantly evolving, and by excellent technical support and customer service and delivery.
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2011 - Stuart Hilton QC Chemist Jack Dobson Technical Service Laboratory 1960’sLaboratory 1930’s
Vickers Textile Lubricants through the years. The wool processing trade has been at the core of our textile business since the 1860’s.
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David Grimshaw (Technical Representative) attending ship drydocking / sterntube seal inspection.
Old delivery van returning through gates in snow c. 1950s Tanker delivery to P&O vessel c. 1990s
The VISTA oilbaths and glands were a very important part of our business for 50 years and established us as an authority on sterntube lubrication
Our People
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Farrar Vickers and his brother, Randall Vickers – 125th anniversary, 1954
People matter. In the 1930s Farrar changed the whole basis of employment (introducing sick pay and holiday pay, providing canteen and washing facilities, establishing a staff benefit fund, sponsoring a sports & social club); whilst in 1946 David transformed Airedale Mills by emphasizing, and practicing, teamwork – leading to record production and productivity in 1947. Generous pension schemes were established by Gurney and John in the 1960s and 1970s.
Apart from the “Vickers” family, over the years the firm has been made up of many families - of several generations, multiple siblings and other relations. There has been a history of longevity of service, which continues to the present day.
Early 1960’s L to R: Gerry Carrette - Chief Chemist; Jack Thornton - Sales Director;
Alf Latty - Director & General Manager; Ted West - Technical Rep; Farrar Vickers; Brian Berridge, Michael Joyce, Keith Hartley - all Technical Reps.
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Airedale Mills – Laboratory Team 1958
Harry Marsden and others outside old canteen/lab block
1968 – opening of new laboratory: L-R: John Vickers, Peter Shepherd (Shepherd Construction), Jack Thornton (Vickers’ Sales
Director), Prof JB Speakman (Leeds University Textile Dept)
May 1978: Lord and Lady Mayor of Leeds inspecting oil blending with Anne & Gurney
Vickers and Stephen Glynn (by pump)
Cyril Crowther, Ted West (two of the “Technical
Representatives”) and Farrar Vickers
Blending 1950’s
David Vickers in Canteen 1947
Technical sales meeting – 1978/9 Malcolm Clark, David Grimshaw, Bill Yeadon, Jack Thornton, Roy Emmett, Ken Rushworth
“lubricate society as well as fibres and machinery”
BENJN R. VICKERS & SONS LTD.
Registered Office 6 Clarence Road, Leeds, LS10 1ND, United Kingdom
Registered in England Company No. 00130013
Tel: +44 (0)113 386 7654 Fax: +44 (0)113 386 7676 Email: [email protected] Web: www.vickers-oil.com
Accredited to the ISO 9001 Quality Standard and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management StandardFM 1851 EMS 40717
8 May 2013
• Both Benjamin Randall’s and Benjamin Threlfall’s avowed aim was to make a living for themselves and those dependent on them, whilst giving at least one–tenth to the poor and suffering, and to the Church. Both were deeply engaged with the work of Roscoe Place Methodist Chapel.
• Each of Benjamin Threlfall’s five children was engaged with the outreach of the church, from the Boys’ Brigade to Burma and from Chapeltown to China.
• From the 1930s onwards, in a context of classwar and industrial strife, Farrar considered the firm to be a testbed for “experiments in industrial relations and in managerial responsibility which have a bearing on the spirit and structure of Industry at large”, inspired by “the idea that the independent, personally managed business, with its freedom and flexibility, could work out on a pilot-plant scale the social and economic changes needed in industry generally”.
• John built on this philosophy, experiencing that “what is morally right, as far as we could see it, has always been economically viable” and seeking to make decisions on the basis of “what is right, not who is right”. Noting that lubricants are used between warring surfaces and with the aim of reducing friction, he has often expressed the vision that the company (and, indeed, the whole lubricants industry) should aim to “lubricate society as well as fibres and machinery.”
• Now we aim to have a sustainable basis for the future. Sustainability means, obviously, products (such as Environmental Adapted Lubricants) and processes which do not denude or damage the environment. But it also implies long term economic viability; relationships of trust and integrity, both inside and outside the firm; and a continuing commitment to everyone associated with the business. We must build a sustainable future, not just for our own business but also for the global society.
Our Purpose
Since Benjamin Randall Vickers’ first trade in oils in 1828, each generation of the family has believed that the business has a purpose greater than merely creating personal wealth. Whilst the underlying motivation has been constant, the expression of purpose has evolved through the years.
John Vickers
