AS Empire Exports prepares to celebrate its fifth anniversary later this year, the business is going from strength to strength having appointed a new MD and secured the Scottish distributorship for equipment specialist Red Knight 6.
Empire Exports was founded in 2018 by experienced plant industry stalwart Sandy Fairweather and his wife Jan. The firm has enjoyed huge success, having specialised in buying and selling a wide range of used machinery from dumpers, dump trucks, dozers and rollers through to excavators, loading shovels, crushers and screeners.
The company has marked a number of milestones in recent years including the recruitment of its first employee – sales manager Darren Petersen – and relocating to a dedicated office and yard space in Falkirk.
The business is now poised for a new period of growth following the appointment of Sandy’s son Euan as managing director. Euan, who was formerly regional sales manager for Molson Finlay Scotland, brings particular experience in crushing and screening machinery – a sector which the firm predicts will drive much of its future expansion.
Euan told Project Plant he’s long held an ambition to work for himself and the opportunity to be part of the family business was too good to turn down.
“My dad’s at an age where in another four or five years he’ll be retiring and Darren and I will keep taking it forward,” Euan said. “I’ve always had that vision of working with the family.”
With two young children of his own, Euan is already envisaging future generations of Fairweathers carrying on the mantle. Like his father, his passion for the plant industry and desire to do right by his customers is evident.
For Sandy, extending the family aspect of the business was important as he believes personal relationships are what sets the organisation apart.
“The business has grown through the loyalty of customers who have continued to give us repeat business,” Sandy explained. “We buy from customers we know, so there’s confidence that they’re selling us quality machines. The business has developed due to attitude. Because it’s your own, we’re very hands-on and driven. When we get an enquiry, we deal with it instantly. We travel all over. We’ve had a lot of support from people who buy from us as well. Some have come from abroad, came here to meet us, felt confident in dealing with us, and then given us more and more business.
“The business has rapidly grown. It’s incredible. We have managed a 25% increase year-on-year. This is an industry where, if you are prepared to put the effort in, age is not a restriction. You can have your own company and be the managing director very young if you’re prepared to put the work in. The key factor is working as a team. Darren does a great job – he’s part of the family. Everybody should feel that way. I’ve been in sales roles all my life and you feel quite rejected if you don’t feel appreciated. If you do your job and don’t get the rewards – and it might not be financial, it might just be the pat on the back, the acknowledgement – so I’m continually instilling that and thanking everybody for every bit of effort that they make.”
Despite the huge workload and increasing number of machines passing through the business, Empire Exports remains a tight-knit operation. With Euan as MD, Sandy is sales director, while Jan runs the financial side. Darren’s sales manager remit sees him tasked with sourcing and checking machines as well as meeting customers. The business subcontracts engineers as required.
As the firm grows, the potential to recruit more people will inevitably rise. One thing which won’t change, however, is the culture of openness. Sandy revealed he has no qualms about being honest with people regarding tight margins. “If we sell the machine at the right price, and we don’t overinflate it, then not only will the customer be happy but it will allow us to buy the machine back at the right price when the customer wants to move it on again,” he added.
On the day Project Plant visited, the Empire Exports yard was fairly sparse with no more than a handful of machines sitting. Far from being a negative sign, Euan explained the reason is because most of the equipment the business purchases is snapped up almost immediately. The majority of the business is with repeat customers, including one client who buys four or five machines every month.
“A lot of customers like us because we’re so flexible,” Euan said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Volvo or a Cat – we can go in and be buying something from them and they’ll turn round and say: ‘I’m in the market for a dozer’ and we’ll come back with four or five different brands. We’re a one-stop-shop where people can trade-in machinery and buy something fresher.
“People actually drive in here with no appointments and end up buying a digger. Things move so fast. The machines come off a lorry and we’ve got homes for them right away. We recently bought a nice dump truck for stock from a limestone quarry, but before it even came in, someone took it. I wanted it for the yard!”
In terms of the market, sales manager Darren revealed he’s noticed a big hike this year in Scottish plant firms looking to offload kit, perhaps in response to a slight downturn in workloads and hire firms struggling with rates. Last year Empire Exports bought a lot of machines in Scotland and sold them back to the Scottish market. This year, Darren revealed there’s been ‘quite a flip’ on that, with more of the equipment being exported abroad. That brings its own logistical challenges, including transport and the fact that any machines going to a port have to be immaculate to avoid being hit with cleaning costs.
While used machinery will remain the core focus for Empire Exports, becoming Scottish dealers for Red Knight 6 is set to open new avenues. Red Knight 6 provides a range of crushing, screening, shredding and material handling solutions. The business was awarded the UK dealership rights for impact crushing and screening specialist Rubble Master and also works with EDGE Innovate, MDS and Komplet.
“We got two or three offers from different manufacturers to take on dealerships, but we wanted to move forward with a range of products which we already specialise in,” Euan said. “Customers can then be confident that we will be selling them the machines that will do the best job for them. The core of our business is buying and selling used machines, but this will allow us to approach other customers with a new brand. We went to have a look at their product and were very impressed. The machines are well built, very simple to use, and competitively priced. We’ve actually sold two Rubble Masters already. It’s a win-win for us because we’d love to sell a Rubble Master, but if the customer wants to stick with a certain brand, we’ll still buy the trade-in that they want to get rid of anyway.”
With Euan having sold more than 250 crushing machines in his previous role, he has built great relationships with his customers and they still regularly call him for advice on different products and applications.He is therefore well placed to get more Rubble Masters working in Scotland.
Darren agreed the Red Knight 6 partnership is a good fit, adding that there aren’t too many impactors in Scotland at the moment, so the market is ripe for the introduction of a new product that could potentially allow customers to use one machine instead of two. Empire Exports will also benefit from engineering support and parts from Red Knight 6, meaning no additional overheads.
All of this adds up to a bright future. And while imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, Empire Exports is not worried about other companies coming along and trying to replicate what they do.
Sandy explained, “The real growth for Empire Exports will come through Euan and Darren’s knowledge of crushing and screening kit. They’ve been involved in it for a considerable length of time at the front end selling. People know them to talk to and ask questions. Although another person could replace them and come in and show brochures, it’s not giving customers options and alternatives. We’re offering that service now and I think that’s where we really will grow.
“You could copy us, but does everybody want to work to the level we do? We’re down here first thing in the morning and have literally been called out from our beds during the night to load machines. We work in all conditions, trying to clean things, or sitting waiting for an hour for somebody who doesn’t turn up. It’s 24/7. Our phones are never turned off and our customers know this. We work so hard as we don’t want to let anybody down. People put their trust in us, so we make sure we give them good reason to. A lot of people could easily copy what we do, but would they be successful?”
“They probably wouldn’t have the relationships that we’ve got with customers,” Euan added. “We’ve got such a good bond; we’ve got the trust of people. We’re easy to deal with. We arrange everything from initially finding a suitable machine for our customer and everything in between to the point of having the machine set up on site if required and made ready to work. We offer the full works.”
