Thousands of ice cream van operators, known as ‘mobilers’ in the trade, play their evocative jingles on the streets of Britain, in the process selling over £100 million worth of ice cream each year. One company contributing more than most to this thriving industry is Whitby Specialist Vehicles of Crewe, the world’s leading manufacturer of ice cream vans and trucks, which exports its products as far afield as America, Russia, Middle East and the Canary Islands. Established since 1962 and marketing its vehicles under the Whitby Morrison brand, the company produces a range of custom-built vans, complete with freezers and soft ice cream machines, converts customers’ existing chassis and even builds ice cream trailers, kiosks and tricycles for applications where vans are not suitable.

Ice cream vehicles are renowned for their bright, eyecatching liveries and the topcoat system for the Whitby Morrison range is manufactured by HMG Paints of Manchester, a leading supplier of surface coatings to the bus, coach and commercial vehicles finishing and refinishing industry. In addition to the bright reds, oranges, blues and yellows favoured by many mobilers, HMG provides all BS, RAL and OEM colours, matches special shades to samples of bodywork and other items, and recently provided fluorescent finishes for Whitby’s latest show vehicles, which were well received by the trade.

Ice cream has always been a commodity that lends itself to being sold at the point of consumption, since it is best eaten straight away, and motorised vans have been popular since the 1950’s. Founder and current Chairman, Bryan Whitby was then instrumental in revolutionising the industry, by developing a direct drive system to power the on-board soft ice cream machinery, thereby allowing refrigeration and dispensing equipment to be incorporated into lighter, lower-cost 15cwt vehicle chassis. Today, the Whitby system is accepted throughout the world and is at the heart of all Whitby Morrison vehicles.

Built mainly around Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter chassis, as well as Chevrolet trucks for the US export market, customised bodywork of various sizes and configurations is fabricated from glass reinforced plastic, a tough, lightweight, durable laminate that has a high strength-to-weight ratio and does not dent, rust or corrode. At its purpose-built factory, Whitby Specialist Vehicles has separate moulding, fabrication, refrigeration, vehicle build and finishing areas, with each van customised to suit the customer’s merchandising and equipment requirements. It also has the capacity to convert any existing chassis into a modern ice cream ‘mobiling unit’, while in-house refinishers, signwriters and vinyl lettering specialists personalise the external livery.

The HMG finishing system applied to all Whitby ice cream vehicles comprises its MPS4+1 Polykote primer and Acrythane XSC98 two-pack acrylic topcoat, both of which are proven products in the UK vehicle finishing and refinishing industry. Spray applied and fast drying, MPS 4+1 is an ideal primer filler/surfacer with good impact resistance; Acrythane XSC98 is a high solids system offering excellent scratch filling, fast throughput, superb long term durability and outstanding gloss and colour retention.

HMG’s paint system affords extreme protection against the harsh weather conditions, atmospheric pollution, salt and grime, mechanical washes and chemical agents likely to be encountered by road-going ice cream vehicles, especially as mobilers increasingly operate on a year-round basis.

“As to quality, pricing and service, if HMG didn’t live up to its claims, we wouldn’t be buying paint from them,” says Whitby’s Chief Buyer, Colin Hockley. “So it speaks volumes that we’ve been dealing with them for ten years. Also, unlike small suppliers who can only offer standard BS shades, HMG can formulate virtually any colour, so if a customer asks us to match a pink filler cap from a cherished 50’s van for instance, we can do it.”

At a recent trade exhibition, Whitby displayed show vehicles finished in vibrant fluorescent colours, for added on-street impact, which prompted a favourable response from mobilers and attracted a number of firm orders. To help prepare the vans, HMG sent technical personnel to advise on applying the new system, which comprises a fluorescent base overcoated with two-pack clear lacquer, underlining the close working relationship between paint manufacturer and vehicle builder - both, incidentally, British and successful in their respective niche markets.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

or to:

Whitby Morrison
Crewe Gates Industrial Estate
Crewe
CW1 6TT
Telephone 01270 581318
email info@whitbymorrison.com

Press Contact:

David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

HMG Paints, which produces a range of high performance marine coatings for topsides and hulls, is supporting a talented young sailor in his quest for Olympic glory, at the 2012 London games. Thirteen year old David Carpenter, who has progressed rapidly from the Topper dinghy class to Laser Olympic single handers, will carry the HMG Paints logo on his sail, as he competes at Junior, Youth and Open levels around Britain.

