From hand tools to laser cutting, the last 25 years have seen a rapid advancement in gasket manufacturing technology. On the factory floor, these changes have meant not just an investment in new technologies, they need people to embrace and master them for a company to succeed. Perhaps no one personifies this journey better than Dave Capstick, who is now being honoured by Dobson Gaskets for his quarter-century of dedicated service.
“The machines, that’s the biggest difference,” Dave explains. “We had flywheel presses and stuff that were a hundred years old. Now we’ve got CNC presses, CNC lasers, CNC water jets. I didn’t foresee that when I started, how quick it would be.”
Twenty-five years seems like a long time, but Dave was already an experienced engineer when he joined the company. Even back then, Dobsons were looking for talented people with new skill sets to work with emerging manufacturing techniques.
“They brought me from a rival firm because of my knowledge of metal spinning,” Dave continues. “Basically, it’s a method of manufacturing enveloped metal gaskets.”
Introducing this cost-effective, efficient and versatile method of manufacturing to the factory floor is just one early example of investment in people and technology that has streamlined the gasket fabrication process over the years, although the knowledge and experience people like Dave first brought to the company is still in use today.
These days, it's not easy to find someone working at the same company for so long. For Dave, it’s the culture at Dobsons that has mattered most to the experienced operator.
“It’s nice that it’s still a family firm,” he reflects. “If you ring up one morning and say something’s gone wrong, you can speak to a director and they’ll say, ‘We’ll sort that immediately.’ At a bigger firm, you just go through a chain of command, and nobody really cares. But here, it's not a small firm, but it's a close firm.”
One thing that has not changed over the years is Dave’s personal standards of tidiness and remaining well-organised in his daily work, something greatly appreciated by the company.
“He’s very organised and runs his department well,” explains Pete Jeffrey, Managing Director at Dobson Gaskets. “Without him, we wouldn’t have got where we are now. To have someone stay with the company for 25 years speaks volumes.”
Dave’s quick wit and sense of humour are also appreciated at the company. He is keen to poke fun at himself when asked about the future:
“Maybe another 25 years... I’m not so sure”, he laughs. “When I first started, I had dark hair, I was skinny, and I knew everything. Now I’m fat, grey, and I’m still learning every day.”
“If I had one piece of advice for myself 25 years ago, it is don’t take it so seriously,” he continues. “You can let it all on top of you sometimes, it's just realising there's a grand scheme of things.”
From tin snips to high-tech lasers, Dave’s journey has helped shape Dobsons just as much as the machines have shaped the gaskets, and long may it continue.