WITH only a few weeks left until the closing date for entries to the
1995 Renfrewshire Business Awards, one company looking to add to its
already well-stocked trophy cabinet is Peak Scientific, an industrial
air compressor distributor based in Paisley on a trading estate off the
M8.
In only two years its 30-year-old managing director, Robin MacGeachy,
has turned the family business into the third largest distributor of
high-purity gas generators in the world.
When Robin MacGeachy was handed the reins of the company by his father
he foresaw an explosion of activity within the field of laboratory
gases, and steered Peak Scientific into pole position to take advantage
of the ensuing scramble to have gases supplied in generator form rather
than from cylinders.
He explains: ''We realised that the market could become large and to
that end we embarked on a mission to appoint distributors of our product
throughout the world. The response was amazing and we were in the
fortunate position of having to decide which distributor to appoint from
11 companies in Taiwan, three in India, five in Korea and many more in
Europe.
''It was vital to ensure distributors of our product were good quality
companies and we did a lot of groundwork with them before taking them on
board. To date we have appointed 62 distributors world-wide.''
The company's balance sheet reflects the vast expansion in its
business. During the two-year period with MacGeachy at the helm, Peak
Scientific increased its turnover from #150,000 to the present #2m per
annum. The projection for the millennium is that the Paisley company
will continue this growth.
Peak Scientific has already enjoyed considerable success in a number
of business competitions, including runner-up in the Scottish Marketing
Awards and has indicated its desire to enter two categories in the
up-and-coming Renfrewshire Business Awards on May 25 in Paisley.
The local enterprise company has a close relationship with Peak
Scientific and is currently seconding a business development executive
to provide management support. Renfrewshire Enterprise has also
engineered the placement of four graduates within the company, three of
whom have gone on to become full-time members of staff.
However, the next three months will record a period of even greater
change when Peak Scientific begins production of its own hydrogen
generators.
Robin MacGeachy adds: ''For some time we have been working towards
establishing a manufacturing base at Paisley. We see this as a logical
development of the distribution side of our business and will allow us
to provide a better quality product, cheaper than that of our
competitors, to our customers.''
The move into manufacturing will see the 20-strong workforce increase
by four initially, and also herald a move to a bigger facility.
For Robin MacGeachy, the man driving the company through the
transition, it'll be a case of keeping his passport at the ready. Last
year he spent around five months out of the country. This year's diary
looks pretty hectic as well.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article