RAIL PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW |
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Interview
David Girdler, McCulloch Group CEO Sam Sherwood-Hale, Editor of Rail Professional spoke to David Girdler, McCulloch Group CEO about eliminating manual handling, tailoring solutions to client’s problems and being at the forefront of innovation
McCulloch Group has been in business for 30 years, having joined in 2021, how much have you’ve learned about the company in that time? In the year that I have been here, it was important to me to get to know the founders, twin brothers Danny and Billy, and the McCulloch team, some of whom have been here since the business’ inception, to gain an understanding of the DNA of the business and I can confidently say that McCulloch Group has been at the forefront of changing the way we work on the railways. The company began with Danny and Billy working on the railway and observing standardised working practices. This lead to the identification of better ways to complete certain tasks on the track, new methods, as well as inventing and developing new and patented machinery which would not only improve efficiency plus health and safety practices, but also saves time and money. We have documented evidence of some clients reducing previous high injury workstreams to achieving zero accidents and incidents through the adoption of our innovative plant. From an industry perspective, obviously technology is continually evolving, and we have to respond to that by developing our products and processes. A good example is our response to the climate crisis which is going to be, if not already, the biggest
challenge the rail industry faces in the next ten years. We’ve recently launched our first entirely electric product, the TRTe™, which we believe to be the first zero-emissions rail solution in the world. As we enter our thirtieth year as a business the biggest change is the transformation from an entrepreneurial
Eliminating manual handling is at the core of everything we do at McCulloch Group and it’s the primary focus of much of our innovative kit
style of business to one based on a formal business footing. We are positioned for exponential growth and the new structure is imperative to facilitate sustained success. However, the entrepreneurial culture is at the forefront of everything we do and the business will always maintain a quirky edge, which I personally love.
How do your different machines reduce man/machine proximity? Most of our machines have been designed to replace manual railway tasks, be it removing and replacing rail panels, lifting or laying cable, or even transporting waste and debris away from the track. By utilising our machines to complete these tasks, particularly in the case of machinery that is remote controlled, it creates an exclusion zone allowing on-track workers to have a safe clearance. The vast majority of rail machinery is adapted from civils equipment. This is inherently inefficient as it is a corruption of plant that was inefficient to begin with. An example being that McCulloch equipment generally lifts from within its own footprint. This is essentially more stable and efficient than the business as usual kit on the market. All of our machinery is certified for work under live overhead line equipment – so that in itself means we’re keeping men off the track under live environments and removing the dangers that these environments entail. This creates an exclusion zone and keeps the operators out of harms way. This is complemented by the halo and camera system which is also in use on some of our plant. It would be a simple step to have no boots on the ballast at all, with our equipment fully operated remotely. Clearly Rail Professional
