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WEIR SLURRY GROUP, INC. history
WEIR SLURRY GROUP, INC. company history timeline
Born in 1842 in Airdrie, James Weir was only a boy when he went to Glasgow to serve an apprenticeship with Randolph Elliot & Co., which later grew into the noted shipbuilder Randolph Elder.
That technology was then applied on land and in 1882, the company built its first large-scale desalination plant for the Safaga Phosphate Company in Egypt.
In 1886, the company purchased a site in Cathcart, then a small village located next to Glasgow, and set up a small workshop, foundry, and smithy.
Weir also became interested in the automotive industry, and rushed out several prototypes in time for a race in 1904.
In 1906, the launch of HMS Dreadnought made all previous battleships obsolete overnight.
Jimmy was an aviation pioneer, earned his pilot’s licence in 1912 and became first a brigadier in the Royal Flying Corps before converting to air commodore when the RAF was formed.
Weir's diversification took on steam especially after James's son William Weir took over as head of the company in 1912.
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George personally invited William Weir to join his Ministry of Munitions in 1915.
The second was the Argus Foundry, which had been launched in Thornliebank, Glasgow, in 1920, and specialized in the production of iron and nonferrous castings.
His 1926 report reorganised the electricity supply industry and created the National Grid.
His enthusiasm for flight led to Weir’s flirtation with the autogiro (a kind of early helicopter) and he even famously flew one in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film of The Thirty-Nine Steps.
Weir went public in January 1946, listing its stock on the London Stock Exchange.
During the Second World War, Kenneth was heavily involved in coordinating artillery production and in 1946, the year of the company’s stock market flotation, he became managing director.
After migrating from Europe in 1950 and from humble beginnings as a rabbit catcher, French polisher and toolmaker, he worked closely with Charlie Warman, the pump’s inventor, helping to evolve the pump into the legendary piece of equipment it is today.
In order to accommodate this expansion, the company moved its valve production to a new 85,000-square-foot plant in Queenslie, Glasgow, in 1951.
Under the next generation of Weirs, in the form of Kenneth Weir, who was appointed chairman in 1956, the company maintained its growth.
The company added to this purchase in 1959 when it took over Simons' next-door neighbor Lobnitz & Co.
These included Harland Engineering and G. Perry & Sons, both in 1969, which led the company to merge all of its pump businesses into a single unit, Weir Pumps.
In 1984, Weir won a $50m contract for a reverse-osmosis plant that was a gift from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and, in the early 90s, a £70m order in Dubai and a £90m order in Qatar were secured.
In 1999, the company bought Australian pump leader Warman International, paying AUD 460 million. Its largest acquisition during that period was of EnviroTech Pump-systems, based in the United States, which cost the company £135 million in 1994.
In 1999, the company bought Australian pump leader Warman International, paying AUD 460 million.
He worked with the Warman brand for an impressive 42 years until his retirement in 2000.
"Weir Group Pumped up to Win," European Intelligence Wire, March 1, 2004.
As times changed and the business refocused, the desalination business was sold in 2005 having played a significant (if a little erratic) part in Weir’s fortunes for over 120 years.
As part of that restructuring process, the company also began seeking new large scale acquisitions, such as the EUR 100 million purchase of Italy's Pompe Gabbionata SpA in 2005.
"Orders Lift for Buoyant Weir Group," Western Daily Press, August 18, 2006.
For many years, Weir Pumps led the world and was the core of the group’s business but in early 2007, a change of strategic direction saw Weir Pumps sold while the Group focused on its other interests in mining, power and upstream oil and gas.
In that year, also, the company announced its intention to shut down its operations at Cathcart, moving those operations to a smaller Glasgow site by 2007.
Keith Cochrane becomes Chief Executive as Mark Selway steps down in November 2009.
His career prospered outside the ‘family firm’ but in 2014 he returned as Chairman of the business.
In July 2018, the Group makes its biggest acquisition to date, when it buys the Portland-based ESCO Corporation for $1.3bn.
© 2021 The Weir Group PLC, 1 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 1RW. Company Number SC002934.
© 2022 The Weir Group PLC, 1 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 1RW. Company Number SC002934.
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