Memories of Stoke-on-Trent people - Ken
Green
Ken Green
A
Life in the Ceramic Tile Industry
section 15
previous:
1971-78, Podmore & Sons
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Kong (1982-84) | Interkiln (1984-86)
1978/1982
Mazircon; Carnival Ceramics
Relations
between Henry Podmore and me (nominally joint managing directors) became
increasingly strained during 1978 and he sacked me in November of that year.
News
of my imminent departure from Podmore reached our agents, venture partners,
customers and competitors within days of my sacking.
I continued to attend Podmore each day until December 31st,
the end of my notice period.
My phone was busier than ever.
A few of the more significant developments, consequent on those calls,
were as follows.
The
mystery of the new company in Spain was soon solved.
Dr.Jose Luis Araquistain, who had been chief executive of Masso S.A.,
the agents in Spain for Podmore, telephoned me a few days after my sacking.
He explained that he had left Masso and formed a company called Quiminsa,
located in Castellon, to produce zircon opacifier.
Some weeks later, on Monday, 1st January 1979 to be precise,
Araquistain met me at Barcelona airport and we went on to Quiminsa, Castellon.
The factory was located amongst the orange groves.
My work for Quiminsa was mainly corroboratory and polishing up of
detail.
Araquistain (a competent engineer) had copied well what he had seen at
Podmore.
However, I needed to visit Castellon several times in early 1979.
Castellon was at the centre of Spanish tile manufacture and and I met
several new contacts in that rapidly expanding industry.
As
an aside, Araquistain had me find a boarding school in England for his
daughter.
Her primary requirements were fluent spoken English language,
hospitality, cooking, horse riding and golf.
The outcome was good.
I was also required to gain entrance for the son of the owner of one of
Spain’s foremost tile manufacturers to the ceramics department of the North
Staffs Polytechnic.
I did so, but the outcome was not so good.
The young man spent most of his time on a North Staffordshire golf
course, rather than in class, and was asked to leave.
During
1978, my last year at Podmore, a new competitor on the zircon scene became
increasingly prominent.
It was an Italian company called Macina
Minerale. which had been formed by Dr. Edoardo Rubino.
He had previously been in charge of operations in Italy for Blythe
Colours of Creswell.
During a visit to UK in November 1978, Rubino and I met at Blythe Colours
Ltd., Creswell through the good offices of Mamaging Director Maurice Proctor and
Sales Director Hugh Vavasour.
A significant and lasting association followed.
Rubino already had two operations in Italy and had taken an interest in Le Moulin des Pres, Dieppe, France.
He was planning others.
When not on the phone, he appeared always to be on the move.
During the first half of 1979 we met several times in Milan, Madrid,
Castellon, Paris and Stoke.
Graham
Gould of English China Clays introduced me to Geoff Cook and Stuart Williams.
They were both south Londoners, chartered accountants and had worked for
large accountancy groups.
In that capacity they had lived and worked in Brazil; where they became
Portugese speaking and involved in the newly emerging tile industry.
They had returned to the UK and set up a chain of retail tile outlets,
mainly in the London area.
They had further decided to go into tile manufacture and had ordered
equipments for a plant to be located just to the north of Ebbw Vale.
It was being done with the co-operation of the Welsh Development Agency;
the purpose being to provide employment in an area where the coal and steel
industries were rapidly declining.
The first stage of the operation was to bring biscuit tiles to Ebbw Vale
from Italy and Spain, to apply glaze and glost fire in a tunnel kiln.
The main equipments were Italian and the company was called Carnival
Ceramics.
The second stage was to be the manufacture of biscuit tile on the same
site at the Rassau Industrial estate.
Geoff
and Stuart continued to operate Budget Tiles, which imported and retailed
ceramic tiles.
It was agreed that I should join them in June 1979 as the Production and
Technical Director of Carnival Ceramics.
However, I did not join Carnival until September of that year.
A more pressing job intervened.
Edoardo
Rubino was intending to produce zircon opacifier in Brazil.
The company, called Mazircon, was located at
Cotia, about 30 Km. from Sao Paulo.
Edoardo had commitments in Europe and, furthermore, had broken his ankle.
It was decided that I should go to Brazil, together with Adriano Ameiro,
Financial Director of Macina Minerale.
Adriano completed his work and returned to Italy.
I remained to carry out the installation and commissioning.
Mazircon’s site was adjacent to a well-established factory belonging to
Blythe Colours, of Creswell, Stoke-on-Trent.
I received most useful assistance from the Blythe personnel.
Mazircon’s
building was already erected, equipments had arrived from Italy and the
equipments sourced in Brazil were also ready.
The technology to be used was as at Macina Minerale, Milan and at Le
Moulin des Pres, Dieppe.
A competent works manager had been recruited and there were good
telephone and telex links.
All in all, things seem to be set fine for an easy ride and I intended to
make time to visit the “sights” of Brazil.
It was not to be.
Mazircon
needed to be connected to the high-tension electrical grid through Mazircon’s
own transformers.
However, the transformers did not conform to the electrical authority’s
requirements and we were denied connection until they were modified.
That was going to take time and it was essential that I return to England
before a certain day.
Our daughter was to be married on that day!
Mobile
electric generating equipment was hired.
It sufficed for many items but was not suited to cope with the high
electrical starting loads demanded by the large oil-hydraulic driven ball mills,
heavily loaded with zircon.
My anticipated “easy ride” turned out to be a period of long days
covering several 7 working-day weeks.
Nevertheless, I did manage several visits with Henri Martin, Blythe’s
agent, to potential customers at tile manufacturing companies in Curitiba and
other places.
I returned to England in good time for the wedding.
I had, of course, kept my family in blissful ignorance of any problems.
Mazircon continued to grow and became a significant player on the
Brazilian ceramic scene.
I
started work with Carnival Ceramics in the autumn of 1979.
At first I had an office behind one of the Budget Tile shops in Catford,
London.
On several occasions I acted as assistant to one of the shop’s tile
retailers.
That really was far removed from anything I had done before. It
certainly gave me fresh insight, which was no doubt, why Geoff and Stuart had
suggested it.
I began to spend more time in Ebbw Vale and took a house in Llangynidr.
Powys, returning to Stoke at the weekends.
Many
visits were made to Italy and Spain to source biscuit tile and glaze supplies.
The first tiles were produced in September 1980 and I remained a
director of Carnival Ceramics until June 1982.
The company remained in production for some time after that but,
eventually, Geoff and Stuart decided to cease production and concentrate on
retailing.
The successor to Budget Tiles and Carnival Ceramics is Topps Tiles, chaired by Stuart Williams and now the largest tile
retailer in the UK.
At last report, Topps had 147 outlets and an annual turnover of £75
million.
previous:
1971-78, Podmore & Sons
next: Hong
Kong (1982-84) | Interkiln (1984-86)