What a ride that was.....

I'm feeling all of the following, trepidation/excitement/sadness/happiness, because after 44 years involved in the maintenance of heavy/industrial equipment, from air compressors, mining equipment, mobile hydraulics, marine deck equipment and offshore mooring and loading products in basically every industry conceivable and in almost every country in the world, I have decided to take a break. My last day as P&L responsible in Macgregor Global Services Division will be September 1st, although I will stay in an advisory position and available until end November.

I consider myself extremely lucky to of landed the job I already wanted as a 9-year-old kid, I was a fan of big earth moving equipment and just wanted to operate/drive/fix them. I started as a 16-year-old mechanical engineering apprentice at Vibroplant in 1978, then moving to Atlas Copco in 1986 where I worked on every product they make as well as working in numerous management positions. After 28 fantastic years with Atlas, I moved on to Danfoss Mobile solutions in 2013 where I carved out the service operations and then finally I joined Macgregor in 2015. Macgregor has been my dream job; you cannot get much bigger equipment than the merchant and offshore products we make and I have had a very happy 7 years working with great people.

I initially spent 8-10 years as a service engineer then held positions ?in sales, operations, technical service, product management, service management, VP global services, VP marketing, SVP global services, management executive. I have had some fantastic and inspirational leaders to work for and I am very proud that many people that either worked in my teams, or that I actually employed have also gone onto great jobs as leaders with world leading companies.

I have had the good fortune to build multiple service organizations, investing in systems, structures and organizations and releasing the full business potential for the organizations I have worked with but I always remember it’s the team of great people who managed to see my vision that make this all possible.

I have visited the world’s greatest cities as well as places that most people would never get the chance to visit e.g. Ulan Bator, Sumbawa, Fort McMurray, Manaus, Kryvyi Rih, Escondida, Kalgoolie, Dailin, Nanjing, Harbin, Hainin, Middleburg, Geita, to name just a few. I have made friends all over the world and enjoyed learning all the different cultures, eating strange (to me) foods as well as sampling the occasional local beer.

A sad fact to share with you is that I am a member of every major frequent flyer and hotel loyalty program most of them the top tier. I can tell you the best lounges in every airport or the best hotel in every city and I would be terrified to work out how many millions of miles I have actually flown (American Airlines made me platinum for life after 1 million miles and that was not even my main program). Also sadly I have lost some great friends that I worked with over the years but still consider myself lucky to have known them.

What is next? Well as I said a break then who knows, I have no definitive plan yet, strange to say but I really enjoyed the time during the pandemic where I was forced to stay at home it made me realize that my family deserve more of my attention. My advice to anyone is to grab every opportunity that comes your way and to live life to the full.

You will know if you are one of the people that has given me or shared with me this great ride so a big thankyou to you all and I hope I get to see you at least once more in the future good luck and good health to you all.

John Carnall