News

By Raymond Shepherd, Technical Sales Engineer

The person who inspired me to become an engineer was my father, James Shepherd. He had originally trained as a sowing machine engineer and worked at the Singer sowing machine factory in Clydebank, before moving to the new car factory at Linwood and retraining to become a die setter. My father new all things mechanical. He maintained and repaired his own car, he stripped down and rebuilt watches and clocks, he repaired all the lawnmowers for friends and family, he was a genuine all-rounder, and nothing phased him.

From the age of 14, I was swapping out car engines with my father – there was nothing we couldn’t do, and we had great fun doing it.

I was very lucky, I left school at 16 with no qualifications, but apprenticeships were plentiful and I had a choice of three or four. Eventually, I chose Govan shipbuilders as a mechanical marine engineer. It was a fantastic apprenticeship that covered a wide range of topics that provided a broad engineering skill set that set you up well for a career in engineering. The shipyard introduced me to steam as one of the contracts was a major overhaul of a large bulk carrier that was steam-driven. I was fascinated by engineering and its history and today I continue to work in a business that has its own proud steam heritage originally on the Clyde and now serving the whole UK.

Steam powered the Industrial Revolution and now, more than a hundred years on, it is still depended on by the medical, pharmaceutical, food, paper, process and many other sectors. Steam has been ever present for the past hundred years and I believe will still be here in another hundred years’ time.

Engineering is such a broad term and encompasses so many different skill sets. At James Ramsay, we have coded welders, we have mechanical engineers, we have pipe fitters, we have heating engineers, we have electrical engineers, and we have service engineers, all of this team have served apprenticeships. They have completed the four or five years it takes to become a journeyman, the term widely used to describe the engineer who has served his or her time and become the one who now passes on the skills to the next generation of young people entering the trade. We have one female gas service engineer, and this shows there are no barriers to entering the trade.

My older son Gary served his time with James Ramsay as a heating engineer and attended Glasgow University to complete his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is now the Managing Director. My younger son Jamie served his time as an electrical engineer and then retrained as a gas service engineer. He is now the Service Director.

Having worked at James Ramsay as an engineer, an operations director, a managing director, a chairman and now, in my semi-retirement, a humble sales engineer, I have immense pride in seeing a good number of young men and older men make the move into engineering at the business, we still have a good number of engineers who served their time at the business and remain with the company to this day. Adult apprenticeships were a fantastic way of offering older lads and young men a route into the trade when they possibly feared they had missed the opportunity. We have an older gentleman, Malcolm Aitken, moving towards the end of his career who took the adult apprenticeship route well over 20 years ago and we have a younger chap, Colin Bright, who completed his adult training around five years ago and who continues to go from strength to strength. We currently have five or six young apprentices and a commitment from the directors to continue with this recruitment plan.

During my time at James Ramsay, we have been involved in some fantastic projects and I have been lucky to visit places and sites that are of extreme interest. I have been inside most of HM prisons in Scotland, I have walked across the Forth Rail bridge, I have visited nuclear power stations, I have been in the main naval bases around Scotland, I have been in hydroelectric plants, I have been on steam ships on the Clyde, Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine, and I have been in some incredible historic buildings.

We have taken on some great projects throughout the years, including new steam boilers being lowered in through the roof of The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow, numerous steam boiler installations at distilleries throughout Scotland such as Glen Goyne, Bunnahabhain, Kilchoman, Ardnahoe, Glenfarclas and many others. We are currently installing four new steam boilers in Glasgow’s Barlinnie prison, and we recently completed a project to remove water from the river Clyde for a ground-breaking heat recovery project at Clydebank.

We have a rich history of great engineers from Scotland such as John Loggie Baird (the TV), Thomas Telford (Caledonian Canal), Robert Stevenson (designer of lighthouses) and of course James Watt (the steam engine). Engineering is a fantastic trade that is essential to keeping the wheels of industry turning.

Our operations director, Ian Mathieson, has successfully completed the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

He said: “Safety is always a top priority at James Ramsay, and it’s brilliant to have access to the world-class training and professional development available from NEBOSH to ensure we continue to champion and inspire the world of work to be a safer, healthier environment for us all.”

The NEBOSH National General Certificate is the gold standard in health and safety qualifications.

It has been designed to reflect the needs of today’s employer, providing learners everything they need to know and do to make their workplace safer by helping to minimise workplace injuries and illness, boost employee wellbeing and demonstrate commitment to health and safety.

Course content covers:

• How to effectively manage health and safety
• How to identify and control common workplace hazards
• How to measure if you’ve been successful
• The UK’s key legal requirements

The NEBOSH National General Certificate has been accredited and credit rated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and involves a minimum of 68 taught hours and approximately 40 hours of private study and background reading.

More than 50,000 people take a NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) qualification every year. The scheme’s health, safety and environmental qualifications are globally recognised and taken by people working in all types of industries, as well as national and local government organisations.

Find out more about NEBOSH here.

We’re delighted to announce the appointment of Clyde Marwick as our People Director at James Ramsay, who comes to us through our relationship and support from Nevis.

Clyde will operate as a trusted advisor to our business, developing our people strategies to help us transform and grow. He will oversee all people-based plans for us at both a strategic and tactical level, and apply a strong commercial edge to help enable us to deliver on our long-term vision and business plan.

Gary Shepherd, managing director at James Ramsay, said: “As we continue to expand and look at ways to improve our people and our business, I’m looking forward to working with Clyde to mentor, support and develop our leadership team.