David, who lives in Greenmount, Bury, and is enthusiastically backed by parents Peter and Mary, was previously a leading light in the international Topper class, where he was a member of the National Junior Squad and trained with RYA Topper National Coach, Dave Cockerill. This year, young David Carpenter stepped up to the Laser class, the world’s most popular Olympic singlehanded boat and the category in which Ben Ainslie won Gold at Sydney, and was selected again for the National Junior Squad. Sailing an entry-level Laser 4.7, he proved an immediate success, winning three out of his first four races and coming second in the other. So much so that he is now being considered as an under-age member of the Youth squad, sailing a Laser Radial, the newly-adopted Olympic ladies single-hander and only one category away from the full-rig boat.

“David Carpenter is very much a prospect,” says coach Dave Cockerill. “He has already won national championship races, competing against adults, and was at least a year younger than other members of my squad. He was instantly successful in the Laser 4.7 class and there’s every prospect that he will eventually compete in the Olympics.”

Manchester-based HMG Paints, which is also a sponsor of the Starchaser rocketship initiative and regularly donates paint for charitable and heritage projects, produces a wide range of specialist marine coatings, including protective finishes, yacht varnishes, topside paints and the unique Superspeed SP53 antifouling. These products are available nationally through HMG’s independent paint distributors and internationally via its Marine Division, based in Roebuck, South Carolina.

The link between David Carpenter and HMG Paints came through the head of its Marine Division, David McRobbie, whose UK family home is also in Greenmount. One day the teenager was enthusing about his boat and mentioned to McRobbie that he needed a new sail and was hoping for some sponsorship. Unbeknownst to the youngster, McRobbie raised the possibility with the HMG board, who agreed to provide sails and other kit for all of his boats and are now following his progress keenly.

David Carpenter has been sailing seriously for just four years and is a student at St Gabriel’s R.C. High School, which also encourages his endeavours, as does Bury Metro, which allows him to train regularly at Castle Leisure Centre. His parents, Peter and Mary, 12 year old sister Anna, who has now taken over his Topper boat, and he are all members of Elton Sailing Club in Bury, one of the longest established clubs in the North West. David was coached initially by member David Woodhead, himself a former national Scorpion champion, and the club has been outstandingly successful of late, contributing four out of nine female members of the 2005 Topper National Junior Squad: Emily Jackson (13), Charlotte Greenhalgh (13), Anna Brooks (15) and Julia Bowden (15).

“People don’t appreciate how hard these youngsters work, competing and training every weekend and maintaining a high level of fitness. Their parents are very supportive too and invest a great deal of money in equipment and coaching,” says Dave Cockerill, whose company Sailing Solutions also supplies David Carpenter’s sails. “Don’t forget either that this is one sport where Great Britain really excels, so young sailors like David really are among the world’s best in their age group.”

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact:

David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Client Contact:

Alison Patterson
Tel 0161 205 7631
email apatterson@hmgpaint.com

The Royal Navy anti-submarine frigate HMS Plymouth saw action throughout the recent Falklands conflict and became the first HM ship to enter Port Stanley since the occupation. Its Wasp helicopter took part in the first direct action against Argentine forces.

Later heading for a watery grave as a missile target, HMS Plymouth was saved by the Warship Preservation Trust in 1988 and the Rothesay-class frigate now forms part of the Historic Warships fleet at Birkenhead, the country’s finest display of fighting ships. Its on-board Wasp helicopter has now been refurbished and protected against the harsh marine environment, with a high performance paint system donated by HMG Paints of Manchester.

