I recently visited a company about to celebrate 200 years in business soon - Lilley and Gillie of North Shields, Tyne and Wear. It's a fantastic company with a market lead in supplying naval and marine charts, nautical navigation equipment and nautical publications.
John Lilley established his company in 1812 and was subsequently amalgamated with John Gillie’s company of North Shields. John Gillie was born 1864 and became an apprentice nautical instrument maker in 1880. After his apprenticeship he spent a year in Glasgow before forming his own company ‘Wilson and Gillie‘ in North Shields.
Many iterations of the business have taken place since and I was impressed with the consistent themes of product excellence and serving global markets, going back over 100 years. They are now supplying ships charts, high tech compass and nautical equipment all over the world, with 80% + of the company turnover being export related.
Managing change is a constant – as it was for them in the 1800’s. In 1858 only 7 out of 44 shipyards on the Tyne used iron , but this grew rapidly in the following decade as shipbuilders moved from wood to iron. This meant the relatively simple magnetic compass for a wooden ship suddenly had to be compensated for the steel effect on the earths magnetism and meant changes to the compass bowl and binnacle.
Even today we see companies that innovate to move with the market are successful and have a greater ability to manage risk and succeed in international markets. I’m delighted and proud to see Lilley and Gillie thriving after so much change and wish them well for the next 200 years!