“His support will also be invaluable to our induction and on-boarding process, helping all our new recruits to settle in quicker as well as accelerating our development and coaching programmes for existing team members.”

At a practical level, Clyde will get to know our team and build a relationship with the business, reviewing all our people policies and standards, and closing any gaps. He will also be supporting us to evolve the appraisal and people development process.

Ian Buchan, Partner at Nevis, said: “Developing the people in our businesses is at the heart of what we do at Nevis.  Clyde has a wealth of experience, including 15 years as HR Director at Baxters Food Group, and we think he will be an excellent addition to the team at James Ramsay.  He will ensure that we have a tailored and structured approach to supporting and developing the team – enabling people to enjoy their roles and achieve their potential.”

As the business continues to grow, keep an eye on our careers page for all the current opportunities to join the team: https://jamesramsayltd.co.uk/careers/

We’re thrilled to announce the appointment of Chris Hopper as Contracts Manager, a newly created role that will support the continued growth of our business.

Chris’ vast experience will enhance our existing project management capabilities, providing expert oversight and risk mitigation to ensure compliance with contractual deliverables and obligations. Chris will bring invaluable insights, whilst assisting in streamlining processes and fostering strong relationships with our clients and partners.

Chris is joined by a new trainee estimator, Darren McLaren, who will be supporting our expanding mechanical project portfolio.

Darren brings a fresh perspective and enthusiasm to our team. With his keen eye for detail and eagerness to learn, we are confident he will excel in his new role and contribute significantly to our projects and continued growth.

Ian Mathieson, Business Director at James Ramsay, said: “As our company continues to expand, we recognise the importance of nurturing fresh talent and bringing in individuals who are eager to learn and adapt to our innovative approaches.

“Both of these strategic additions to our team will help us maintain the highest standards of quality, efficiency, and accountability, driving our continued success in the industry.”

Earlier in the spring, we launched our first customer survey to gather feedback and insights that would help us to improve the way we work with other businesses and organisations throughout our project delivery and full engagement process.

We wanted to use this survey to benchmark our performance and customer service levels, and we’re delighted to report that we have achieved a Net Promoter Score of 9.3.

Gary Shepherd, managing director at James Ramsay said: “We always aim to go above and beyond for our customers by empowering our team to deliver safety, quality and value at the highest standards. But we’re never complacent, and we’re always looking for ways to improve what we do and how we do it.

“We’re really pleased with feedback received through this survey, and we’re grateful to everyone who took the time to complete it.”

We’ll be expanding the survey through the year, and look forward to hearing from more of our customers – constructive criticism is always welcome, and we’re taking on board the feedback to ensure we continually improve what our business offers the marketplace.

Following a particularly rigorous audit that was carried out over the course of four consecutive days, we’re thrilled to announce that we have successfully retained our certifications for:

• ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
• ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System
• ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health & Safety Management System

Ian Mathieson, Business Director at James Ramsay, said: “This accomplishment reaffirms our unwavering commitment to upholding the highest standards in quality management and operational excellence and a promise of quality to our clients and partners.

“We’re proud to be able to continue delivering our outstanding services and innovative solutions that meet the rigorous requirements of these ISO international standards. We look forward to setting even higher benchmarks and achieving further greater success together.”

The ISO standards are accepted across the world as evidence that you meet global standards of best practice by adhering to legal and regulatory requirements.

As our business continues to grow and evolve, we recognise the importance of not only expanding our team, but also enhancing our management structure to support this growth effectively. As a result, we’re delighted to announce the promotion of two key members of our team.

We’re excited to introduce these two new strategic supervisor roles which have been designed to further bolster our existing teams, ensuring we can scale our operations while maintaining the high standards of service that our clients expect and deserve.

Paul Hamilton has been promoted from Mechanical Foreman to Mechanical Supervisor, and Allan R MacIsaac has been promoted from Service Foreman to Service Supervisor.

Ian Mathieson, Business Director at James Ramsay said: “I’m delighted to announce these two very well-deserved promotions, which are a testament to the hard work, dedication, and significant contributions these individuals have made to the wider team.

“We look forward to seeing their continued positive impact on  both our mechanical projects and service and maintenance offerings, along with their own personal growth in these new roles.”

Paul has been a pivotal part of our mechanical operations team, showcasing his wealth of expertise in the field during the past six years. In his new role as Mechanical Supervisor, Paul will continue to support our mechanical operations and will take on additional responsibilities focusing on project management delivery. His expertise will be invaluable in assisting with guiding our projects from initial inception through to successful execution, ensuring we meet our strategic objectives and maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety.

Allan MacIsaac is one of our most technically experienced engineers within our service and maintenance team. Having worked his way up through the ranks in our business, having joined us 15 years ago, Allan is an excellent operator with a fantastic range of experience in some of the most challenging environments. He is also a great mentor to our next generation of apprentices coming through.

Ian continued: “The introduction of these strategic supervisor roles is a proactive step towards strengthening our operational capabilities. As our project portfolio expands, the complexity and scope of our work increases exponentially. These supervisor roles will provide essential operational support, ensuring our teams remain aligned with our core objectives and continue to deliver exceptional outcomes.”

As a forward-thinking business, we are continually, and proactively, looking at strategies to develop, expand and improve our service delivery. Our people are key to this, and we are committed to their continuous improvement and promoting excellence in all aspects of operations.