Celebrating 40 years at Gallagher with Brendan Robinson

“Work hard and be good to your mum” is the advice Brendan Robinson would give to someone just starting their career with Gallagher. With 40 years under his belt, Brendan has experienced many changes, and a lot of growth. In celebration of his 40-year milestone, we spoke to Brendan and his team members about his time.

Brendan has seen three different owners over his 40 years; initially working for WH Billings - a manufacturing business that sold Gallagher energisers - in 1984. He joined the production team and was responsible for making wire forms (the wire component of our electric fence offsets) and lead shot (the nasty bit of a bullet!). 
“I can’t remember my first day – it’s been a while – but I remember the interview; I hadn’t been able to work for a few months as I did my back in playing footy. I went in for the interview and got the job because I knew two of the guys on the production floor.”
 
Brendan stayed in manufacturing for a while, eventually moving into a supervisor role. When Gallagher RSM (the Australian Gallagher distributer) acquired WH Billings, the opportunity arose to move into the Australian logistics team and he took it.
 
His focus in logistics has been preparing and shipping Gallagher products to our customers throughout Australia, and as the business grew, the team scaled in size to meet customer demand.
 
“Our logistics team grew from just one person to six, and today we’re processing more than 150 customer orders daily.”
 
To put the changes Brendan has been through in perspective, Gary Deer, Australia’s Operations Manager says: “We’ve evolved from a business that used to handwrite everything, to our fourth ERP system – Brendan has been there for it all.”

Sanjila Chand and Dennis Trowbridge have worked alongside Brendan for 15 and 20 years respectively and have nothing but great things to say.
 
“We’ve both worked closely with Brendan in the warehouse, and we’re just like family. He’s been a great mentor for us, through the good and the bad times.”
 
Noel Hecker has worked with Brendan for 38 years.
 
“Brendan always put his best foot forward and is a very respected work friend and colleague.”
 
So how does Brendan feel about reaching 40 years of service?
 
“I’m proud, very proud. Chuffed to be honest. Not many people make it this far at the same company. It’s a bit surreal, like where did the time go?
 
“Seeing the growth throughout the years, and the different milestones we’ve achieved has been great. I‘ve met a lot of people and made a lot of life-long friends, and that’s the sort of thing that keeps you going.
 
“I can’t see myself doing anything else or being anywhere else.”