Yamato Scale Dataweigh, the world's leading manufacturer of multi-head weighers and checkweighers, has announced the appointment of Steve McCallion as its new Managing Director with responsibility for the UK, Scandinavian, Middle East and South African business.
Based in Leeds at Yamato's UK headquarters, Steve will implement a new business strategy to increase sales year on year, expand the existing sales team and help to cement Yamato's reputation as the UK's leading provider of weighing solutions.
With over 20 years experience in the packaging industry, Steve joins Yamato from Ulma Packaging Automation, where he was Managing Director. During his three and a half years with the company, Steve successfully established the start-up business as a leading packaging machinery supplier, capable of producing complete end of line solutions. In this role, Steve was instrumental in helping create four new machines, including a hybrid twin robotic case packer capable of packing 400 cartons per minute.
Speaking about one of his career highlights, Steve mentioned "One of my most memorable moments working with Ulma has to be successfully securing a £2 million contract for a cupcake and muffin production line for the Fabulous Bakin Boys. With over 900 pieces processed per minute, the installation included a distribution system, three flowwrappers, carton loading system, overhead product counting system, case packer and palletiser."
Before building his experience and expertise in the packaging industry, Steve began his career in the oil and gas industry working as a marine engineer with Shell. In 1986, he joined Christian Salvesen as Engineering Manager before being promoted to Technical Director. In 1990, Steve then set up his own business, Rynex which had two divisions. One which designed and manufactured conveyors, case packers and palletisers for businesses operating in the food and beverage industries and the other manufacturing value components for the oil and gas sectors. During this time, Steve was at the forefront of developing robotic automation for industrial applications, which has now become a 'norm' in the food and beverage industries.
Speaking about his experience in product development, Steve added: "Throughout my career, I've been very fortunate to work with companies that manufacture around 80% of their products in-house. It not only gave the business a significant advantage over our international competitors, but it gave us the opportunity to work closely with our customers, keep them happy and supplying a great service."
Steve continued, "I am delighted to join the Yamato team and look forward to working with all of the engineers here in Leeds to expand Yamato's reputation, and my experience, within the processing and packaging industries. When I found out that the company were looking to move from being a product supplier to a solution provider, I realised that there was a tremendous synergy between this goal and my own knowledge and experience. I very much look forward to getting to know the team and working with them to take Yamato to the next level."