Date Published: 03/09/2020
It is my pleasure (Allan Shaw) to announce that James Lynn has achieved 50 years’ service with Cochran. This is a significant and remarkable achievement for any employee. James is a great ambassador for Cochran and flies the flag with great pride and passion for what we do.
Management Team members (David Young, David Weild, Allan Shaw, John Riddell and Stuart Pickerill) held a socially distant presentation for James. James’ career at Cochran began in August 1970 as an apprentice where his first year was spent learning the standard engineering disciplines before moving into a specialist trade. He started his journey as a Plater manually marking off tube plates for drilling - no CNC machines at that time!
James says we were still manufacturing Vertical boilers in the 70s - ‘welded not riveted!’ Back then everything was manufactured on site; we even had our own foundry and two huge presses. The boiler shops were dark and extremely noisy; with Caulkers chiselling away with riveting guns it was deafening. Most of the internal movement in and around the factory was on rail lines that extended out to our River Annan slipway and all the way to the main rail track; the old shunter ‘Blinking Bess’ was still operating back then.
Congratulations James for reaching this landmark.