Nurture is embedded in the very nature of midwife-turned-entrepreneur Lorna McFarlane. Just as she helped to give newborns their start in life in her previous career, she is now proudly steering the next generation on to a path that will grant them the jurisdiction to plot their own future – and that of the burgeoning Lanarkshire manufacturing firm that is her baby.
It may seem like a massive departure for Lorna to have gone from midwife and confidant to new mums, to becoming the savvy boss behind a gritty industrial plant that manufacturers cement mixers for the construction sector.
But she insists the roles have similarities. Both are emotional – and the end game is always to deliver the fruits of her labour to the recipient, and to be on hand to assist with any teething problems thereafter.
The world of concrete mixer manufacturing and repairs is one that was set in stone for Lorna.
Her late father, William McPhee, launched his own mixer making business, McPhee Mixers, 50 years ago on the Blantyre site her own company, Blantyre Fabrications, now occupies.
“As a five-year-old, I was fascinated by what my father made,” said Lorna, 55.
“As a child, these concrete mixers were massive machines that had so many moving parts, all contributing to getting concrete mixed and delivered to work sites. I’ve always said that mixer making is in my DNA.
“Growing up, I remember how important the business was to my father and the family. He lived and breathed the business, so I was used to an environment where work was the focus.”
McPhee Mixers was, for many years, Scotland’s only manufacturer of concrete mixers.
As well as producing bespoke mixers for individual operators, the firm also supplied some of the leading companies in the concrete mixing industry, including Cemex, Aggregate Industries, Hanson, Lafarge and Tarmac.
While her dad was establishing the business as one of the area’s biggest employers, Lorna embarked on a nursing career, qualifying in 1986 and going on to work for two years at a London hospital where she trained as a midwife.
On returning to Scotland, she was employed as a bank midwife at Rutherglen Maternity Hospital. With the average working week comprising both day and night shifts, it was an exhausting role that was unsustainable for any length of time.
That’s why, in 1992, Lorna’s dad suggested that she take her career in a new direction by joining him in the business.
Her mum, who was responsible for accounts and admin, showed her the ropes of the business’s back office function, and soon she was managing the wages of the 50-strong workforce, talking to customers and compiling new business quotations.
“You just know when something works for you, and concrete mixers and that whole business energised me back then and continues to do so today,” she said.
“Working alongside my father was such a bonus and I learned so much.”
Lorna met and married Brinsley McFarlane, who also entered the business, starting on the shop floor by learning how to operate the burning machines, and later calling on his sales background to give McPhee Mixers a foothold on the market south of the border.
“I cannot remember why I started to venture from the office down to the workshop,” pondered Lorna. “I just remember being quite comfortable down there.”
When Lorna’s dad, William, died in 2001, she and Brinsley took over the running of the enterprise he had created and built.
In 2012, the firm launched a series of design innovations, which management believed resulted in the production of Europe’s “safest, most environmentally-compliant mixers.”
Four years later, haulier Eddie Stobart ordered his first three cement mixers from the firm and was so delighted with the service that he named the shiny new machines after Lorna Ann and her daughters, Georgina Elise and Samantha Angelique, now aged 21 and 17.
By 2018, however, McPhee Mixers had grown to such an extent that the couple were finding it unmanageable.
“We survived the recession of 2008, which was horrific,” said Lorna, a once painfully shy midwife who is now confident and self-assured – a businesswoman secure in the knowledge that she’s in the right place.
“We did not have the money to put into the business. We thought we were going back to the house being on the line again. We just couldn’t do it. The only way for the business to move forward was for investors to come in and buy us.”
The successors retained Lorna and Brinsley as employees for 12 months and in May 2021, the new owners of McPhee Mixers vacated the 8000 sq.ft. of land and its 10 bays owned by Lorna and Brinsley, and relocated to Eurocentral. The move allowed Lorna to come back.
Integral to her decision to establish Blantyre Fabrications on the same site was proud boiler maker and plater, Alan Gordon, who had built an unrivalled knowledge of mixers in the 45 years since he was recruited by William McPhee. Alan and Lorna decided they’d give it a shot, and the first mixer rolled out of the plant in July last year.
Enjoying an enviable reputation for quality and customer care, suppliers and customers were eager to re-establish the working partnership they had shared previously with Lorna and her team.
Blantyre Fabrications now has a healthy order book and employs 21 members of staff, many of whom were hired by William – including main fitter of 30 years Jim Muldoon, whose sons James and Michael also now work for Blantyre Fabrications – and Matt Larkin, who has 35 years’ experience in fabrication.
As she walks through the workshop, it’s clear she commands huge respect among her employees – and she believes it’s her open and transparent approach that has won their admiration.
“I am honest with them. I talk to them,” she said. “They need to know what is going on. It’s important it’s not just the good stuff they hear. They need to understand the pressures on the business: what we are doing and why. Keeping them in the dark does not work.”
In the office she shares with operations director Niall McAlinden, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the business is one of its greatest assets, and “phenomenal” accounts manager Sharon O’Donnell, is a white board charting the progress of the eight mixers that are currently being built at the Blantyre plant. The machines are destined for locations as far afield as Orkney and Ireland, Carlisle and London.
In order to meet current and future demand, Lorna is keen to create at least 10 new jobs and reintroduced a night shift.
“I like to start new members of staff in ones and twos, so you get a chance to train them and bring them on before the next lot start,” she explained.
“Restarting manufacturing on our site means good career prospects for the local workforce. We do not want to be overly ambitious, but a workforce of 60 would be comfortable in here. I want someone who wants to work, someone who is hungry to learn and wants to be part of a team, and wants to take the business forward and grow within the company.
“My hard core are getting old. We are all in our 50s and 60s now. As well as those who are ex-McPhee, the others are newbies I found by putting the feelers out, and I just happened to get lucky with these young ones who stepped up to the plate. I need the older ones to teach the young ones, so that the young ones can step up and take this forward.
“They are a great team, but don’t get me wrong. I can shout like the best of them. I might shout and lose the rag, but I am then their friend. I believe you should be able to say what you want to say, and move on.”
Among the new young rising stars who’ve been hired in the past year are: 20-year-old Brendan Kennedy, of Hamilton; Nathan Kerr, 24, of Airdrie; Adam McGavin, 18, of Wishaw; Kevin McAteer, 24, from Blantyre; and 26-year-old Oskar Glinka, of Coatbridge.
Looking around at the facility she’s known since childhood and at the loyal workers whose hard graft has helped it to expand, it’s clear Lorna is emotional – and her belief that her dad would be proud of her achievements makes her eyes well with tears.
Although the business will always be close to her heart, she’s under no illusion that she’ll hang up her hi-vis vest in the not-too-distant future to spend more time at home on the outskirts of Lanark with her nine sheep, two cats, four dogs and the seven guinea fowl daughter Samantha hatched from eggs.
Referring to the workers whose combined experience exceeds 200 years, Lorna added: “I won’t be here in 10 years. All this is not for me – it’s for them. I have had my time. This is a legacy.”
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
