Martin celebrates 75 years with new community support scheme

2nd October 2019 By: Creamer Media Reporter

Martin celebrates 75 years with new community support scheme

Global leader in bulk handling equipment solutions Martin Engineering® is celebrating its
75th anniversary with a new scheme to encourage its employees to volunteer work time to help their local communities.

The company, founded in 1944 on a simple solution to improve industrial safety and productivity, has launched the Helping Communities Flourish initiative for employees across its Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEAI) region.

Reflecting the company’s vision to ‘ignite excellence so that families thrive and communities flourish’ the scheme gives each employee the opportunity to spend the equivalent of one day – individually or as a team – volunteering for a local good cause and earn a day’s pay doing it.

Depending on the skills required, examples could include helping to renovate a community village hall or create a communal sensory garden, taking part in an environmental clean-up or providing counselling / coaching. By the end of 2019, the aim is for the whole EMEAI region to have given 750 hours of support – that means more than half the workforce taking part. If it’s successful the initiative will run every year.

Area Vice President for EMEAI Robert Whetstone said: “Helping Communities Flourish reflects Martin Engineering’s approach to social responsibility. We believe businesses can bring both economic and social benefits to the communities where they operate. Many of our people already do great things for good causes. This initiative is designed to encourage them, whilst at the same time helping to bring colleagues together and enhancing their personal development.”

Around the world Martin Engineering is marking its 75th anniversary with local celebrations and promotions to share the success of a firm which has become synonymous with innovations in bulk materials processing that eliminate blockages, prevent spillages and reduce airborne material.

Established at the end of the second world war in Illinois, USA by Edwin F. Peterson – the father of current chairman Edwin H. Peterson – Martin Engineering has grown into a worldwide business. The firm has offices and operations across six continents yet has remained a family-owned business with strong family values.

The company’s inception came after Edwin F. Peterson, a foundry pattern maker, watched his co-workers struggle to overcome sand blockages on the foundry's mold-making machines by pounding the hoppers with hammers. He was troubled by the health and safety risks, equipment damage and loss of productivity that resulted.

Those concerns prompted him to design the Vibrolator®, an industrial vibrator which uses the rotation of a single steel ball in a hardened steel raceway, propelled by compressed air. Patented in 1949, it was the first in a long line of innovations introduced by Martin Engineering to solve problems in bulk materials handling.

One of the early milestones in the company’s history was the decision in the 1960s to start developing high-performance components for conveyors.  That catapulted Martin Engineering into a market leading position with a rich product line of belt cleaners, dust control products, transfer point solutions, safety components and many other innovations to improve bulk material handling.

After expanding overseas, Martin Engineering recognised that safety and productivity could be further improved through the knowledge and skills of those workers responsible for operating and maintaining processing plants. That gave rise to a commitment to invest heavily in education and training for its customers – a defining moment that led to the development of Martin Engineering’s internationally recognised Foundations® series of reference books and training programmes. First published in 1991, there are more than 20,000 print copies of the books in circulation around the world. The entire 500+ page volumes can be downloaded from the Martin Engineering web site.

Today Martin Engineering’s product portfolio includes the pioneering CleanScrape® conveyor belt cleaning system – the only product of its kind on the market – as well as next generation Air Cannons and Smart™ Series Nozzles which offer customers unrivalled ease of maintenance.

More recently, Martin’s solutions-driven approach has led to innovative services like the Mr Blade™ conveyor belt optimization programme. Mr Blade™ is a direct-to-site service to maintain and replace belt-cleaner blades – accurately specified, custom-fitted and regularly monitored. Already successful in the USA and UK, Mr Blade™ is now being launched across Europe as an efficient way to keep conveyor belts running at optimum performance and make the working environment a better place.

And in its 75th year Martin Engineering has expanded into the Middle East market, partnering with local specialists to bring its superior range of products to Oman and UAE for the first time.

Robert Whetstone says company culture has been a key factor in its long-term success: “The culture in Martin Engineering revolves around our vision ‘to ignite excellence so that families thrive and communities flourish’. When you join Martin Engineering there’s an immediate sense of family values, pride and togetherness. This spirit has allowed our people to build strong relationships with customers, local partners, distributors and contractors in every country we operate in.”

“We pride ourselves on developing bespoke solutions that address specific problems and that means we invest heavily in research and development. Our products speak for themselves in terms of precision design and manufacture, and are backed by our unmatched levels of customer service. Our hands-on approach to improving knowledge and skills among our customers’ workforce has helped us to build loyalty and a deep understanding of the evolving issues our customers face. It is rewarding to know we’re helping to improve health, safety and productivity for our customers.”

“Most important of all is our people. We believe that the best results begin with the best people –  we have a fantastic team around the world and we work hard to recognise to the importance and individuality of every employee on the Martin Engineering team.”