The painting was carried out by two Warship Preservation Trust ex-naval volunteers, Mike Roberts (pictured), a former Pilot’s Mate in the Fleet Air Arm, and Ian Taylor, a Chief Petty Officer who served on the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean.

HMG’s technical department designed a surface coating system, using a polyurethane topcoat, and a method of application to make the volunteers’ task easier. Such was the quality and authenticity of finish, that a professional warship restorer has already shown interest in the same HMG paint, having visited the collection.

The frigate’s anti-submarine Wasp helicopter, not the original but an aircraft of similar vintage and specification, had not weathered well at Birkenhead Docks, with its paintwork peeling off and its Alclad corrosion-resistant aluminium body showing signs of pitting. Having been put in touch by the North West Aerospace Alliance, HMG offered to help and was supplied with a small bodywork panel, for colour matching and paint specifying.

Although HMG Plymouth was refitted in 1969 with a flight deck and a hangar to house the Wasp helicopter, there was not enough room in the latter to allow spray painting. So amateur restorers Mike and Ian requested a topcoat that could be easily brush applied and forgiving enough to yield an even, high gloss finish with non-professional application.

HMG’s K-Type Fleet Polyurethane (named after bus and coach fleets, not naval ships) was ideal for the job. A tough and durable polyurethane enamel for high quality vehicle and industrial finishing of all types, it gives excellent brushability due to its long wet edge time. A specially formulated blend of polyurethane and chain-stopped alkyd resins, it offers outstanding gloss retention, anti-abrasion properties, surface adhesion, durability and chemical resistance.

HMG supplied 35 litres of K Type topcoat in colour-matched blue/grey, as well as blue, red and white for the roundels and lettering. It also provided degreaser for thoroughly cleansing the substrate prior to sanding and BDX grey primer, for building up an even undercoat before flatting and overcoating. Despite their lack of professional experience, Mike and Ian achieved an excellent finish, which should impress visitors to the Historic Warship fleet and protect the Wasp helicopter for many years to come.

“HMG’s paint was easy to use and very forgiving,” says Mike, “and it dried out well in the sunny weather. We think the finished result looks very good and it’s great to have preserved this little bit of naval history.”

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

For information about the Historic Warships collection, ring 0151 650 1573 or visit the website at www.historicwarships.org

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Client Contact Alison Patterson
Tel 0161 205 7631
email apatterson@hmgpaint.com

Independent paint maker HMG focuses on quality, enthusiasm and customer care

Perhaps the most difficult objects of all to paint are large flat ripple-free panels directly abutting flat sheets of glass, which are attached to a vehicle that does the mileage of a truck, but must have the appearance of a new BMW or Mercedes. This is the challenge that commercial and passenger vehicle makers have presented to paintmakers for several years. It’s a challenge that is gladly and taken up by specialist paintmaker HMG Paints of Manchester, probably Britain’s last significant independent supplier to the CV market.

HMG is surprisingly hugely optimistic about this sector, despite sluggish overall market performance, and its optimism is based on just a few words: quality, enthusiasm and customer care. First quality: those of us old enough to remember the 1970’s and 80’s will have an image of a commercial vehicle, particularly those involved in freight and transport, with its mixture of dull paint, rust flakes and angular steel design. That is now a thousand miles away from the current commercial vehicle image, which is used extensively to project world class brands, as they are transported around our roads. Not surprisingly this uplift in quality has benefited HMG, which has always focused on the higher performance end of the CV surface coatings market.

“The days when a lorry was something that just took goods from A to B and would not look out of place in an army convoy, are long gone,” says Steve Louis CV Manager of HMG Paints. “Customers now demand the highest standards for their company fleets and this has meant that commercial vehicle builders have perhaps moved more rapidly than any other area of the market, to improve the quality of finish and appearance of their vehicles.”

