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Robert J “Bob” Moore is a Life Member of PIA and one of the true elder statesmen of the industry, having started working in pumps in 1955, and regarding himself as a lifelong “pump man”.
Chris Bland recently had the chance to ask Bob, now 85 and still going strong, to reflect on his life and career.

 

CB: What was your first job?
RJM: First job, 1945, Draftsman with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC), no choice, sent there by the Manpower Dept late in World War II. I did five years in head office then two years in Heyfield designing irrigation block layouts for the Nambrok Denison Soldier Settlement Scheme. I was transferred to Tatura in 1952 to work on Goulburn Valley Irrigation District remodelling.
Left the SRWSC in 1954 to join Victoria Public Works Department (PWD) as a District Engineer (Gippsland) operating out of head office.
How did then get into pumps?
During this time with PWD (1954-55), I worked weekends for F.N. Bethune P/L manufacturers of Pomona Deep Well Turbine pumps. This company also operated a fleet of drilling rigs searching for quantities of underground water suitable for irrigation purposes. The deal was to visit properties, advise from geological studies the likelihood of a good quantity of underground water, select the drilling site and design a ten acre flood irrigation layout for the farmer. This was a most successful sales ploy. In 1956 Fred Bethune offered me a full time job which I accepted and this was my first involvement with pumps.
I eventually became the unofficial sales manager of FNB P/L (no one had titles!) and I was hooked on pumps and pump technology!
In late 1959 Bethune sold out to Clyde Industries, a NSW conglomerate and I immediately put myself on the market joining Kelly and Lewis Ltd, then a public company. I joined the staff as a Project Engineer to develop the range of Berkeley borehole pumps, another US licensed product. K&L’s wide range of all classes of centrifugal pumps widened my experience in the pump industry.
In 1960 K & L was taken over by Brambles Industries (a NSW conglomerate) but they on-sold the company to a UK company, Manchester-based Mather and Platt Ltd in 1961. Some difficult times followed for K&L with one large structural steel bridge contract in Queensland showing a huge loss. Restructuring followed and local M & P man Harry Smith assumed command and I became Marketing Manager.
What do you like about the pump industry?
After my time at Bethunes I was a dedicated “pump man”. This was strengthened as I got to know the markets available for a company like K&L with such a wide product spread. I was also attracted to the fact that every project where a pump was required had different conditions and a spread of customers from farmers through to engineers on high value projects. There was always a challenge to land “that order”.
How did your career progress from there?
In 1964 after four years “learning the ropes” of the pump industry at K&L I was offered and accepted the job of General Manager of FN Bethune P/L (now owned by Clyde Industries). In the next three years turnover was doubled and profit trebled.
The next move was unexpected, Kelly and Lewis, now fully stabilised financially, had decided, with Mather and Platt’s approval, to form a local board of directors and start to ‘grow’ the business. Would I like the job of Sales Director as second in command to Harry Smith? After some thought and negotiation I accepted the job, later to become General Manager and then Managing Director after Harry Smith returned to M & P Head Office in Manchester UK.
In 1976 Harry Smith was appointed MD of Mather and Platt Ltd and I moved to the UK to become MD of Mather and Platt’s Machinery Group. Also in 1976 Wormald International an Australian company made an audacious (and successful bid) for M&P so once again I found myself working for an Australian company and later moved up to become once a Group MD of M&P. I resigned from Wormald and from M&P in 1981 to become MD of the SPP Group, Britain’s second largest pump company (after Weiss of Glasgow). SPP was owned by the Booker-McConnell plc group and in 1983 I led a successful management buyout. This was followed two years later by a flotation of SPP on the London Stock Exchange. At SPP, turnover in 1981 was £22 million and profit before tax £550,000. By 1988 this had increased to £58 million and PBT of £4.5 million. It was a good time to retire and I passed the baton to my colleagues at SPP.
The industry must have changed a lot during your time in it.
Looking first at the Australian pump industry, successive governments with their tariff policies and lack of support not just to the pump industry but to all metal manufacturing companies has condemned Australia to a second class manufacturing nation.
The Tariff Inquiries during the 1970s reduced the pump industries protection from 55 per cent to 27.5 per cent and there has been a further 2.5 per cent reduction per annum so that it now stands at zero.
This, of course, has had a marked effect of Australian capability to keep abreast of pump design. Overseas, operating challenges together with metallurgical developments have produced sophisticated products for power stations, for oil extraction, refineries and so on beyond the capability of Australian companies. Here the market has changed and importers have used their pump application knowledge to develop good business.
There is no doubt that the Kelly and Lewis’ pump design team in the 1970s was as good as, if not best, in the world. The team was led by a brilliant pump/hydraulic design man Andy Gasuinas (who revitalised K&L’s methods and built up a group including Arthur Connor, Graeme Addie, Barry Pinder and others. Gasuinas was transferred to Manchester but sadly died suddenly aged 50. Within 12 months of his death, Arthur Connors went to Manchester for three years to carry on a world-wide design program commenced by Gasuinas.
Other Australian companies, notably Harland, Ajax and Thompsons of Castlemaine all had solid design teams. Harland eventually failed and was closed down, Ajax now has a mixture of its own designs and imports, while Thompsons was ultimately acquired by USA group, Flowserve Inc. (see below)
During the period from the late 1950s to the late 1980s the two major all purpose pump companies in Australia were Kelly & Lewis and Thompsons of Castlemaine (excluding specialists Mono and Warman).

