“The Monty” Interviews “Jim Fairbairn”, “Bodycote” CEO
In an industry exclusive “The Monty Heat Treat News” had the very distinct privilege of interviewing “Mr. Jim Fairbairn”, CEO of the world’s largest commercial heat treater-“Bodycote”.GM; “Hopefully Jim is OK, we North Americans tend to be fairly casual when it comes to the use of a first name. Jim I am very curious how you came to be CEO of the largest commercial heat treater in the world-in other words what is your background?
“Jim is definitely fine! In terms of my background, I’ve spent over twenty five years in general management and executive positions working in a number of different industrial companies. My two most recent roles were leading a global electrical test & measurement business, and before that a company that made high specification centrifugal fans and compressors.
I actually started my career as a design engineer in offshore oil and gas platforms so have always had an awareness of critical applications of metals and how they impact structural integrity and reliability. That’s exactly what Bodycote does and we do it really well, so when I was invited to take on the CEO role, it was a really easy decision to make. And I am really enjoying taking the company on the next stage of it’s evolution.
In my early career, Bodycote was a supplier to me so I knew their reputation and sophisticated capabilities. I have been thrilled to discover that Bodycote is exactly what it says it is, with great technology and wonderful people.
Being the CEO of a global engineering leader like Bodycote is a pinnacle moment in my career and I am really proud of the team.”
GM; Prior to this conversation I did some research and it would appear that you have been with Bodycote for almost exactly one year having joined the company in April 2024. Since that time what changes have you made to the company and what goals have been achieved?
“Yes, I joined in March 2024 and had a three-month handover period, so officially became CEO on 30th May 2024.
I do want to highlight how professional and helpful my team have been during this first year of my tenure. That type of ethos really matters to me and they all get it which is fantastic.
And also the wider leadership team – all of them really embrace challenge and change which says a lot about the quality and engagement of that important group.
In January this year, we got all our VP’s and President’s together and the energy and desire for positive change was really humbling.
I’m very happy with the progress during 2024 – quite a lot of change has already taken place. We’ve brought in some new skills and simplified the organisation structure which has helped us to move faster. We’ve revised our company strategy and laid the groundwork to reposition our business going forward.”
GM; As the only truly global thermal processing firm I always read with great interest Bodycote’s financial reports and “visions” for the future as they provide a very clear picture of the industry and where it is going. In the December 2024 “Capital Markets Event” you highlighted the creation of two strong divisional platforms with defined focus areas, can you please elaborate on this?
“Of course. What this refers to is the fact that we changed our reporting structure to operate through two technology-focused divisions: Specialist Technologies and Precision Heat Treatment. Your readers may be aware of our Specialist Technologies Division which comprises our stainless steel hardening business, our HIP business and our surface treatment business. It’s a division with a fantastic set of technologies that we will keep and we’re clear we will make every effort to grow that division both organically and inorganically.
On the heat treatment side, I really didn’t like the moniker of ‘classical heat treatment’ which Bodycote had used in the past. I felt it didn’t position properly the inherent quality of how we support and service our eminent customer base. We’re embedded in critical supply chains in aerospace, defence and automotive for example and deliver crucial thermal and surface processing of their parts so they can withstand the most arduous applications. Our wide-ranging accreditations are from years and sometimes decades of engagement with industry, so, for me, repositioning this division to precision heat treatment made complete sense.”
GM: At the same time, you made this statement; “Today we are presenting a clear vision to create an optimised, efficient and high-performance Bodycote, which will deliver sustainably stronger growth with improved profitability and resilience through the cycle.”
“We are establishing a set of compelling and achievable financial targets. We are confident in our ability to achieve these ambitions and have a clear plan to deliver on our targets. This will benefit not just our shareholders but our people, customers and partners. We are building a company that can fully realise its potential, and ensure that Bodycote’s excellence endures long into the future.”
GM: What else can you tell us about this strategy?
“There are three legs to the strategy: Optimise, which is about refining our plant footprint and improving the quality of our portfolio; Perform, which is all about increasing operational excellence and customer service; and Grow, which – unsurprisingly – is about accelerating our growth in some target areas
One of the things I’m most pleased about Gordon which came out of last year’s strategy process is our HEAT framework, which is at the heart of the ‘Perform’ leg of the strategy
This is really our internal execution structure which will enable a step change in culture, customer experience and how we can work much more closely with our customers on reducing our joint carbon footprint. We are in a service business and we want to ensure that customer experience is at the heart of what we are doing.
