Tameside talks business podcast host Dave Sweeton recently spoke with Lynn Kerfoot MBE – Managing Director of Newland Engineering.
Lynn Kerfoot, MBE, will celebrate her 50th anniversary with Newland Engineering next year and it will mark a landmark achievement of a life spent working in the manufacturing and engineering world, a world certainly associated as a male-dominated domain.
Lynn joined the business in September 1975 and was was the very first woman in the organisation.
Her father worked in manufacturing at the time and Lynn says he was quite concerned that at 19, she was entering a male-dominated world.
“He was aware of some of the reactions female staff got where he worked when they were on the shop floor,” says Lynn.
“But never once has anyone been any less than one hundred per cent respectful to me from day one in the business.”
Years later, her experience as the boss was slightly different. When she became an owner and MD at Newland, she would often answer the phone;
“When I said I was the MD or owner, some put the phone down. They disconnected the call because they could not believe it was a woman who was heading up the business,” says Lynn.
On such calls others would say they wanted to speak with the managing director, and ask what ‘his’ name was. That was more than a decade ago now and Lynn says things have moved on, while all the businesses and suppliers she deals with are ‘wonderful’ and ‘respectful’.“ I’ve never looked at being a woman in the industry as being anything other than being one of the team really,” adds Lynn.
Newland design, build and export industrial conveyors, including standard belt conveyors, multi-telescopic conveyors and ‘fully mobile’ belt conveyors, plus specialist conveyors for system integration and bespoke applications, such as glass handling and railcar loading.
Lynn explains that the present site has been extended with a storage area for fleet hire machines.
“I don’t know how we managed with the one unit we used to have, because we managed to do fabrication and welding, painting and assembly all in the one bay, whereas now we use multiple bays.
“We design all our products in-house and are still manufacturing the very first telescopic conveyor that Cecil designed, which still has a place in the market-place,” adds Lynn.
“It remains a popular workhorse, which is incredible when you think about technology and how things have changed. Products have evolved, but the principle of the machine is still the same.”
Newland are proud to be suppliers to big distribution centres including Asos and Boohoo and before Covid were delighted to manufacture a machine for Boeing – actually delivered during the pandemic.
“Our first auto loaders were in the 1990s but they have advanced since then. We have a lot of local businesses that we deal with and it’s not only in parcel distribution, but we also have machines that handle tyres, mattresses, divans, flat packed furniture – we are not limited to any sectors,” says Lynn.
Newland refurbish machines for companies to use, offering service and repair and export to a total of 67 countries.
“We have a lot of repeat business from Nigeria, Bangladesh and Yemen. The machines operate in arduous environments there and some are over 25 years old, but they keep working if regularly maintained.”