An interview with Adam Latham

Meet Adam, the Sales Manager and Owner at Latham Australia. In this post, Adam talks about his early days growing up in a family business, being an Australian Manufacturer and his personal views on the biggest change in the global construction industry.

Q1. What is it you do at Latham?

My official title is Sales Manager but as everyone who has ever worked in a small-medium business in Australia knows, it’s never quite as simple as that. I spend a great deal of my time working with our agents throughout Australia and internationally.

Lathams is particularly well represented throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and the Middle East - I find myself travelling throughout these regions a number of times per year. When I’m not on a plane, I’m based at our headquarters in Gladesville Sydney, where I can work together with the rest of the sales team. Our office is attached to our 3000sqm manufacturing & fabrication plant, allowing me to keep an eye on production and staffing issues as well.

Q2. How'd you get thrown in the deep end of the family business?

I wouldn’t say that I was ever thrown in the deep end – it was a gentle introduction from a very young age. I’m sure my experience is relatable with tens of thousands of other Aussie kids who grew up around their family businesses in Australia.

Lathams is a third generation family-owned and operated business and I recall my very first ‘job’ as a three year old was to help out by sitting quietly under my grandfather, William Latham’s, desk as he worked. From there I moved onto more exciting work such as filling small sample bags with abrasive materials that we would then stick into our now legendary Safety Flooring Catalogues & Latham Binders.

From the age of about eight I was allowed to do various basic jobs in the factory, and would often spend a good proportion of my school holidays “at work”.

By the time I hit 16 I was able to action any process in the factory and fill in on any of the production lines as required; and regularly worked after school, on weekends or during the holidays. University education helped give me a better understanding of the big picture and by the time I graduated (in the early 90s) I was ready and raring to go with a wave of fresh ideas and approaches to inflict on the family business. Needless to say there were many robust discussions with my father David Latham in those years and beyond.

After 25 years of being in the business full-time, and another 15 fulfilling my apprenticeship beforehand, I am still often surprised by the things I continue to learn even now and always try to remain open to new ideas and innovations in our field.

Q3. What's the biggest change in global construction you've seen?

I have noticed the pace of the communication aspect during the construction process has changed over the years. Every stage moves so much faster these days, especially with access to the technology and tools we have available to help us along the way.

I can still recall the excitement I felt the day the Telex machine was first installed back when I worked in the office as a kid. All of a sudden, we were able to send and receive written words from across the globe. The fax machine followed a few years later and changed the way businesses could communicate. You could send out a request for a written quotation and have the request received on the same day and expect a response within a day or two. Then email took off in the mid-late 90’s, and client expectations took another leap forward and today we find ourselves responding to all standard quote requests within 2 working hours.

Q4. And how has that affected the production side?

I’ve seen similar changes on the production side. While I’m proud to say that some of the workhorse machines in our factory have been around longer than I have (and may well still be here past my days), we have also embraced improvements in technologies over the years to the point where Lathams is now a much more resilient and efficient organisation than it previously was.

Moving forward will be another adventure. Manufacturers in Australia are definitely a dying breed but we will continue to do our best to keep on designing and manufacturing world class architectural floor & wall products from our base right here in Sydney.

Q5. What has stayed the same at Latham over the years?

Not much stays the same over a period of 70 years or more, but one thing that has remained unchanged throughout is that Australia has continually had some of the greatest engineers, architects, designers and builders on offer anywhere in the world. We see examples of their success over and over again and it is a testament to their drive and desire for a great outcome for all constituents that they are able to continue handing over fantastic projects

For Lathams, our dedication to quality has, and will remain, a core part of our company ethos. We firmly believe that a great quality premium product will always outperform & outlast a lesser quality alternative, even if that product looks attractive based on price. At the end of the day it is all about providing a safer, more functional and attractive solution for building owners and visitors alike.

While Adam is proud of Latham’s heritage having grown up alongside the business, he’s even more excited for what the future holds for the company. If you’re interested in digging deeper into the life of an Australian manufacturer, or want to get a feel of what it’s like heading sales for a global company that produces premium quality products, connect with Adam on LinkedIn.

Stay tuned to hear from Latham’s General Manager, Dane Latham, on his journey in an upcoming post!

To find out more about Latham products, please visit www.latham-australia.com. To talk to a Latham product expert, call 1300 LATHAM (528 426) or email sales@latham-australia.com.