Jim Jamieson of
engineering firm
Eraba has survived
enough corporate
ups and downs to
last a lifetime, says
Colin McSeveny
'My work is also my hobby, and one thing is sure -- there will be no
more sell-outs, no more parent companies, no more shotgun marriages'
Jim Jamieson
JIM JAMIESON swears the only way he relaxes is by watching Hearts play
football, which may help to explain his perverse delight in doing things
the hard way.
Though barely 40, the managing director of Livingston-based Eraba, one
of Scotland's top engineering sub-contractors, has seen enough corporate
ups and downs to last a lifetime.
In its 12 years of existence Eraba has shrugged off the collapse of
its two main clients, survived successive ownership changes, and
prospered despite the latest recession.
''In fact the company was born during the previous slump of the early
eighties,'' says Jamieson, ''and it is all the more satisfying that we
have managed to weather everything that has been thrown at us.''
One of the few locals to run a major company in the sprawling new
town, his non-stop enthusiasm for the job was not dimmed by a heart
attack three years ago.
He is disarmingly frank about what the future may hold. ''I still work
too hard and am still overweight, but my whole life revolves around this
company, so I don't see that I can do very much about it,'' he says,
sipping from a can of diet Irn Bru, one of his few concessions to a
diet.
The company has dominated Jamieson's life since 1981 when he and an
older partner set it up on Houston industrial estate, mainly to service
the British Leyland truck and tractor plant at nearby Bathgate.
Within a few years Leyland Bathgate had joined the growing list of
Scottish industrial collapses, and Eraba, which specialises in metal
presswork and toolmaking, had to scramble frantically to find
alternative clients to make up for the abrupt loss of a massive 80% of
its business.
The rapidly expanding electronics sector provided the answer, and
Unisys, also based in Livingston, was targeted with great success. But
Jamieson, already once bitten, also made sure that the company
diversified enough to guarantee there was no repeat of the
near-dependency on Leyland.
Just as well, because the American group eventually pulled its
production out of Scotland last year.
Jamieson, a burly extrovert whose father worked in the mines,
explains: ''We had learned our lessons by then, and our range of
customers was such that we were able to absorb the loss without too much
difficulty. In fact, the ownership
set-up was rather more of a worry then.''
In 1986 Eraba had been taken over by Telmag of Hamilton, after
Jamieson's partner decided to sell out to secure an early retirement
deal.
With the benefit of hindsight, the younger man says: ''Not rustling up
enough cash to buy his share of the business was the biggest mistake of
my life. Though I remained a major shareholder and managing director, my
hands were tied.''
The bulk of the Eraba profits were funnelled back to the parent group,
a complete reversal of the previous five years, during which the owners
had taken pride in reinvesting most of the revenue in the company they
had founded.
Alerted last summer by the news that the Hamilton company was
considering selling off its profitable subsidiary, he
decided to take the plunge and began looking around for financial
backing.
He says: ''September 24 last year will always stick in my mind,
because that was the day that I bought back most of the shares and again
took complete control.''
Venture capital group 3i took 20% of Eraba, leaving Jamieson (with
some assistance from his bank) with the remainder in a deal thought to
have been worth around #1.5m.
''Not bad considering we started the firm with only #5000 each,'' he
says, ''and all the couple of million pounds worth of investment put in
since then has been supplied basically through earnings.''
A time-served tool-maker himself, Jamieson is clearly proud of the
firm's workmanship as he wanders through the 60,000 sq.ft workshop,
which produces everything from glorified washers at 10p each to complex
pieces of equipment worth #50,000.
The most complex pieces are produced to specification from computer
designs fed in by a telephone line direct from the customers' software.
Jamieson, who takes a straight #50,000 salary, says: ''Aside from pure
engineering we are also component manufacturers, and this allows us to
offer start-up companies a helping hand with their entire assembly
operations.''
Eraba's 120 workers, assisted by the latest in laser and
computer-aided machinery, can turn their hands to virtually anything.
The parts they make end up in a bewildering variety of machines and
finished products -- security systems, water pumps, automated bank
telling machines, weighbridges, petrol pumps, switching gear, generating
motors -- all manner of gadgets can depend on an Eraba-made part.
''We'll make anything you want, quicker and better than anyone else
around here. That is why we are still alive and kicking,'' says
Jamieson.
A manager who manages through gut-instinct with little time for
business school theories, the clutter in his office testifies to his
well-known aversion to paperwork.
He says: ''Right from when I started as an apprentice, I was always
ambitious and found little difficulty in moving from being a worker to a
boss.''
Hard work, and the quality displayed by a workforce that shares
directly in the profits
of the company are the main
ingredients behind Eraba's suc
cess -- and, of course, Jamieson himself all but sleeps in the office.
Luck has also played a part, he acknowledges, pointing to the export
breakthrough which resulted from the Unysys purchasing manager's
decision to quit and move back to the US when the company closed its
Livingston operations.
He took his high regard for Eraba's products with him -- the result
has been a steady stream of orders from his new company.
From virtually zero exports in 1991, Eraba sold around a quarter of
its products abroad last year, and as much as 50% of this year's
projected sales total of #4.5m could go overseas.
As he speaks, Jamieson stands in a newly cleared space which is
destined to hold a #400,000 Japanese-built automatic transfer robotic
press,
one of only a handful in the United Kingdom.
He says: ''I haven't got one
single order for this machine
yet, but I am sure it will soon
pay its way and, anyway, there
is no standing still in this
game.''
As to the future, Jamieson sees his immediate aim as increasing
turnover to #6m, a move which would probably result in new work for
another 30 people.
With a steely determination only the brave would question, he says:
''My work is also my hobby, and one thing is sure -- there will be no
more sell-outs, no more parent companies, no more shotgun marriages.''
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