“One morning I went out as a schoolboy and came back in employment. Two weeks later, I’d left school altogether!”
As we draw close to the end of our 60th year, we need to recognise another incredible Mowden milestone. This winter we’re about to celebrate something extraordinarily rare in any industry – the 50th anniversary of three of our most loyal and longest serving team members here at Mowden. Val, Maxine and Neil all started their Mowden journeys at 16: fresh-faced, just out of school and with no experience in electronics. They jumped at the chance to join a modern workplace. Through floods, new factories and decades of growth in Northallerton, they’ve (almost) seen it all.
Val explained that she heard about Mowden from the careers office in Northallerton: “I had an interview and then got the job!” Val was the only one who had entered the world of work before coming to Mowden, stacking shelves at Tesco on a Saturday. Maxine said that she got the job on recommendation from her friend Carol, a former employee who told her there were some vacancies. “She said it was a lovely place to work, so I came to work here!” Val and Maxine both started their journeys as assembly operators.
Neil’s story is slightly different. One morning at school he attended a careers assembly informing students surrounding a new opportunity. “I decided I’d go along for an interview. Got offered the job, accepted the job. I only spent three hours at school that day!”
“I did physics at A-level, but I didn’t really know what the industry involved.” Neil said, “It wasn’t even mentioned at school!” Once employed, all three returned to education to brush up on their electrical engineering knowledge, achieving their ONC and HNC qualifications at Darlington and Teesside Polytechnic (now Tees Uni!), “9am to 9pm… they were long days.”
Since then, they have all climbed the ranks and have held senior positions. Val is now a team leader, Maxine moved up to head of testing but now wears many hats, including testing, booking, planning and helping put on our coveted Macmillan Coffee mornings! Neil started as a test engineer then shifted from design and senior design engineer, quality manager, then finally taking the leap to become our technical director. Their deep understanding of the industry through the years has been imperative to Mowden’s continued success and something not all SMEs can proclaim.
All agreed that the development of modern computing has made their jobs easier and harder in a lot of ways. Val recalls having to cycle back and forth between the factory and Bell’s Copy shop to bring diagrams and designs as the company didn’t have a copying machine. “Everything’s got smaller!” Maxine exclaimed, referring to the size of modern components. Through-hole assembly was the primary way of assembling circuit boards in the 1960s. It wouldn’t be until the 80s that surface mount was adopted for smaller components. We still do through-hole assembly here at Mowden as there are projects that require the extra strength in hazardous environments, an area we know well.
Neil explains that not only has technology improved but the standards to which work is held has been too. “When I first started, you could draw something on a piece of paper, make it, and sell it. Now you must have CE marking, UKCA marking and all sorts of legislation that you must comply with,” showing off some of the first drawings and schematics we had written up. Flicking through the old test logs (that date back to January 1970!) shows how much painstaking detail went into neatly documenting each stage of the process. Now we use 3D AOI on all SMT assemblies and have a rigorous testing team to carry it all out!
Mowden’s first site was the old station master’s house right next to the trainline that runs at the top end of town. All three reminisced about the times that Northallerton flooded, and our first site being inaccessible. “I had to crawl along a wall into the ground floor to get in because of the floods!”, thankfully no electronics were harmed in the event! Since then, we’ve moved over to our own purpose-built factory. It’s only down the road from the old one – we just love Northallerton too much!
Tracerco’s Profilers are another highlight – huge systems whose production has spanned both factories and are still made to this day! “We started building them in the garage at the old building. They we’re so long we had to have an extension built to fit them in there!” All agreed that the fact they’ve spent fifty years in the same company is a testament to the great working environment here at Mowden. “I think that’s a massive standout.”
Between them, Neil, Maxine and Val have seen Mowden grow from that cosy station master’s house all the way up to a modern factory, serving customers all around the world. Their stories are a reminder that behind all our technology now lies decades of people trying – people who show up, learn and adapt with innovation. As we welcome in the next generation of talent through Mowden’s door, we’re proud that they can build on the foundations laid by these 16-year-olds who decided to give Mowden a go.
If you’ve ever crossed paths with Val, Maxine or Neil, it’d be great to hear about your memories with them!
Here’s to 50 years!