David Callaghan
Meet David Callaghan
Director HYDRAQUIP Metal Hose Division
As a very young man (boy) in 1993 I left school with no real career path planned out apart from an idea of going to college to do a course so I could join the fire service! Due to family separation reasons this didn’t work out and I actually decided to leave home at 16, silly move!
Starting out in the world, all I knew was that I needed to earn some money fast, and my only experience of work at that time was a paper round and working on a market in London selling trainers. I got a job at a local meat processing plant as a line leader, running a packing line; this I quickly realised was not for me. I looked around and applied for other jobs, and while waiting I decided meat packing was not working and left to join a double glazing sales company – yes I was one of those people knocking on your doors trying to sell you something you didn’t really want! And in fact I realised that I could do it rather well and was earning about £300 – £400 per week… which at 16 was loads of money.
During my time of selling windows and probably from my early days of working on the market, I realised that I liked sales so started to apply for sales related jobs. I spotted a small advert in the paper for a junior sales / engineering role for a local engineering company which I applied for and got the job after three interviews and so, in 1994, I started my career in the world of Metallic Stainless Steel Hoses at Arnold Hose Limited. I decided to take the job at the whopping salary of £5000 P/A which was a big drop from selling windows or the meat factory – so to make ends meet I did pizza delivery in the evenings.
During my time at Arnold Hose I went back to college to study engineering on a day release course and had in house training from Graham Moore, Technical Manager and Mike Burdett who was the Sales Director at Arnold Hose at the time, giving me external sales experience – I really enjoyed meeting people face to face. I worked on the factory floor learning all the processes for welding, assembling and testing of metal hose assemblies and then on both Sales and Technical sides too, I feel this gave me a fairly good grounding for the Metal Hose industry.
I progressed to Sales Manager at Arnold Hose and then in 2006 the company was sold where I had the opportunity to purchase a small share holding within the company and also progress to a Sales Director. However due to new incoming directors from out of the industry things didn’t work well for me personally, so after 16 years I took the very hard decision to hand in my notice.
After handing in my notice at Arnold Hose, I decided to contact Duncan MacBain who I had known for many years. After many discussions I joined Hydraquip and started work on Project Metal Hose, and with the support of Duncan and with the help of Graham Moore who also left Arnold Hose and joined Hydraquip, plus with the help of the existing team at Hydraquip Bolton, we set out on gaining the new necessary approvals and introducing manufacturing techniques to enter into new market places and build the Metal Hose business. From Hydraquip Metal Hose Division starting in 2010 from a standing start, this division achieved a turnover of £1.5 million by the end of 2011! Joining Hydraquip and working within the group has personally been very rewarding for me. Throughout the years, continual investment has been made into the business including the acquisition of 3 companies – Arnold Hose Ltd and Ideal Hose & Safety Ltd in 2017 and Gamma Hose Ltd in 2019. With this came additional responsibility for staff and business sales, enabling myself and my role to grow alongside the company. With the support and guidance from Duncan, I have learned a lot about acquiring businesses, investing in stock and additional locations and office space, as well as the challenges and logistics that come along with this. I am very proud of what we have achieved and I have enjoyed every part of it. The next goal is to hit £5 million turnover!
Throughout my personal life I’ve have had a few up and downs as most, but among the highlights are the birth of my children and marrying my wife Becki in 2007, who keeps me focused and supports me greatly with my career, she also helps me find the balance of work and family life. I enjoy spending time with my family at the weekends and we enjoy activities such as roller skating and generally being active together, I also enjoy the F1 and other motor sport, last year I decided I would start to build my own Kit car in my spare time, as I don’t have much of this it could take me a while, but I do enjoy it!
Friday 31st January 2020
Meet The Team
|
|