Miller History

A history of innovation

In 1978 I started out as a sole trading mobile Welding Engineer, based in the industrious North East of England. I was just 21 and left a steady job, but it was one that held few prospects and as such I decided to set out on the path of self employment to try and build a business repairing buckets for the quarry, mining, construction and associated industries. It wasn’t long before I gained the reputation for quality and service, the word had spread so the demand for my services grew and as such I very quickly needed an extra pair of hands.

1978 - Keith Miller started out as a sole trading mobile Welding Engineer.

In 1979 my brother Gary, aged just 18, joined me and we operated out of a rented allotment which cost us £5 a month. The business continued to grow quickly and we soon purchased our first factory at Tower Street on Newcastle’s Quayside and the beginning of Miller manufacturing services was born.

In 1979 my brother Gary, aged just 18, joined me.

By 1981 the contracts and the work load increased and as ambitious as ever we realised that to continue to grow sales we needed to promote our services outside the region. We decided to participate in a construction exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham. To help promote our business we employed the services of our 17-year-old sister Jacqueline. Such was the success of the exhibition and of Jacqui’s sales technique that she joined us on a permanent basis to continue to promote the Miller name countrywide.

In 1989 the business had continued to grow steadily until we launched a brand new product which would change the shape of the Company’s future forever. The combination of a novel idea from New Zealand with our innovative engineering and manufacturing expertise resulted in the design of the Pin-Pick-Up Quick Coupler. The product in question, the Mag 7 (named because it reduced bucket and attachment changeover to a Magnificent 7 seconds) was launched in this year. Sales were slow at first because the market was slow to catch on to how this revolutionary product could transform their job sites and machine productivity. They could only see the additional up front purchase price which they couldn’t pass on to their customer. This proved a great challenge to us in those early years of product introduction and with the UK entering a recession it was made all the more difficult, but undeterred we persisted as we believed passionately in the products capabilities and eventually the market realised that the initial up front purchase price was repaid within a few months by the increase in machine efficiency and productivity and thereafter on site working with excavators and BHL’s was literally revolutionised.

In 1994 the Company’s growth and success was publicly acknowledged when we were awarded the much coveted ‘Barclays Small Business of the Year Award’, a national award recognising excellence in business development of companies with under 50 employees.

1994 - The Company participated in its first overseas exhibition at Intermat in Paris.

In 1994 following the success of the Mag 7 in the UK and after taking on board some sound advice from business guru, the late Sir John Harvey Jones, we decided it was time to ‘think European’. The Company participated in its first overseas exhibition at Intermat in Paris which resulted in the launch of the quick coupler to the European market. Interest from all over the globe was received for this pioneering solution to attachment changeover.

By 1995 and as a result of our success at Intermat we appointed our first independent overseas distributor, Haladjian in France. We had been looking for an established company with national sales coverage and an excellent reputation, but one that did not represent any one brand. We found this first with our French distributor and thereafter went on to establish an extensive overseas dealer network in countries that would embrace this technology.

1998 – From our first ever pin pick-up quick coupler design in 1989, we have continued to redesign and further develop the product to ensure that all Miller couplers offer the latest on-site technology possible with safety at the forefront of all our innovations. When we launched the Bug quick coupler, yet another market first there were two unique features; its universal ability to pick up a range of attachments from different machine manufacturers and its ability to operate solely from the machine’s cab without having to manually insert a locking pin – making it fully automatic.

1999 – Another industry first – We became an approved OEM pin pick-up coupler manufacturer with a supply agreement to ‘factory fit’ quick couplers. This contract meant that we had become the supplier of choice to Caterpillar Inc. for its quick coupler requirements. Our unique Bug coupler invention was exported directly to Caterpillar’s North American and Japanese machine assembly plants and was branded as the Cat Pin Grabber Plus – ‘The CAT PGP’

2001 – We decided a change of name was appropriate and so we became Miller UK limited. This was to reflect more accurately the nature of the business as an established large scale manufacturer offering a range of products and services to a global customer base.

2003 - Miller celebrated its 25th anniversary and in the same year relocated to its current location in Cramlington, Northumberland.

2005 - a joint venture was established with a foundry in northern China.

2003 – We celebrated our 25th year in business and in that same year we relocated to our current location in Cramlington, Northumberland. This 150,000 ft² facility has allowed our company to further streamline its manufacturing lines and upgrade the processes to meet the latest environmental standards. The building houses 50,000 ft² of indoor warehouse space to accommodate stock levels which ensure a rapid delivery time of all standard products.

2005 – Following 5 years of extensive research we signed a Joint Venture agreement with a foundry in Northern China and the company Miller Construction Machinery Co Ltd was formed. This Company manufactures couplers on a large scale using a casting method as well as component coupler parts for the UK operation. This allows us to supply a more extensive global market and to deliver products that match the advancing demands of the now well established coupler user, for example a ‘lighter and stronger’ product aimed at offering users the same benefits but more efficiently.

2005- the Cramlington factory was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Kent.

2005 – Following significant factory refurbishment and streamlining of production lines and processes at our UK facility, we embarked upon a World Class Manufacturing programme. In recognition of this and of our success as both a manufacturer and exporter, the Cramlington factory was officially opened by both HRH the Duke of Kent and Sir Digby Jones, CEO (Director General at the time) of the CBI. HRH, the Duke of Kent said “This new facility presents an exciting opportunity for Miller to build on its reputation and successes in a sector in which it has become synonymous with quality and expertise. The relocation of all UK manufacturing operations under one roof is a bold commitment to the future of the company”, “A bright future lies ahead” acknowledged Sir Digby Jones.