Anyone from the ESA who has worked with Clifford Springs will undoubtedly have met our engaging and highly capable Technical Sales Manager, Graham Fowler.
With over 45 years in the industry, there really isn’t much that Graham doesn’t know about springs. His reputation preceded him, and we were thrilled when he chose to join us in March 2022. Slightly later than anticipated, due to testing positive for Covid the day before he was due to start, but he’s been very healthy and 100% attendance since! 2026 is his four year anniversary and Clifford Springs’ 80th.
Graham has always been a huge advocate of training and education, sharing his extensive knowledge of springs, their benefits and limitations, and how they’re affected by material selection. Coming to Clifford Springs, however, meant that he had an opportunity to learn something new.
“Learning about helical springs, and in particular canted coil springs has been an incredible experience. The canted coil characteristics are so unique, that this is undoubtedly one of my favourite designs. Maybe they’re a nightmare to design, but I love a challenge!”
One of the things that Graham admires most about Clifford Springs is the culture of perfection. In one of his first production review meetings, he remembers being highly impressed at the business’s on-time delivery rate of 95%. When one of the directors pointed out that this meant 5% of customers were still being let down, he realised just how important exceeding expectations is to the business he’d just joined.
This is why, on the rare occasion that a client has an issue, Graham will be the first to their door.
“We really do care and look to learn from the situation, fix it robustly and permanently, and rebuild the trust and confidence of the spring user.”
Most of the time, Graham is meeting spring users under more positive circumstances. He loves to show customers around the site, as well as meeting engineers, designers and buyers at trade shows and during client visits. Building and maintaining relationships and trust is one of his key strengths.
Clifford Springs wants to be the first port of call for clients looking to innovate. Graham has loved the opportunities to work on projects where organisations have pushed the boundaries of feasibility and helped us understand what more we can achieve with springs.
And as for the future? Graham’s very clear about that.
“It’s clearly here at Clifford Springs for me. The opportunities available to work with our customers and new clients is constant. Receiving “weird” enquiries and questions is just a challenge and ultimately means there is an organisation who needs something special. We need to work to meet these often very diverse needs.”