One of the oldest and largest employers in the region is participating in an exhibition that looks back at its glorious history.

The boiler manufacturer Cochran has been in Newbie near Annan since relocating from Birkenhead in 1898.

In fact, they established villages and built worker huts near the factories, which still exist today.

Over the years, they have hired thousands of employees from all over Dumfries County, including trained hundreds of apprentices, and obtained royal certification.

Their boilers are in use all over the world, and some of the more compelling contracts include helping the famous paddle steamer The Waverley re-float last year. One of their boilers is on the deck of Lusitania and the other is at Rolex in Westminster, Switzerland. There are also several in the palace.

Starting this weekend, all of these and more will be exhibited at the Annan Historic Town event held by Corner House. Quality compliance manager James Lynn (pictured) is coordinating these artifacts. A glimpse of his expectations for visitors: "In 1878, the company was founded by Cochran Engineers and Shipbuilders in Birkenhead. It needed to expand, but was surrounded by other companies. So, he found a place that could lead to the river and the sea. Came here."

Although still mainly shipyards, they began to get involved in the field of boiler manufacturing, which soon became and remains the main focus.

However, not many people know that Cochrane also built the first submarine, the details of which will be revealed in the new exhibition.

Initially, the company's boiler was vertical, but now it is horizontal, but apart from that, James stated that the company "is still doing the same function over the years: producing steam."

Cochrans boilers are located on all continents. They were the first company in the world to obtain a license to export boilers to China. They still have blue-chip customers in China and are now owned by a Chinese businessman.

James said: "There are only two boiler manufacturers in the UK, and we are by far the largest and oldest.

"The product range is very wide, from a boiler of 50 kg per hour to 48,000 kg per hour. We also have the design capability and can design to meet any customer's requirements.

"Novice is our only site. The company employs 200 employees for production, sales and support services. 40% of the work we do comes from overseas."

Last year, they built the largest boiler ever. James said: "They spent about six months pushing everything to the maximum, but we did it.

"They weighed 110 tons and went to Hartlepool."

James said that Covid has affected the company like everyone else, but because they have done a lot of work for the hospital and the NHS, production must continue.

Operations are now almost back to normal, orders are high, and exciting progress is being made.

The design team is working hard to reduce boiler emissions to meet and exceed the new regulations.

"We are developing a low nitrogen oxide combustion system to reduce the appearance of harmful substances," James explained. "So far, we have achieved very good results.

"This is future-oriented, and customers demand it. We are in a leading position in all products.

"The push for hydrogen is also great, so we have been developing it."

He added: "Our founder James Taylor Cochran will still recognize what we are doing because the foundation is the design in 1878, and it is still related to the process we do here: get power and use the energy in it to produce Hot water or steam maximizes efficiency by using all the energy that enters the product."

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