Family firm that won national acclaim

1889. It traded as E. C. Conroy Ltd.

But for two Glasgow brothers, Ian and Archie Galbraith, this centenary

celebration highlights a personal success story which has been achieved

through a blend of steadily acquired technical expertise, planning and

determination. The result has turned a small family business into a

nationally known firm which provides a major specialised service

respected throughout Scottish industry.

Thirty years ago, however, E. C. Conroy was still just a small

saw-doctoring repair shop when it was taken over by Mr Archibald

Galbraith, a Stamperland, Glasgow man who had from time to time worked

with the firm. As the new owner, he was joined by his 15-year-old son,

Ian, who until then had been a pupil at the then Eastwood, now

Williamwood, secondary school. His only other help in his newly acquired

business was his wife, Alice.

''I began as my father's apprentice,'' said Ian Galbraith, now TSC's

chairman. ''I learned how to sharpen saws and how to repair saws.

Serving a full apprenticeship also meant going to night school four

nights a week. My mother kept the firm's books and sometimes helped by

delivering sharpened saw blades to customers.''

There was additional help at weekends and at school holidays. His

brother Archie, eight years younger, was nine years old when he began

sharpening saws at home, or cleaning and helping in the shop.

''That earned me some extra pocket money,'' recalled Archie Galbraith,

now a TSC director.

Barely six years after taking over the little firm, their father died.

Ian Galbraith, still in his very early twenties, was faced with the

choice of selling the little business or keeping it going. He decided on

the latter course, took on a new apprentice, and the firm continued its

saw doctoring trade.

Business began to expand. What was to become known as the Saw Centre

soon bought the shop next door, then the shop next to that. A tenement

flat above was added, then a shed farther down the street. The business

gradually began the supply and maintenance of other items of tooling and

machining. The core still remained the sharpening of saws, but Ian

Galbraith was keenly aware that saws, once mainly simple items, were

rapidly changing. He studied the changes and prepared to meet them.

His brother Archie joined the firm after graduating from Paisley

Technical College, where he had studied civil engineering. The firm was

too small for him to have any specific role. The brothers still agree he

''just came in to work''.

Both can remember it as a time when large boxes of saws of all sizes,

up to 48in. circular saws would arrive from various parts of Africa,

sent to the Glasgow firm for repair by firms abroad with Glasgow roots

or by local African saw-doctors who lacked the facilities to carry out

full servicing. Nearer at hand other boxes of

saws would arrive from Glasgow schools -- systematically blunted by

pupils in woodwork classes.

Boxes of saws for repair no longer arrive from Africa. But saw

sharpening work is still carried out for some Glasgow colleges.

''The days are almost over when the average man in the street buys

himself a saw,'' said Ian Galbraith. ''Today, unless he is a hobbyist or

a tradesman, he buys a small power tool.''

''It was a time when some old customers were vanishing.

''Saws were also changing, steels were becoming better. One carbide

tipped saw would stay sharp long enough to replace 10 or 15 saws of the

older kind. In turn that meant that we might be asked to sharpen only

four saws where previously we would have been asked to service 40.''

The foresight to study that different world as it was arriving and to

be in a position to advise customers about what was happening was vital.

Even materials were changing. One instance was the way plywoods were

being made with new, harder-setting glues which could quickly blunt

conventional saws. In some industries, circular saws began to be

replaced by automatic band saws.

As technology changed, customer needs also changed. At the same time,

the Saw Centre team had another decision to make. They were operating

from a fragmented base, one Ian Galbraith describes as ''a scatter of

powerhouses''.

He had already decided they should stay in Eglinton Street rather than

move to any industrial estate location.

A chance came to acquire a site where old tenements were being

demolished. Work began and in 1985 the Saw Centre moved a short distance

along Eglinton Street to a new custom-built HQ at No. 650. It offered

20,000 sq.ft of operating space.

What had begun as a simple filing shop with overhead belts and shafts

along the walls went marching into new micro chip technology equipped

with the most modern computerised saw grinding equipment. Steady

investment in constantly updating equipment, particularly over the past

three years, was backed with an expert sales and service consultancy

role.

''Everyone on our team can talk to customers and suppliers alike as

specialist to specialist,'' says Mr Galbraith. ''Because of that, we

have been able to come to the rescue on several occasions where major

firms have suddenly serious problems.

''Again, when a group of Royal Navy minesweepers was dispatched from

Rosyth to the Gulf we were suddenly asked to provide various items of

equipment that were urgently needed aboard them in case damage had to be

repaired a long distance from base. The minesweepers were ready to sail,

but we were able to rush the tools through with minutes to spare.

''If we had not made that deadline, we already had plans made to rush

that equipment down to some other rendezvous.''

In one recent 10-year period, TSC's business increased an amazing

25-fold. The firm that was literally a man and a boy operation now

employs a staff of 50. It carries over #1m worth of stock. In the

workshop area one piece of computer controlled machinery, a Loroc

diamond grinding machine brought from Germany, cost #50,000 to install

and is the only one of its kind in the UK.

TSC deal in metallurgy, in production line installation, in advising

on any situation where precision cutting is required.

But a home handyman can still occasionally come in, surprised by the

dramatically changed surroundings, and ask about having a saw sharpened.

Some saws still turn up which were purchased from the original E. C.

Conroy firm.

Ian and Archie Galbraith both still treasure hand saws which belonged

to their late father.