Steve adds that HMG’s experience of working with vehicle builders and refinishers for over 70 years means the company understands clearly the role that a paint supplier/manufacturer should take. Refreshingly, the CV market is largely driven by the technical performance of coatings and partnership supply, both of which involve a real engagement between the paintmaker, the supply route, the vehicle manufacturer and all that occurs between. At its simplest, this can mean providing products in a particular pack size that suits the user, right up to developing a whole range of products for a specific market niche.

HMG doesn’t hide the fact that it is really passionate about paint: “It isn’t just something that we do to keep us off the streets!” said Stephen Falder, Marketing Director and grandson of the founder. “Paint is in the blood of all of the team here at HMG and we think that makes a difference to our customers. We don’t have to write a slogan that we care - we believe they can feel it in everything that we do.”

Serving the CV market requires any company that is going to take it seriously to be more than just a supplier of paints and HMG has not been backwards in ensuring that its customers have access to all of the facilities, which they need to drive forward along the road of quality improvement. Its products and services can now be accessed from a growing network of specialist distributors throughout the UK and Ireland, to streamline the supply route.

In addition, the company has recently developed a pioneering partnership with MANCAT, the local technical ‘Centre of Vocational Excellence’ in the centre of Manchester. Its relationship with MANCAT has meant that customers can benefit from full-scale, state of the art training facilities, as well as training courses that lead to nationally-recognised certification. HMG feels that this gives both supplier and customer the reassurance that training and personnel development are just that; not the old-fashioned ‘brand brainwashing’, with which many builders and refinishers have now lost faith.

The company also has a highly experienced team of technical and application specialists, who are available to HMG customers and are not afraid to point out where improvements can be introduced.

“We are not just ‘yes men’ at HMG,” says John Fenton, Head of Sales. “All of my team make sure that they have a special relationship with our customers, with the ability to act as a critical friend when it comes to improving quality. This partnership involves a couple of important elements. The first is trust. Our established customers know that if we say something is right and the best for them, that we genuinely believe that. The second is progress. They know that if there is a better way of doing something, HMG will move heaven and earth to achieve that.”

A recent illustration of this was HMG’s developments work in scratch-resistant coatings, which produced a new product called Recover that offers a unique ’self healing’ finish. This is capable of eliminating or minimising minor scratches, the marring caused by harsh brush washes and general vehicle wear and tear.

Another innovative HMG product is PVC94, a superb flexible paint product that has many different applications on a wide range of difficult-to-paint substrates. PVC94 comes into its own especially on curtain sides, which are widely used in the CV market. It is a 1K product that can be applied directly onto a PVC curtain, without the need for a primer, and is dry in 30 minutes, with excellent adhesion and complete flexibility.

Paint is the most frequently seen man-made object on the planet, although its environmental and material preservation roles are often overlooked. At HMG there is a real passion for the paint industry and its customers in the CV market. Next year, the firm celebrate its 75th birthday and is very optimistic about its position as the leading independent paint supplier in the field and the market potential the CV industry continues to offer.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

This year, Manchester paint manufacturer HMG Paints, an independent family-owned firm competing successfully in a market comprising mainly multinationals, celebrates its 75th anniversary. Within three years of its formation, the entire company, lock, stock and paint barrel, was moved to new premises on a single horse and cart, including all four employees. Today, HMG employs around 165 staff at its Collyhurst headquarters, has a network of subsidiaries and associate companies across Europe, America and the Middle East, and produces millions of litres of paint annually. In fact, it’s estimated that if a line were drawn with just the carbon black pigment it has used for paintmaking over 75 years, it would stretch to the moon and back 400 million times!

Thanks to forward-thinking management, a skilled and remarkably loyal workforce, outstanding product performance and a level of friendly, personal service that is distinctive nowadays, HMG Paints has built significant brand share in a number of market sectors, notably Commercial Transport, Offshore & Marine, Civil Engineering & Construction, Light Industry, Furniture, Model & Hobby and Speciality Finishes. Its paint can be found on every continent, in every ocean and, in tune with its maxim ‘one name that covers everything’, on virtually every substrate, from steel to glass, concrete to grass.

