23 January 2014 Bill Stewart - The Weir Group - a history of Scottish Engineering
Thu, Jan 23rd 2014 at 12:00 am - 12:00 am
Rotarian Bill Stewart, President of Lanark Rotary, gave a talk on the 140 year history of the Weir Group.
President elect Peter Farr welcomed 2 visitors to last week's meeting.
The speaker was Rotarian Bill Stewart, President of the Rotary Club of Lanark, who gave a talk on the history of the Weir Group, from which he had recently retired after 40 years' service. Bill brought along a colleague from their days at the Weir Group, Archie Wilson.
Bill's illustrated talk traced the founding of G&J Weir in 1871 and noted that the 2 brothers, George and James, were direct descendants of Robert Burns. The group owed its initial development to the advent of steam driven ships and at one point had 90% of the world market in the pumps feeding ships' boilers. It also developed desalination plant, allowing ships to convert sea water to drinking water and a closed feed system which is still in use in power stations today.
The group set up its factory in Cathcart, Glasgow in 1886 and was at that time surrounded by major British companies. These companies have long since ceased to exist, apart from Weir Group which has managed to remain in business by innovation and changing to meet market needs. The start of the Great War saw Weir making artillery shells as munitions suppliers were unable to meet demand. At the end of WW1, Weir had a workforce of 4,000, of whom 50% were women. The Group was not without its problems and went through fairly difficult times in the late '60's and 70's and was close to liquidation in 1979 when their bank appointed a new chairman and the Group returned to profitability in 1982.
It currently has 3 divisions - Weir Minerals, Weir Oil and Gas and Weir Power and Industrial and is still headquartered in Glasgow and celebrated 140 years in business in 2011.
Wiesiek Chodyniecki gave the club's vote of thanks for a fascinating talk.
