Page 34 from: December 2014
34 December 2014
Writing an article about JMC Recycling Systems can easily dis-
solve into a list-making exercise because the company is a source
of so many items of equipment and machinery relevant across a
wide spectrum of recycling end uses. But this breadth of offer has
also created an identity issue for the long-established UK business
– one which it is seeking to address through rebranding under its
original manufacturing name, McIntyre.
S U P P L I E R By Ian Martin
JMC ushers in
golden new era
for McIntyre
Sally Johnson and Phillip Pownall: ‘We want to be seen as a long-term
partner rather than as someone who just sells a piece of equipment.’
The company operating in recent years as JMC Recycling Systems is perhaps one of
only a handful in its chosen industry that has
achieved truly global sales success. Since 1975,
the family business has sold an almost unimag-
inable 27 000 items of recycling-related equip-
ment and machinery across every continent on
the planet – equivalent to almost 700 units per
year, or two each and every working day. ‘We
have even had one of our can balers on a cruise
liner, so I’d reckon that counts as being covered
pretty well everywhere,’ quips managing direc-
tor Phillip Pownall. ‘It’s more a case of trying to
name a country that hasn’t got a piece of our
equipment.’
Shears and small balers account for a large pro-
portion of sales, but JMC’s portfolio also
extends to cable strippers, granulators, car
depollution equipment, casting machines,
shredders, grabs and other metal handling
equipment, can recycling systems, briquetters,
container tilters/unloaders and metal analysers.
‘We have been a one-stop shop – a recycling
machinery supermarket – but we have been los-
ing the added value because we have had noth-
ing holding it all together,’ explains finance and
marketing director Sally Johnson, Phillip’s sister.
‘We have around 70 separate items of kit to offer,
including more than 20 shears, from a wide
range of suppliers. In cost terms, these extend
from less than £1000 (US$ 1568) for a small
cable stripper to around £150 000 (US$ 240 000)
for a Gemini casting machine. You can’t adver-
tise all 70 items at the same time. It has been
difficult for us to be tailored to every situation.’
Hence at trade shows around the world, the
JMC team has earned a reputation for using
every available centimetre in a bid to show off
the maximum number of items on its books.
Illustrious past
To overcome this perceived dilution of brand,
the business has dipped into its illustrious past
and restored the name McIntyre to promi-
nence. Although machinery sales did not begin
until 1975, the company’s roots trace back to
1872 when John McIntyre opened a scrap yard
at the foot of Nottingham Castle in central Eng-
land. Sally and Phillip’s grandfather Edward
(known to all as Ted) bought the business in
the 1920s and retained the McIntyre name, and
it was their father Michael and uncle John who
subsequently introduced the machinery arm.
Sally and Phillip joined the business in the
1980s, and the JMC Recycling Systems name
was created in 2003 to emphasise the company’s
machinery sales credentials.
Breadth of experience
Over the years, the company has also processed
aluminium and ferrous scrap; its Nottingham
yard is currently handling non-ferrous and
‘may take cars again in the near future’, Sally
ventures. ‘We can offer a breadth of experience
– not only in machinery but also in what they
are processing. Selling our machinery, we
understand our customer base because we’re
in the scrap business ourselves. We meet all the
same issues as everybody else.’
And Phillip adds: ‘Having the yard also means that
we are in a position to test the equipment we sell.’
But the management team increasingly felt that
it was losing its own identity under the weight
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