Ambitious plans for Fife engineering company

BESPOKE: Dale Swan founded equipment maker Swan Engineering

Q. How and why did you start in business?

I started Swan Engineering in Auchtermuchty after being made redundant from my last job, although I had been considering going it alone for some time prior to that.

The redundancy really just gave me the push required.

I had worked hard and saved around £30,000 so I took the plunge and invested in tools and equipment to get started. Right from the start Business Gateway was there to support me with a grant of about £3,000 towards buying additional equipment.

Q. How did you get to where you are today?

I’ve just stuck at it, worked all the time and reinvested any profit back into the business.

We now have in-house high specification laser cutting machinery, six axis press brakes and state-of-the-art CNC machine tools.

I have maybe taken a few gambles, especially with my expansion plans, that were scary to start off with but have paid off in the end.

Q. Who has helped you along the way?

I have received support from various people throughout my business journey, including my wife Sarah, my parents and my Business Gateway adviser Lynne Baillie.

Our employees are all brilliant and keen to see the business progress, so they put in the effort required for that to happen.

Q. What was your biggest mistake?

Being too slack with our credit control has cost us a few times.

Early on I was stung out of £18,000 from a company who went bust when I was still working on my own. It almost ended things for me because it was a massive chunk of the year’s profit gone.

Q. What is your greatest achievement?

We have won some sizable contracts over the last few years for jobs I used to associate with much bigger companies. We also took over a local machine shop that was likely to close and were able to safeguard and create several jobs from the deal.

Q. What do you hope to achieve in the future?

I have plans to continue expanding Swan Engineering for a while.

We have a big extension going up at the moment and there will probably be another to follow in the future, plus a new blasting and painting shed currently under construction.

I can see us reaching around 30 staff members and ticking along nicely there.

Q. Do you want to recruit in the future?

Once the new sheds are completed, we will probably look to recruit again shortly after.

Q. What is the hardest thing about running your own business?

The hardest thing for me is the inability to switch off.

Even when I’m on holiday I’m still checking emails and making calls. I would love to get to a place where I kept my working time to 40 hours each week and could then go home and forget about it for the evening.

Q. Any advice to wannabe entrepreneurs?

If you have a good idea for a business, just go for it.

Picture: Kenny Smith. Dale Swan of Swan Engineering.