1946-1956
During the 1950s the business grew slowly, investing in re-boring and
crankshaft-grinding equipment and extending its services to include all vehicles
from motor cycles to lorries and tractors. Tragically, Ivor died of a brain
tumour in 1956, aged only 40, but his wife Irene was able to take over the
company.
 1957-1969
This was a difficult period, with the company just ticking over, and with Irene
Searle having to cope with on-going staff and cash-flow problems. At the time,
the business consisted of a 20ft x 40ft machine shop and a 15ft x 30ft stores
area, and annual turnover was about £10,000. It was in part only due to the
loyalty of the local people who had great respect for Ivor and his wife that the
company managed to survive.
But
help was on the way. Irene’s son Colin had left school at 17 and joined Reynolds
and Hostler (R&H) in Norwich as an apprentice to learn all about the engine
re-manufacturing business. R&H was a large, go-ahead company, not afraid to use
the latest American and Italian equipment and always on the look-out for new
ideas and better ways of doing things, including building engines for stock in
addition to the usual ad-hoc replacement service.
In 1969, after completing only 18 months of his two-year apprenticeship,
Colin was asked to return to the family business, and found himself a partner at
the age of 19. He was full of ideas he had picked up at R&H, but first had to
teach himself how to use all the machines in the workshop as the incumbent
machinist had left suddenly. It was a steep learning curve, but an experience
that was to prove invaluable to the continued development of the business.
 1970- 1972
With the addition of three extra members of staff, the business gradually grew
and became more and more profitable, with Irene Searle taking more of a back
seat and Colin taking up the reins. In 1972, Colin asked his brother Michael to
join him under an agreed partnership arrangement. At the time Michael was the
deputy welfare officer at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology after
graduating with a degree in Geography, but, like his brother before him, he was
forced to learn the business the hard way by grinding crankshafts in the
workshop.
1973-1977
The company became Ivor Searle Limited in 1977. By this time Michael had moved
from the workshop to the stores, and was also responsible for sales. He and
Colin were now each 50 per cent partners with an equal shareholding. The main
customer base had always been within a 15-mile radius of Wicken, but it had been
steadily growing through word of mouth and had not needed, up until then, to
advertise or fight for business.
1978-1982
The original site, right in the centre of Wicken, had by now expanded to 5,000
sq.ft, and the number of employees to 25, but it was over-developed and many
residents were complaining of the disruption caused by parked cars and goods
deliveries. It was therefore ideal when, in 1981, Colin and Michael heard about
a green-field area for sale opposite an industrial park down the road in Soham.
They purchased the field, obtained planning permission, and started building a
10,000 sq.ft engine re-manufacturing facility on the present site of No.2 Regal
Lane, while business continued as usual at Wicken.
1983-1985
 ISL moved into its new home in March 1983. The transfer was completed over two
weekends, and business continued as usual throughout. By this time the service
that ISL offered its customers was split into two: jobbing work (reconditioning
engines, gearboxes etc on demand); and engine re-manufacturing work (buying in
‘donor’ blocks and ancillaries and machining/assembling as-new units). The
company was setting new standards in the re-manufacturing business, and followed
well-monitored set procedures and inspection routines, producing non
mass-produced engines and other associated parts to a set, and very detailed,
code of practice of the same (or even better) quality as the original
manufacturers.
1986-1993
The main significance of this period was a marketing one. Conscious of the need
to be always looking for new opportunities and to start becoming more proactive,
Michael started making contact with other engine re-manufacturers, firstly
throughout East Anglia and then further afield, with a view to supplying them
with ready-built engines. Throughout the 1980s, engines had become more reliable
and there was a greater diversity of makes and types on the road.
Throughout the 1980s, approximately 60 per cent of British engines were still
made by Ford, Rover and Vauxhall, but ISL had no access to the other 40 per cent
dominated by Peugeot, Citroën, Renault and Volkswagen – so another initiative
was called for.
This took the form of two European agreements which proved instrumental in
ISL’s rapid future growth. The first was signed in 1992 with a French trading
partner; the second in 1993 with a German partner (both family-owned engine
re-manufacturers with the same business culture and ethics as ISL). From France,
IS bought Peugeot, Citroën and Renault engines in exchange for Ford and
Vauxhall/Opel ones; with Germany, it was VW engines in exchange for Ford.
The continuing business growth necessitated the further expansion of the
premises, and in 1992 the production area increased from 10,000 to 19,000 sq.ft,
by extending each end of the existing building, and a new mezzanine floor made
available a further 15,000 sq.ft for storage purposes.
As well as creating more space, Colin and Michael continued with their policy
of investing in some of the latest equipment from the USA and elsewhere.
1994-1999
During this period, great attention was given to ways of making the
production/assembly processes more logical, and bit by bit all the equipment was
re-positioned in sequence from one end of the building to the other so that a
much more efficient production flow could be incorporated.
In 1998 ISL signed an agreement with a Dutch partner, whereby ISL had the right
to distribute Japanese diesel engines; Mercedes-Benz petrol and diesel engines;
and VW diesels throughout the UK, further expanding the business.
Once again space became an issue, and when the warehouse premises across the
road at No.5 Regal Lane became vacant in 1999, ISL snapped it up, had it
completely refurbished, and made it into the ‘donor engine’ facility.
There the exchange or bought-in used engines are stripped down, cleaned and
stored, and crankshafts and camshafts reground. There’s also a bespoke area for
special ad-hoc rebuild/reconditioning work, with a van collection/delivery
service that operates over a 40-mile radius.
2000-2006
ISL will re-manufacture and sell over 10,000 units in 2006, and today it carries
on in the same niche that Ivor pioneered 60 years ago, handling anything from
motor cycle to car to truck engines. It employs over 80 staff and still
concentrates on Ford, Vauxhall/Opel, Rover, Peugeot, Citroën, Sofim and Renault
engines.
A growing percentage are now diesel engines, which have further contributed
to an ever-improving turnover. The other major change over the years has been
the increasing complexity of engines, with particular reference to multi-valves
and the utilisation of electronic management systems.
ISL also continues to be innovative in its approach to both manufacturing
processes and the environment. One of its latest purchases is a state-of-the-art
machine from the United States. It’s an evaporator which burns off all the
oil-based and chemical waste materials in a completely environmentally-friendly
way.
Export
ISL’s ‘traditional’ local work now accounts for only about 10 per cent of the
business, with the remaining 90 per cent going through agents, factors and to
export – export now accounting for about 20 per cent of turnover.
ISL has distributors in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg,
Spain and Denmark. All these organisations distribute ISL products throughout
the EU, and so the export side of the business is growing rapidly.
ISL also participates in the big European shows such as Automechanika
(believed to be the world’s largest after-market exhibition).
The future
The total re-manufacturing market has been gradually declining over the past 30
years, and today competition continues to increase from a number of different
quarters, but Colin and Michael have been adroit at being continually able to
capture a larger share of this declining market.
One of their strengths is that they have always been conservative with their
planning and development, and this strategy will continue. Further expansion
into Europe is planned.
ISL has now grown into the UK’s leading independent engine re-manufacturing
business, and Ivor Searle would undoubtedly be proud of how his wife and two
sons have managed to keep the business in the family whilst at the same time
successfully competing with the best in the business.
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