Summary
• Rob Simpson served an apprenticeship in the pattern and model-making department of a turbine manufacturer.
• He joined Howarth’s as a sales representative in 1984.
• He became managing director of SCA Timber Supply in 2000.
• The company’s sales exceed 300,000m³ of softwood per year.

People starting out in the timber trade must often wonder what it takes to get to the top: Rob Simpson followed a route that many may not think still exists, yet probably remains the best proven – hard work, a love of the product and an empathy with the people working throughout the industry.

One of four children, Rob grew up in Bedford. “My mother was on her own and worked in Ellis & Everard’s (now part of Travis Perkins). It must have been hard keeping everything going and she worked all the hours she could. Dad had left home and did all sorts of things, but he was an avid mediaevalist and his big interest was archery, so he ran a bow-making factory near Sherwood Forest. His humanist funeral a few years back was like a scene out of Blackadder!”

After ‘O’ levels Rob left school and got an apprenticeship at Allen’s, a big turbine manufacturer in Bedford. “I enjoyed woodwork at school and fancied being a joiner, so a job in the pattern- and model-making section was a good start,” he said. “Working with jelutong, obeche and yellow pine to create intricate shapes was a fantastic experience. I had these amazing guys around who showed me what to do – you just learned to shut your eyes and spokeshave the shape in your mind. I still have many of the hand tools I bought as an apprentice. I am eternally grateful to this engineering company for investing time and money in me, covering all the costs during my four-year full-time technical college course.”

Time to move on

Rob clearly flourished at Allens. In fact he was top apprentice and won the national engineering apprentice of the year. But he wanted a new challenge.

“Some days the only daylight I saw was through the factory skylight, I needed more,” he said. “I’d married Lesley when I was 21, I’d completed my apprenticeship and it was time to move on.”

So Rob entered the timber trade, joining Howarth’s in 1984. “I was with them 16 years, starting off as a representative in Herts & Beds. I was soon given a larger area, covering north and east London too, before moving into my first management role as southern sales manager. I was gaining valuable ‘hands on’ family company experience which helped me later in corporate land.”

Rob hadn’t entirely left his craft background behind, however, finding it useful to win sales!

“As a young salesperson I was trying to win business at a joinery works and could see their hand tools were not right – nobody could get a sharp edge – so I took the tools to Allen’s to have them reforged and reground. The manager couldn’t believe the difference and needless to say the next order was mine.”

Rob became sales director of Howarth Timber Importers in 1994. “We were very early into the Baltics and decking and had many innovative new ventures. I was very proud to have been a part of this success story but, once again, I felt I needed to move on.”

Joining SCA

Swedish forest products giant SCA, he added, had made a few approaches. “I wondered how I’d fare in the big corporate world and decided to take the chance. As the interviews progressed I realised the scale of what I’d be entering. And the two previous MDs had been Swedish, adding to the pressure.”

Rob became managing director of SCA UK (now SCA Timber Supply Ltd) in March 2000, responsible for distributing 108,000m³ of softwood from its terminal and direct from its mills, to UK customers. “It was a great challenge,” he said. “Stephen King had just joined as sales manager – he’s now sales director – and together we helped build up a superb business.”

In a couple of years SCA’s volumes had doubled. Then, in 2003, after working with one planing mill in Warrington, SCA bought FG Chambers of Stoke-on-Trent. In 2005, it also moved from Scunthorpe to deep-water facilities at King George Dock in Hull.

“Chambers took us into the DIY and merchant sectors, where we are now building a strong supply chain service business with high-speed planing and a packaging line that produces 1.1 million door lining/casing sets each year on a single shift,” said Rob.

Coming up to date, in 2007 SCA acquired the Severn Timber business, with three further high-speed planing lines, sawing and treatment facilities. “We now have over 70,000m³ of UK machining capacity and are currently number two in the DIY sector, with a £75m turnover and 160 employees. Our sales exceed 300,000m³ a year of softwood, which is a significant growth in seven years.’

Despite an obviously hectic schedule, Rob has also been very active in The Timber Trade Federation, focusing on education, training and careers, with SCA also a sponsor of the TTJ Career Development Award.

Throughout his varied career so far he has lived in the same village near Bedford, where his two sons, Danny and Josh, are now well on the way to completing their education and where he pursues his hobby of Egyptology.