As the Summer Solstice is celebrated around the Country and especially at the historic Stonehenge in Wiltshire, we at QMS are celebrating a different milestone as today is our 21st birthday!
Formed by Ralph Clark on 21st June 2001 after leaving Ringway Roadmarking where he worked as Managing Director for 12 years, Ralph initially started QMS as a sole trader, offering consultancy work to the industry with his wealth of knowledge spending a few months collaborating with Jointline in London.
Later in the same year, Ralph’s son, Greg left Ringway where he had “earned his stripes”over the previous 11 years and joined Ralph in November, initially working with a local fabrication workshop to build the first QMS screed truck.
Then, in January 2002 – Everything started!
Initially with only five staff members, the Company was ready to work with one screed truck, one van, a paint machine and a small office at Ipplepen, near Newton Abbot.
In February 2002, we were accredited to ISO 9001 and were already being recognised as going well beyond what others were delivering. Clean vibrant vehicles, bright and recognisable vehicle livery and completed works looking like they had been printed on to the surface.
“When we started the business, we spoke to many people to discover what they believed they were lacking from their existing suppliers of road markings. From this, we developed our products and services with the single ambition at being the best at what we do” – Greg Clark
In the years that followed, we continued to push the boundaries of expectations and building relationships with clients to produce an established portfolio of products and services. Formulating a training and development programme for staff to go beyond any “minimum requirements” of industry standards.
High Friction Surface Treatment was quickly added to the service offerings, initially with the delivery of Epoxy Resin, then MMA (Methyl Methacrylate) and ultimately in 2015 when our own MMA system, QMS HyperGripTM was introduced to eliminate perimeter and transverse cracking and delivered with a five year guarantee. This system is widely used throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with over 250,000m2 now successfully installed.
2006 saw a major game changer in the UK when we introduced QMS HyperLineTM as an alternative to sprayed thermoplastic for the maintenance and rejuvenation of existing markings, particularly on the Motorway and Trunk Road network. This multi-award winning solution delivers exceptional reflectivity performance, delivered with phenomenal daily outputs, reducing costs for the client and significantly reducing the carbon impact to the planet. Adopted on many of the private DBFO (Design, Build, Finance & Operate) networks around the country, the system continues to safely guide motorists in the hours of darkness in both dry and wet conditions.
Internal line marking became a prominent part of the business in 2003 when we had our first opportunity to work for a growing supermarket chain - Lidl. This initial project went well and started a relationship which is stronger now then ever before with a four-year framework agreement to deliver all line marking within Lidl’s 15 distribution centres nationwide.
We worked with the maintenance teams at Lidl and our suppliers to develop our QMS WarehouseUV system, offering both RapidShield and SolidLux systems to meet the demands of the working environment. As Lidl have grown from strength to strength throughout the UK, so has our internal line marking division, now operating with four teams throughout the country for many clients, delivering line marking within major distribution centres and industrial warehouses.
ISO 14001 and 45001 for Environmental and Health & Safety management joined our 9001 accreditation for Quality along with ConstructionLine Gold, Altius and Safe Contractor, proudly boasting our commitment to delivering the ultimate experience to our clients.
Having moved from our small offices at Ipplepen to Heathfield in 2006, we moved to bigger premises on the Heathfield Industrial Estate in 2014 where we remain to this day. Now employing 36 staff and delivering work all around the Country to an increased portfolio of returning clients.
Now fully established within the line marking and surface treatment sector, Greg commented, “this is truly an exciting time for the Company, it is fantastic to see how the business has developed over the past 21 years. I truly believe that we are only getting started and there is so much more to come!”
Yesterday, we caught up with founding member and CEO Ralph Clark after celebrating scoring a hole-in-one at Dartmouth Golf Club, where he enjoys much of his well deserved retirement. He had this to say, “I think back over my career in highway road marking starting with John Snook as my Chargehand in 1963 before running my own crew in Devon as a Chargehand myself in 1965. Being involved with the inception of Sprayplastic in 1968 before working on the Autoroute from Paris to Rouen in 1970. I remember working at the Makurdi Airport in Nigeria in 1978 (which was once used to airlift supplies during the Biafran war), after which I spent four years working in Saudi Arabia until 1982 which included line marking the road to Mecca together with a small project for somebody called Bin Laden! It was forty years ago when I travelled to the Falkland Islands to line the new runway at Mount Pleasant before returning to the UK to head up the line marking operations for Prismo and later Ringway in 1988 until 2001.
With the commitment of Greg and all the team at QMS, the business has grown to become an established leader in innovation with all of its various line marking and specialist surfacing products. It is fantastic to continue to see innovation being brought to market and I am incredibly proud of what QMS has achieved within the sector - Congratulations QMS on your 21st birthday.”
To all our amazing clients and our fantastic staff, thank you for believing in us. We look forward to this continuing to develop even further into the future.
And as for Ralph's hole-in-one - He finally has his name in lights!
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