As the economy starts to emerge from recession, we at Glaston would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your business and support. It has been a turbulent period for the UK manufacturing industry but we are hopeful and optimistic that there are some promising signs of UK manufacturing starting to come through.

At Glaston we are working from a solid and stable base. Our enhanced design, technical team and service department offers our customers the strongest possible support. Over the last 30 years our ethos remains unchanged; to deliver total customer satisfaction and to maintain and develop long working relationships with our customers. Our strong work ethic and family values have been passed down and we strongly believe this has contributed to our longevity where other companies have come and gone.

Our commitment and exceptional service has resulted in a large number of long standing clients. We build excellent relationships with our customers, ensuring their plant remains reliable at all times. One of our longest standing customers of over 25 years, Crown Speciality Packaging, comments -

“We have a preventative maintenance plan with Glaston to ensure maximum reliability in our plant. The team of service engineers at Glaston ensure our factory is running as efficiently and effectively as possible, through regular plant reviews and ongoing support. This is an invaluable service which has formed an intrinsic part of our business over the past 25 + years.”
Mr Peter Hindley, Crown Speciality Packaging UK, Bootle
We offer our customers the very best in design, product and service to ensure energy savings and cost-efficiency across their operations. None of this would be achievable without the experience and commitment of our dedicated team who continue to respond to the increasing demands in the market place.

We continue to invest in our people and facilities and believe this will continue to put Glaston in a strong competitive position in the supply of energy saving compressed air, vacuum, blower and chilled water applications to industry.

Michael Douglas- Under the Spotlight

Over the last year you have heard from our longest standing members of the team to our newest. This time we put our Managing Director, Michael Douglas under pressure.

Michael has been at the helm of Glaston for a number of years and we thought it was time to get to know him a little better…

Q1. What is your earliest memory of Glaston?

A1: My earliest memory of Glaston is actually the same as my first ever memory. I must have been 3 or 4 years old and I remember going into work with my Dad’s lunch and bumping into one of the engineers (who coincidently only retired last year).
My second earliest memory is staring at a nude calendar in Glaston’s workshop and getting pulled away by my Mum whilst she told my Dad off. It’s safe to say that in the modern workplace, calendars like that are very rare and they certainly won’t be an issue when my kids come into work to see me.

Q2. What has been your greatest challenge in life so far?

A2: Convincing my wife to marry me! Since the birth of my little girl I suspect that moving forward, my biggest challenge will be bringing her up to have the same values that I try to follow in my life.

Q3. Before taking over from your father you worked in London following your degree. Did this help you in your current role and what experiences did you bring with you?

A3: After university I decided to try my hand at working in a different environment to see what working life outside of Glaston would entail. I was very fortunate to get a graduate job with a well known American firm and I found the way they worked transferred well to Glaston where we encourage people to be open minded and foster ideas to drive us forward. I also met a lot of very interesting people from all around the world which was inspiring, many of which I keep in touch with today.

Q4. You have a very strong work ethic, is this something that was instilled from an early age by your father?

A4: Yes. When my father started Glaston we didn’t see a great deal of him. My Mum still goes on about the early days when my father left the house at 5 or 6 am and did not get home till after midnight. He also worked most weekends to support the growth and development of Glaston. I really respect and admire how hard my father worked and appreciate the sacrifices he made to build the business.

Q5. As you mentioned you recently became a father yourself, if Sophie wants to take over from you in 25 years time is there any advice you would give her that perhaps your father gave to you?

A5: Work hard and treat people with respect. This would be my advice regardless of whether she chooses to work in this industry or not. As they say the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary!

Q6. What do you think has changed the most in the 31 years of Glaston?

A6: As with all companies that have been going for a long time it is probably the use of technology. In 1979 when Glaston first started there were no computers or mobile phones. I think we forget what life was like before technology became such a huge part of our everyday life.

Q7: Your father is very well thought of by the Glaston team and the Glaston customers. When you retire how would you like to be remembered?

A7: Hopefully fondly as somebody who always tried to do the right thing at the right time and was prepared to work hard.

Q8. Glaston has weathered a number of recessions, what would you say are the reasons for its success?

A8: I would like to think that the high level of service provided by Glaston is the key that has helped us to move forward through these difficult economic times. We strive to offer bespoke solutions to all our customers, providing service and support that meets, or ideally exceeds, customer expectations in an efficient and cost effective way. We strive to establish good channels of communication enabling us to have open and trusting working relationships and I take a great deal of pleasure that most of our customers have come via recommendations.

Q9. You work a lot of long hours, what do you enjoy to do in any spare time you have?

A9: I mainly spend time with my family and friends and if I am lucky I may chase a small white golf ball around for 4 hours at a time…

Q10. If you could tell people some things about Glaston that they wouldn’t know, what would they be?

A10: That Glaston has been established since 1979 and is still a family owned, fully independent company. Glaston is one of the oldest and largest HPC distributors in the UK.

Q11. If you could tell people some things about yourself that they wouldn’t know, what would they be?

A11: I love sci-fi and always wanted to be a spaceman. My wife would also say that I have a very sweet tooth and find it very difficult to resist chocolate, biscuits or cake.

Q12. What does the future hold for Glaston?

A12: Working with my team I would like to build on Glaston’s success over the past 31 years, but not at the expense of stability. We are currently in a very challenging economic market and our key focus is servicing our current clients. Progression of the business relies on finding new work that builds on our varied customer base.
As a business we need to promote our success and ability so that we are recognised everywhere for being the best in the compressor market