Getting to know Alison McKeand
Getting to know Alison McKeand, MD and majority shareholder of DRAM, which she founded in 1993, more than 40 years ago ran away from rainy Scotland to reach Italy where she lives as a permanent tourist.
Alison, how did you come up with the idea of founding DRAM?
Just by chance, like many things in life, including my introduction to the rotational moulding industry many years ago thanks to a friend who needed translation into English.
Fast forward to 1993: three suppliers to the rotational moulding industry asked me to represent them in Italy and I said yes…
What do you like about rotational moulding, what makes it special??
The fact that human beings still make a difference, the constant intellectual stimulation we are subject to when presented with an issue that needs a solution.
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What do you think are the main challenges the rotational moulding sector will have to face in the next few years?
I think there will be two big challenges: lack of personnel and the energy crisis.
The lack of personnel has been an issue since before covid and I think it’s going to be solved by increasing the level of automation.
The issue of increasing energy bills can only be tackled by increasing the efficiency of our process. Many products distributed by DRAM can help improving energy efficiency, like, to give just one example, our venting solutions: their use can lead to energy savings up to 10%.
I have been very impressed by the fact that, despite being a small company, DRAM invests so much time and money in trade association memberships. Why do you do it?
Because I’d like to give back to those that , buying from us, pay our bills and salaries, and because I believe that problems get solved faster and better by working together. That’s the reasons why one of our employees, Katia Zoppetti, has been president of IT-RO, the Italian rotational moulding trade association, for many years, managing its activities free of charge, taking time away from DRAM but still indirectly offering a service to our customers.
Plans for the future?
I’d like to talk about rotational moulding more and more often, trying to reach a wider public, become BPF members and, above all, help our customers solve big and small issues with the help of our products and, at least for now, our all girls team.