10 Dec Stuart Martin Reflects on 40 Years at Gray & Adams

At Gray & Adams, we are proud of our people and the lifelong career opportunities we can offer them. Testament to this, the business has many long-serving members of staff who have been with us for years. We caught up with Stuart Martin, Sales Director of Gray and Adams Ireland as he reflects on his 40-year career with the company.

Q: What first attracted you to Gray & Adams back in the early days of your career?

I began my career working for the local Mercedes Benz truck distributor for Northern Ireland in the mid 1980’s and purchased equipment from Harry McEwan, the original Managing Director of Gray & Adams Ireland. He encouraged me to apply for the sales role and whilst I did not know much about the company, I was impressed with a very high-quality product that was so much better than any competitor.

The fact that I had the whole of Ireland as a sales territory gave me huge potential at such a young age. It was too good an opportunity to miss!

Q: How have you evolved in your career during your time with the company?

Harry was “old school”, very capable, experienced, firm in his approach but fair and generous. In the early years you had to learn quickly, absorb a lot of detail and deal with a wide variety of customers. Looking back, it was a tough environment but a great experience. Learning so much at an early age and being given a large amount of personal autonomy equipped me for the latter years.

Q: Do you have a career highlight?

I can’t really think of a single highlight but rather a series events that led me to a 40-year career.  Naturally any job over such a time span has its ups and downs, I worked with Billy Dougan who was the Managing Director for 25 years and he built a great team of people, we had plenty of fun to make up for the difficult days, and the months and years rolled by.

Q: Which innovation or development has had the biggest impact on your work?

We had the change from 24 pallet to 26 pallet capacity at the end of the 1990 and that gave a welcome boost. The development of multi temperature refrigeration units created a new dimension and changed how we configured and sold rigid bodies as well as trailers.

In the early years most of the trailers sold for the Irish market were meat railers to serve a thriving export market, the move towards vacuum packed, individual portions ready for the supermarket shelves radically changed the type of trailer and market we sold to. As new ranges of food products were developed, legislative changes meant that much of it had to be delivered in a temperature-controlled environment and this also widened our scope and customer base.

Double deckers were gaining popularity and whilst my colleagues in GB enjoyed success with that product, it did not always suit our market in Ireland, so we continued to refine and update conventional rigid and trailer products whilst keeping an eye on latest developments.

I am open minded about the current developments in transport refrigeration, many new products such as axle drive, battery storage, units being powered by solar panels etc have come to the market, some will succeed and other will fall by the wayside. The key for us is to continually change and adapt to the market conditions.

Q: Is there any person who has influence your career most within the business?

Perhaps I have answered part of this already having worked with Harry and Billy.

I have always been interested in people, what their job entails, what their company does and how it all fits.  Having worked with such a wide variety of people in the food and haulage industry I have met some fantastic characters and many knowledgeable and great people.

All of those experiences and knowledge help shape you and how you interact within the industry.

Q: What keeps you motivated after 40 years?

When I was 19, I met the Leyland truck salesman, yes Leyland, not DAF, it was that long ago. He was battle hardened, very sceptical and treated the customers as the enemy, I resolved in my mind that if it was that bad then I shouldn’t do it, thankfully I have had many positive experiences, I like my job, enjoy the industry and the people I interact with. I have many long-standing business relationships and that is encouraging.

I went to a truck show a couple of months ago, it was full of amazing vehicles all in showroom condition, when I walked out of the exhibition centre, I remarked that I had enjoyed looking at everything and spending time with lots of people I knew. From my teenage years until now and to be involved in something you still enjoy is a tremendous motivator

Q: What advice would you give to colleagues at the beginning of their journey with the company?

There is an adage that I heard in America “Stick and Stay and make it Pay”, and my school reports stated that “Stuart continues to make steady progress”, so my advice to anyone embarking upon any career is to try and choose something you like, you don’t have to make meteoric progress, just make steady progress, don’t burn out , stick with it and usually it will get you towards your goal.

Hard work, determination and effort spells – Success.

Q: What are your final thoughts?

There is a photograph in the Fraserburgh reception of Jim Gray & Jim Adams, that photograph brings back fond memories, I consider myself fortunate to have worked during their era and subsequently for the Gray family, the company is an industry leader with an enviable reputation, and I am part of that success.