Interview with Dale Lockley - former Managing Director of SAMSON Materials Handling, AUMUND Group

This is a series of interviews with SAMSON Materials Handling people who have dedicated their professional lives for increased industry wide improvement of the movement of raw goods. With new practical and low-impact environmental demands on many businesses in regard to ship loading/unloading systems, our way of handling materials at SAMSON Materials Handling, part of AUMUND GROUP is also evolving – but so are our people.

Dale Lockley is the former Managing Director of SAMSON Materials Handling (SMH henceforth), UK – part of the AUMUND GROUP. Today we explore his journey through the materials handling industry – how it all began, what sparked the interest and how the fire of enthusiasm was kept alive for over 20+ years.

I had the privilege and honour to sit with Dale and go back in time and walk with him on a historical path that spans for over 2 decades. It was incredibly interesting to understand his background, motivation and love for the industry.?( Petar Karaivanov - Marketing & Communications Manager)

'Coming from a family of coal miners - the materials handling business was always calling for me.' - Dale.

1.??How did you get started in the materials handling industry?

‘I come from a family of coal miners. This dates back generations, so in essence you could say that we are a traditional mining family. However, one thing that I have always been proud of in my professional development is the fact that I was the first member of our family to become an engineer and first to graduate with 1st honours degree – this was an enormous personal achievement for me’, begins Dale. ?

My first job was a mechanical engineer apprenticeship at a pit, where I had to balance studies and work. Needless to say at the time it was a tough job managing both studies and working in a coal mine. Typically, I would finish college on a Friday and go back to the coal mine and worked overtime to earn some extra money. I moved to different mining companies throughout my early career.

After earning the trust and approval from my then supervisors, I was actually handed my first shift charge engineer (days/nights) position which is the standard route of baptism in the industry. From then, a new path revealed itself and after a while I became an asset manager for major projects, equipment procurement, schedule of project execution.

When I first had the opportunity to transition to a management position around 1999/2000, entirely focused on materials handling, the industry experience and my mentors made sure I was equipped with the correct arsenal of skill to excel on the post. Now doing it for over 20 years as we speak.

Throughout the years I have worked for Sandvik, biggest single coal mine in Europe, where in 2007 I eventually became the Managing Director for construction and mining for UK business. Between 2012-2013 was my first introduction to AUMUND GROUP . When I ended up leaving Sandvik in 2015, I took a year out of the industry as per contract and enjoyed some family time. SAMSON Materials Handling contacted me in 2016 and I was appointed as consult contract worker focused on project execution. In December of 2016 I had an interesting call from Mr Aumund himself inviting me to Reinberg where I was offered the Managing Director job – ‘This was my longest job interview ever, as I was working for SAMSON for over a year already’, reminisces Dale with a light smile.?

2.??At SAMSON Materials Handling, how do you set yourself apart as a company?

Well, B&W (at the time now SAMSON Materials Handling) was a family owned business with family values. This is not something you can create artificially – it cannot be forced. This has always been there and has been a corner stone and fundamental aspect of how we approach business, industry relations, customers and suppliers. Not many companies can boast to have these unique and genuine values. When AUMUND GROUP took over, consider that once again traditional family values were again the backbone of the business. In 2022 AUMUND Group celebrated 100 years in business. I believe that close family values and approach has a lot to do with this remarkable milestone. Thus, in essence transitioning from one family owned business to another did not shake us at all – we just became part of a bigger family. Everyone at AUMUND GROUP and SMH has these values in the way they operate – genuinely feeling to do our best so the client can do their best. This is what sets us apart from other companies in our line of work. We are a representation of the way we handle our projects, our equipment. We are in the business of selling solutions.?

3.??What qualities are fundamental in SMH?

Firstly, I would like to underline, that what makes a great environment in SMH is the fact that we have a healthy mix of longstanding personnel but also not afraid to embrace and welcome new elements and people. This way we keep attracting new talented people who are eager to explore this side of the logistics industry.

On the other hand, those longstanding people have been with the company for decades. Just recently our warehouse supervisor celebrated 50 years with us. I think that says a lot about us as a company, about the values and the way we grow together. That experience that these people bring and can convey onto new people is remarkable to see. I never get tired of seeing it in our office. Our formula for a healthy workplace is rather simple – we maintain our family based values and are open to extend them to our new talented people. Thus, we have tradition plus new people equals a large extended family working in unity under one roof with the same goals and same values.

Secondly, there is a strong feeling of innovation and progress within all our people. It is embedded in our way of thinking and what makes us strive to be better than we were yesterday. We live and breathe this at SMH, and we are proud of it. This really brings people from various departments working together – management, sales and after sales, marketing, project management, finance – we are all part of the same team and what makes me proud is to say that people always come together when an issue needs to be resolved. For me personally, I enjoy the hands on approach and the fact that colleagues connect and interact with other colleagues. I am passionate about materials handling and what it is but I never want to just be an observer – I want to be involved. I think the same applies to all of us.

4.??What are some of the challenges facing the industry?

Staying current, financial strains are the biggest challenges for many industries and businesses – us included. The current landscape of bulk material handling continues to place new practical and low environmental impact demands on the cement industry in relation to ship loading/ unloading systems. Flexibility, adaptability, and eco-friendly solutions have received increased attention from researchers, designers, and managers based on the fact that infrastructure facilities are required to facilitate various activities. Some undertakings require waterside or landslide access, others require extensive berthing, mooring, transshipment, or storage facilities, while others entail no facility. Many of the existing industry projects have a design life of several decades that must fulfil current and future demands by providing increased chance of returns on investments, but also contributes towards sustainability through efficient use of resources and equipment.

However, we have been successful for over 50 years because we accept new trends such as greener policies and environmental shifts towards green energy. B&W at the time was at the forefront, the industry leader, the innovator that lead by example with its adaptation of green tech and innovations of equipment. This has transitioned through the decades and we continue to employ these exact same methods and ways of thinking – what we do next is fundamentally important for us. We have engaged with the industry on a wide level and have continuously produced innovative solutions throughout our existence as a company. We will do the same in future times.

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5.??Career highlights with your team?

Throughout his career Dale has had many career highlights but one in particular stands out.

In 2021 equipment and design engineering for our namesake machine (the Samson? MATERIAL FEEDER) was moving to Germany under the AUMUND GROUP umbrella. While that had many benefits and was the right move at the time, as business continued to improve and our projects pipeline continued to strengthen, we made a decision to take back the engineering work to the United Kingdom. In a way we wanted to go back to our roots in Cambridgeshire as we never wanted to be just a procurement company. That would have been in sharp contrast to what we, SMH, stand for. ?When we reversed that process and took back building the Samson? under budget, we undeniably witnessed a quicker delivery and quicker commissioning process than expected for our projects. All the work that gone through it. Thus, on a faithful Friday evening, service engineers came back to work from where it all began. Getting the opportunity to showcase products, execution route, various modules was good business. It was the perfect comeback story and everyone loves those. We took the products back and made it a success – Eco-Hoppers, Shiploaders, STORMAJORs all under one roof.

Business is good. Business is improving!?

We ( SAMSON Materials Handling and AUMUND GROUP ) thank Dale for all the years spent with which are marked by numerous milestones and great achievements.