Leviton celebrates 50-year ‘connection’ with Fife

In our offices, schools and virtually every building we enter, we rely on cabling and connectivity systems for data networks – and the chances are that the company keeping us connected is located right here in Courier Country, in Glenrothes.

At its site in Viewfield Industrial Estate, Leviton Network Solutions Europe manufactures copper and fibre optic communication cables for its global government, commercial, and data centre customers around the world.

Perhaps better known locally as Brand-Rex (it was renamed a few years ago following Leviton’s acquisition of the business), this company has seen a lot in its 50 years in Fife.

So too has Leviton, this US electric device, lighting and networking giant has a long-established history dating back to 1906 when it made gas mantles for street lighting – then lamp holders supporting the rollout of Edison’s incandescent lightbulb!

Today, Leviton, which is headquartered in New York, is a massive organisation, employing 7,000 staff worldwide, including 200-plus in Glenrothes – a site which has recently benefited from £3 million-worth of new equipment. Now, as the organisation celebrates its 50th anniversary in the Fife town, we caught up with Dundee-born managing director Ian Wilkie about its history and highlights.

Ian began working for Leviton as an international sales manager more than two decades ago before working his way up to MD.

As he reflects on his time at the global firm, Ian is proud of where the company has come from, the challenges it has overcome (including changes in legislation; Brexit; Covid; global logistics and raw materials in short supply) as well as where it is heading.

“We have celebrated important milestones not just in Leviton’s history but also in Scotland’s history and, in the last 50 years, we have been there every step of the way,” said Ian.

He is referring to the major communication infrastructure projects that the firm has been involved in.

Ian explained: “The Scottish Parliament was one of the prestigious projects we were involved in many years ago. We were also responsible for the network solutions at Glasgow’s newest hospital, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH).

“And during the pandemic, all our cables and connectivity products went into the Louisa Jordan temporary hospital at the SEC in Glasgow – as well as all the hospital beds.”

Leviton’s cables have also had sporting (and military) success in politics and health.

“Our cables and connectivity have been installed at prestigious sporting events such as the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. It’s inspiring to know that the cables we make in Glenrothes have made it possible to broadcast sporting events like the Olympics to audiences worldwide.

“One of the biggest projects we worked with was on HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier that was built at Rosyth – we supplied the fibre optic network on the ship. That was massive for us. And when the Queen was there naming the ship, I was there in the background.”

In every project the market leader has three key focuses: innovation, service and sustainability.

“We are constantly developing new products while providing customers with great service and going the extra mile,” said Ian, before revealing that Leviton’s Glenrothes site became the first company in the industry to become carbon neutral – in 2011!

“We were ahead of the game at the time,” he said.

“Our then-managing director read an article and said ‘by the end of the year, we are going to be carbon neutral’ and nobody had a clue what it meant.

“We had to work out how to measure our carbon footprint and reduce the energy we consumed, and our transportation.

“But, ultimately, as a manufacturer we are going to be a net-emitter of carbon – but to become carbon neutral we had to offset this. So we looked at

how we could link up with some environmental projects that had a real relevance with our business.

“We are continuing to grow environmentally.”

And Leviton is continuing to invest in its people and community. As someone who has spent a big chunk of his career at Leviton, Ian knows all about the prospects offered to its employees, especially its apprentices and graduates who, Ian hopes, “will be leading the business in 10 to 20 years”.

“We are in the people business, and people are and will continue to be our most important assets,” he said.

As well as staff engagement activities, there are projects involving a number of local charities, schools and the environment as part of Leviton’s 50th-anniversary celebrations as the firm says thank you and continues its long-term alliances with the local community. It’s all about giving back to people.

Leviton is supporting the Muirhead Outreach Project, working with Auchmuty High School with the Developing Young Workforce initiative.

As part of its ongoing commitment to keep plastics out of our seas and oceans, staff are taking part in the Great Nurdle Hunt to comb beaches for plastic pellets that harm ocean wildlife.

It’s no wonder this flourishing firm won the Outstanding Business Awards at Fife Business Awards in 2019.

The company has continued to grow and develop in its 50 years in Glenrothes, and in 2011 became the first company in the industry to achieve carbon neutrality.

Managing director Ian Wilkie outside the Glenrothes site.