Among thousands upon thousands of applications, HMG provides acrylic paints for rocketships, antifoulings for ships and customs boats, powder coatings for electronics manufacturers, wood coatings for furniture and coffin makers, rust inhibitors for radio telescopes, weatherproof coatings for lighthouses, adhesives for artefacts, grass paint for sports stadia, flexible coatings for hot air balloons and biocidal paints for hospitals. At the other end of the scale, it also makes special coatings for straw hats, shoe eyelets, electric light bulbs, modelmaking and car exhausts.

HMG Paints itself is a wholly-owned subsidiary of H Marcel Guest, the name of the original company and its eponymous founder, Harold Marcel Guest, a dapper Belgian with a penchant for immaculate suits, gloves and spats. A former travelling salesman, he originally set up producing cellulose capping solutions, used for beer bottle tops, with three staff, Herbert Falder, grandfather of the current MD and Marketing Director, Stanley Wallwork and Bertram Bernie. The firm’s diversification into cellulose paint came about by accident, when carelessly-thrown capping solvent stripped paint off the founder’s car and an improvised coating was hastily formulated to conceal the damage.

Marcel Guest felt that paint was not his forte, however, so within a year Herbert Falder bought him out for the not inconsiderable sum of £100, including rights to the name, and later moved the firm to Fitzgeorge Street, where it remained until the move to Collyhurst in 1959.

Herbert’s son, Brian Falder, who joined HMG as a youngster in 1942 and full-time three years later, ran the company for forty years, overseeing a major period of growth, before semi-retiring as Chairman in the 90’s. Brian then handed the reins to his sons, John and Stephen, both qualified industrial chemists, who are Managing and Marketing Director respectively. They have maintained and enhanced the firm’s reputation for developing innovative new products for important niche markets, like its Slippy Bottom antifouling, Byotrol antimicrobial formulation and Roadover highway repair system; its unrivalled colour matching service, drawing upon over 50,000 standard shades; and its singular willingness to stipulate no minimum quantity, right across the range.

Despite a continuing presence, the Falders are not even the largest family in the firm, thanks to a strong tradition of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives working alongside one another. Long-serving employees is another characteristic: 82 year old Albert Moore joined the company in 1933, delivering paint with a bicycle and sidecar, and was still working part-time until recently; Stanley Wallwork later received a BEM in tribute to his long employment; while foreman Ronnie Harvey retired after 51 years loyal service. In fact, the total employment record of the current 165 staff adds up to around 2,300 years, or an average of 14 years per person. All of which translates into an enormous breadth of knowledge and expertise among HMG’s workforce, which in turn facilitates high levels of technical support and service for its customers.

As a paint manufacturer operating near a thriving city centre and drawing its employees from the local area, HMG Paints devotes considerable energies to environmental, community and corporate social responsibility issues. Its riverside site with thousands of native trees is linked to the regional Red Rose Forest urban woodland project and used as an open air classroom for schoolchildren. The family board members play active roles on various industry, governmental and charitable bodies, including the CBI, the Proskills arm of the Government Sector Skills Council, Prince’s Trust, Community Forest North West and Better Regulation Task Force. This allows a proudly independent British company to have a voice in many forums that might affect the future of its business, its marketplace and its workforce. The firm’s works with schools including curriculum packages, work experience placements and career enhancement projects was also recently recognised with a Corporate Social Responsibility award.

One final claim to fame. HMG’s Collyhurst site was the setting for the pilot episode of ITV’s classic police drama ‘Prime Suspect’, its production of paints and primers also providing inspiration for the series’ title.

Further enquiries to:

HMG Paints
Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU
Telephone 0161 205 7631
email sales@hmgpaint.com

Press Contact David Gent Creative
Tel 01706 220388
Fax 01706 215849
email david@davidgent.com

Client Contact Alison Patterson
Tel 0161 205 7631
email apatterson@hmgpaint.com