We've been supplying our customers with the world's most essential materials since 1924.
J&G Hardie Limited was founded in 1924 by brothers Jim and Graeme to supply Scotland's baking industry with its core ingredients. Graeme's grandson Fergus is our chairman to this day.
Starting in the 1930s, Hardies became involved in the UK rubber industry through work as Sales Agent for the Anchor Chemical Company. This foray into rubber would pave the way for our polymer-based future...
The second generation of Hardies were now in charge: brothers Bonar, Hamish and Donald, who led the company into the fast-growing plastics sector.
Donald was later made a Fellow of the Institute of Materials - a distinction he shares with our chairman Fergus. We were soon appointed as Agent for London-based Revertex, who produced synthetic rubber compounds for the textile industry.
When the earliest engineering plastics began to enter the marketplace, Hardies was already in on the ground floor.
Cambusland-based Hoover used Hardies to source them Cyolac ABS for their vaccuum cleaners, as did the Clydebank company Singer Sewing Machines and Dundee-based NCR. We still offer Cycolac ABS to our customers today.
As part of the UK Sales team for global company General Electric Plastics (now SABIC), Hardies learned how the materials market worked from the inside out, witnessing first-hand the nuances and intricacies that so help us see the bigger picture today.
It was around this time that the company found success selling injection moulding machines and ancillary equipment for market leaders Demag Hamilton, Jenco and Wittmann. This insight into plastics processing and the challenges of running moulding operations goes way beyond what most polymer distributors can boast, and stands us in good stead to this day.
Exiting the machine sales market in 2007, Hardies began to concentrate fully on polymer sales. After several years of growth and expansion, in 2014 we became the first independent distributor in the UK to win the coveted Plastics Industry Award for Polymer Distributor of the Year.
Longstanding management team Isy Ferguson and Bartosz Komanski completed a buy out of the company in 2021, backed by Nevis Capital.
Today we have a highly knowledgeable team housed in brand new, purpose-built offices co-located with our warehouse in Glasgow.
After 100 years of trading, we have a customer base that spans the entire UK. We wouldn’t have reached our centenary without valuing our relationships, and its those that have established us as the nation's leading independent engineering polymer supplier.