 

Over this time each of these companies had a variety of owners. The takeover of Mather and Platt UK (K&L’s then current owner) in 1977 by Wormald International was primarily to get hold of M&P’s worldwide fire engineering companies and so to become the dominant force in the world fire protection market. However, by 1985 Wormald was under attack by corporate raiders and was in trouble financially, resulting in the disintegration of two great old companies, Mather & Platt and Wormald. In 1987 Kelly & Lewis was merged with Thompsons, to become Thompsons, Kelly & Lewis (TKL) and both were swept along with the wreckage. Ultimately, Flowserve Inc of the USA emerged as owner of the remains of TKL.
Over time, because of the factors mentioned above the Australian pump industry has changed from a primarily manufacturing industry to a mixture of a few manufacturers and many importers.
These importers generally are relatively small organisations. Previously Australia boasted 30 pump manufacturing companies and the organisation representing them was the Australian Pump Manufacturers Association (APMA). The status today is more like 10 manufacturers and 42 importers resulting in APMA changing its name to the Pump Industry Australia Inc. (PIA). PIA is doing a great job promoting the industry with technical seminars, tradeshows and contacts with Government departments and industry.
Of course, as the manufacturers closed down apprentice training was downsized leading to the shortage of skilled tradesmen in Australia today. Also foundries, which supplied the necessary castings to the industry have been steadily closing down over the past fifteen years.
What are the highlights of your career?
I would list three. Firstly, Kelly and Lewis winning the orders in 1971 for the eight effluent and five outfall pumps for the large Carrum Southeast Sewage Treatment Plant which at that stage handled 50 percent of Melbourne’s sewage, valued at $3.5 million (in 1971 dollars) and probably the largest value pump order ever placed with an Australian company.
Secondly in 1983, organising the management buyout of the SPP Group.
Thirdly, in 1985 arranging the flotation of the SPP Group on the London Stock Exchange.
Tell me about some of the people you have worked with. Did you have a mentor?
In business if you wish to grow, you are constantly gaining experience and being educated by your superiors, your customers and indeed by your juniors. Having said that, I think I can say that generally I had a good relationship with, and training from, my bosses over the years, the exception being with the Wormald hierarchy. Harry Smith, M&Ps Australian MD and I had a unique relationship. I guess you could say we mentored each other knowing that we both had different ambitions.
At Kelly and Lewis there were a host of people who contributed. Andy Gasuinas and Arthur Connor in Engineering; Alan Jackson, Finance Director and later MD (Alan resigned after the Wormald takeover of M&P to become MD of BTR plc in the UK). Bill O’Hehir and Les Kilburn in manufacturing; Ken Willcock, SE Asian Manager for K&L and M&P and later Commercial Director of K&L; Kevin Wilson and Geoff Daniels who both went on to top jobs in other companies and many others. Earlier, in the 1960s, I had great respect for Ray Purves, who built up the Clyde Industries Conglomerate.

 

What does the future hold for pumps?

With the exception of electric motors, pumps are probably the most widely used items of rotary machinery in the world today. Even in depressed economic times there is always some industry or government department requiring pumping equipment.
Those companies still in manufacturing must look to continuous modernisation of machine tools and processes to reduce the labour element to a minimum. Both manufacturers and importers must continually train staff to be skilled in pump application and product knowledge.
All Pump Industry Association members should look beyond just the pump to the system requiring the pump. They should expand their effort to solve the customers’ problems by offering complete systems.
Finally, and often neglected, after-sales service and fast availability of spare parts are factors which promote future sales.
What advice would you give to young people in the industry?
Enjoy the diverse nature of the industry whatever the position you hold in the company. Watch the progress of orders through your factory, ask questions, seeks answers and finally, if the opportunity arises visit the final installations on site. Management and sales personnel should use their skills to solve customers’ problems thus ensuring good future relationships.”

 

In his spare time, Bob enjoys writing, reading and travelling, and remains involved in the pump industry only socially.

 

Copies of Bob Moore’s last two books, ‘Toss of a Coin’ and ‘Kelly and Lewis’ are available from the PIA by clicking here

Career Timeline

Civil Engineering Diploma from Swinburne Institute of Technology (now Swinburne University) .
F.I.E (Aust), Chartered Professional Engineer
1955-1960 Sales Engineer FN Bethune P/L (Pomona Pumps)
1960-1965 Project Engineer, Marketing Manager Kelly & Lewis P/L (K&L acquired by Mather & Platt UK 1961)
1965-1968 General Manager F N Bethune P/L
1968-1976 General Manager, Managing Director; Kelly & Lewis
1976 – 1980 Managing Director Mather & Platt UK (acquired by Wormald 1977)
1981-1988 Managing Director SPP Group plc UK
Also served as President of the Australian Pump Manufacturers Association 1975/76 and Chairman of the British Pump Manufacturers Association 1986/87. Whilst with APMA major initiatives were in fighting the Tariff Board to keep a decent level of protection for the industry and trying to get government involved in rationalising the fragmented Pump Industry.

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