Siblings blending well in managing mixers

Danielle and Caol McIvor were presented with a daunting task when their parents decided to take a backseat in the family mixing business, Eurotruckmixers Ltd., but they have risen to the responsibility of being in charge.

Danielle McIvor has assumed the reins with a mimimum of fuss

Some entrepreneurs decide at an early age to become self-employed. Fed up with listening to orders and wanting to be their own bosses, they decide to take on the daily chore of running their own company and risk incurring losses.
Well, for two young Co. Tyrone siblings, the situation was somewhat different. With a family involvement in supplying and repairing mixers for the last 31 years, they were handed the responsibility of taking over the reins of Euro Mixer when their parents decided to retreat to a more supervisory capacity. The challenge would probably seem daunting to most of us, but Danielle and Caol McIvor have assumed their new authority with a minimum of fuss.

Danny McIvor, who comes from an engineering background, had been Managing Director of the company alongside his wife Nuala who played an active role in the family business by overseeing the running of the office. In May 2004, the founder decided it was time to hand over to his daughter, Danielle (20) and their son Caol (18), though the founder is still very much involved in a guiding capacity.
The company has three specialist areas. They build new replacement mixer drums for mixers. New Euromixer truckmixer units; and also both artic and tractor-drawn trailer mixers.
The company manufactures and supplies replacement drums for all types of truck mixer, including for example Leibherr, Stetter and L&T.

Caol McIvor staying on top of things

Eurotruckmixers Ltd. also manufactures the Euro Mixer, having developed a new lightweight truck mounted concrete mixer in response to growing market demand. As the only truck mixer manufacturer on this island, the company was quick to spot the opening for this product. The Euromixer is available in sizes from two cubic metres up to eleven cubic metres and the ever-popular lightweight truck mixer unit as designed and developed by the Tyrone company is a top seller at present.

The tractor-drawn mixers are also a keen innovation. This pioneering new product, that isn’t available anywhere else, was developed last year and comes in a range of sizes from two-six cubic metres. It has been developed with the building contractor, plant hire company or private entrepreneur in mind.
Eurotruckmixers also manufactures an artic trailer mixer of eleven or twelve cubic metres capacity, which is developed in conjunction with Dennison Trailers in Naas and has proven extremely popular since arriving on the market.

Tractor-drawn meters are a teen innovation

Taking over the business presented both Danielle and Caol with a considerable challenge. They had experience to draw on but Caol, for example, had only finished school. Suddenly they were involved in the daily operations of running a company and being in charge of the workers in the workshop.
As Managing Director, Danielle co-ordinates sales, manufacturing, servicing and finance, which are the four main strands of the business. She is enjoying running the company: “It is an experience. It is quite stressful, though it is enjoyable as there are plenty of things going on every day so you're not sitting about.

"I am office-based and deal with a variety of management issues as well as monitoring production in the workshop. I was thrown in at the deep end - we only came out of school last year. I took over the accounts while Caol took over the sales end of it.”

Euro Truckmixers is the only truck mixer manufacturer on this island

Caol (18) agrees. Having obtained the interest from his father and gone from being foreman in the workshop, he moved over to sales. This, he says, was a position "which he clicked with". But, with that, comes the headache of being self-employed, not being able to switch off at the end of the week when the wages arrive: “The thing is that if there is a problem on a Thursday evening, then you can't leave it sitting there. If you're being handed a cheque at the end of the week and somebody is ringing about a mixer then you have to deal with it,” he says.

Neither of the Mc Ivors has been content with sitting around waiting for things to happen in their work. Supplying companies such as John Gallaghers (Dublin), Ready Mix (Tullamore), J Barrett and Sons (Tyrone), the Kilsaran Group and Roadstone, they have recently decided to place emphasis on the technological side of the business. Caol is currently on the look-out for three agents in the South of Ireland to look after after-sales and repairs there.

Euro Truckmixers customers are invariably happy ones

Furthermore, they are completing the installation of a computerised production planning system.
Other contacts have provided invaluable assistance. McDonald Commercials in Monaghan and McCarthy Commercials in Cork as well as Letterkenny 4X4 have recommended the McIvor name to other companies.

Despite his tender years the experience has greatly benefited Caol. Over the last year and a half, he has been constantly busy, traveling the length and breadth of the country, and, on occasion, across the water to England, taking phone calls, handing out leaflets to truck drivers he meets and expanding the business.
What is the most satisfying aspect of working in the industry?
"Seeing every new mixer and being at the PDI (Post Delivery Inspection) point. The company plans to produce 60-70 machines this year and we normally manufacture about 130 replacement barrels in any given year.”

There may have been a few tweaks at management level, but with Danielle and Caol McIver now firmly in the driving seat Euro Truckmixers Ltd. looks set for a bright future.