Filtermist has a number of employees which have worked for the business for a considerable amount of time. We recently marked 25-year anniversaries for two colleagues - Installation Team Leader Neil Morgan and Manufacturing Operative John Price.
Neil and John have both witnessed enormous changes since joining Filtermist at its previous home in Bridgnorth. When Neil joined the company in 1995, he was employee number 12 – Filtermist now employs more than 150 people and manufactures and maintains a number of other product brands including Dustcheck dust filters and Kerstar industrial vacuums.
“I was approached by one of the Directors of Filtermist who I knew through motocross who asked if I would join the company to apply the transfers to the Filtermist oil mist filters,” says Neil. “In those days we didn’t have stickers like we do now – each transfer had to be soaked in water before it could be applied. This took about 40 minutes for each unit, and when demand started increasing the company needed someone who was dedicated to that job.
“I spent about 12 months doing that and then moved onto the assembly line which I ended up running. We started offering servicing at weekends and after eight years in the factory I went out on the road full-time when Filtermist first set up its UK Service Division. Starting out in assembly means I know every inch of the Filtermist unit, how it’s constructed and how it works. This has stood me in good stead for my current role which involves overseeing a team of five installation engineers that operates across the whole of the UK.”
John began his career at Filtermist on the assembly line and then moved into manufacturing in 2006. He was taught on the job and spent the next fourteen years spot-welding the cases and drums of Filtermist units. John is currently back in assembly supporting the team there to ensure they meet the increasing demand from Filtermist’s global customer base.
In addition to Neil and John, Filtermist has several other employees who have worked in the business for more than 20 years, including CEO James Stansfield. “People ask me how I could stay at the same business for this length of time, but my answer’s always the same,” comments James. “The business is not the same as it was when I joined back in 1998 - it’s constantly evolved and grown. We have undergone a significant amount of change over the past five years, but in truth we have always been on this path. We have set up joint ventures overseas, grown our global distributor network to the point where our products are now sold into more than 60 countries worldwide, and taken on other companies which has enabled us to enter new markets.
“Our culture and the fact that we have retained the original ‘family feel’ of the business despite all of the changes and growth are also key factors in the reason I, and many of my colleagues, have chosen to stay with Filtermist.”
We regularly post vacancies on our news page and LinkedIn, but if you’re interested in joining Filtermist’s team, please email your CV to grouprecruitment@filtermist.com with a cover letter.
Image caption l-r: John Price and Neil Morgan