We’re just at a point of launching our new company values which will help embed high performance teamworking and industry leading continuous improvement, which I’m very excited about. The team and structure is in place, it’s now about execution.”
GM: Carbon footprint and CO2 reductions are hot topics for the Thermal Processing industry-I understand that Bodycote has a targeted plan for reductions, what are these plans and future goals?
“As you know we operate in an energy intensive industry, so managing our energy use as well as associated climate impacts is important for us as a sustainability exemplar. It’s also vital so that we meet our customer expectations on sustainability.
We set our first carbon reduction target in 2022 which we achieved at the end of 2024, six years early with a reduction in our carbon emissions of 29% since 2019.
We’ve recently increased our ambition to a 46% reduction by 2030 from the same baseline and the team are focused on delivering a reduction of almost half in this decade which I’m very proud of.
Meeting our ambition Gordon will require a continued focus on our operations as well as sourcing of clean energy.”
GM; Jim this question goes hand in hand with the question above and is far more controversial. While Carbon footprint and CO2 reductions are a very hot topic in Europe they are not a prime consideration in North America. To take it one step further with changes in the US political situation, reductions are becoming less and less of a consideration. How will you reconcile these two very different attitudes?
“Firstly. with energy being one of the largest costs for our industry, operating a heat treatment plant efficiently is crucial wherever you are located in the world. We must be efficient today and in the future to thrive and grow.
As you know our customers in North America are exposed to global supply chains, in sectors ranging from automotive to aerospace. The growth we all see in the demand for sustainability performance and transparency across supply chains in Europe, we are beginning to experience with our customer engagements in North America.
So Gordon there is a clear commercial opportunity in positioning Bodycote to meet their needs as well as those of their customers, such as the OEMs they support.”
GM; Bodycote is well known as a leader in bolt on acquisitions-two fairly recent examples include “Ellison Surface Technology” in 2020 and “Lake City Heat Treating” in 2024. What is your strategy on acquisitions going forward? Are you focused on “leading edge” technologies in an acquisition? A commanding market share? Possibly an acquisition based on geography? What really excites you when looking at potential acquisitions”?
“It’s clear to me that acquisitions are an integral part of the growth story of the company and the companies you mention have been really successful as part of the Bodycote group.
We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to map out where the potential inorganic growth avenues could be and we’re working on several ideas. New technologies, new geographies and new markets are all under consideration.
Many opportunities cross our desk and we reject most of them as they have to be aligned to the strategy
All of that said we also prioritise organic investment and we’ve many ideas on that front too. It’s good to have healthy competition for capital.”
GM; Twice over the years I have had the privilege of visiting the “Rolls Royce”, Derby, UK facility, a facility where “Bodycote” maintains and operates the “in house” heat treatment department. Every indication I received showed that this was and is a tremendous success. Is this a model which Bodycote will continue to pursue under your leadership?
“It’s a super facility Gordon and we have many sites across our portfolio that are equally as good and as embedded in our customer’s supply chain.
It’s a model we are keen to expand and as I’ve met customers in our key sectors inevitably we do talk about how we can be a more integrated part of their value chain. It’s when we work in close partnership with our customers that we can really add exceptional value.”
GM; What keeps you awake these days Jim? In other words, what do you see as the greatest challenges you face?
“What helps me sleep is knowing we’ve got a great team of talented and dedicated people all over the world who want the best for our customers and the company.
I would expect most CEO’s are impatient and want things to happen yesterday, so the answer is probably somewhere in there!
We have a great plan and have made some great progress and I am excited about what we can deliver together over the next few years.”
GM; On a final note, now that you are a seasoned veteran of the commercial heat treat industry how does it differ from other industries you have been involved with? Or is it that much different after all?
“Not sure about the seasoned veteran Gordon. One great thing about this industry is every day is a learning day. I try to get out to our sites to meet our teams as frequently as I can and every site visit gives me new ideas and inspiration.
There are lots of parallels with other industries I have worked in. I find it really powerful when we get our people with many years of experience of our business together with people with new ideas. It never ceases to amaze me what our teams can achieve together.”
GM: Thank you for your time, myself and the entire industry very much appreciate your thoughts.
“Great to speak to you Gordon and look forward to hosting you at one of our plants in the not-to-distant future.”
