John Buchanan & Brothers

JOHN BUCHANAN & BROTHERS, Makers of Confections, Preserves, and Peels (Wholesale and Export), Stewart Street, Cowcaddens, Glasgow.

    Probably one of the most notable representatives of that confectionery industry of which the Scottish trade capital has become a first centre is to be found in the large and prosperous undertaking now controlled by Messrs. John Buchanan & Brothers. As makers of confections, preserves, and peels, and producers of everything that can be now-a-days comprehended under that general category, Messrs. Buchanan hold a place of unrivalled distinction, and the enterprise with which they have extended the whole resources of the trade, and applied the improvements of the past thirty years to the operations of their large and influential business, is adequately endorsed in its rapid advances during that period and its almost colossal development. The proper idea of the magnitude and capacities of such an undertaking cannot be gathered from a mere penned sketch, however concise and technical ; but it is the aim of the present notice to convey an impression, as briefly and as accurately as the space at our disposal will allow, of the extent to which the firm have availed themselves of all the modern facilities of the industry they illustrate, and the consequent importance their operations bear to the general commercial and industrial activity of Glasgow.

    Situated in so central and convenient a part of the City as the Cowcaddens, Messrs. Buchanan’s factory in Stewart Street may be said to be exceptionally favoured, and the range of the four-storey erections that compose the entire manufactory constitutes a great structural feature of this neighbourhood, in which the firm’s industry has long formed an interesting and profitable source of work and trade. The whole buildings and their accessories cover an area of ground estimated at three acres, and are laid out and arranged on a methodical and departmental plan, which accelerates the smooth progress of all the varied operations involved. Each building may be properly described as a factory in itself. The boiling and pan rooms are on the ground floors, and in both cases they are very spacious. The former, which is probably the most important feature in a large confectionery, is well adapted for the operations carried on. It is fitted up with vacuum and other boiling pans, some of which have a capacity of three to four cwts., and is provided with slate and metal tables for the reception of the sweets when boiled. The pan room plays also an important part in the manufacture of sweets, and in it are seen a large number of revolving pans of every description. The same spacious and lofty features are noted in the lozenge room, the fondant and gum goods departments, the stores for materials, the sugar mills, the peel making rooms, the preserve rooms, the jar washing rooms, and the rooms for the storage of fruit. The drying rooms are a great feature of Messrs. Buchanan’s factory, each of the producing departments being equipped with subsidiary rooms not only for the reception of the manufactured goods, but also for drying them on the best and most approved systems, and heated in a special manner for that purpose.

    In those branches of manufacture where no form of mechanical contrivance has been found to supersede the agility of the hand, the work is carried out with a rapidity and smoothness that is almost surprising. Considering the special branch of work represented in the production of such choice specialties as fondants and gum goods, this section of the firm’s industry demands for itself alone the space of three entire flats, and is executed with a skill which shows how far the British manufacturers have advanced in a department of industry hitherto confined to the confiseurs of the Continent. Even the work of box-making, as applied to this branch, is carried out on the uppermost flat of the four-storey block, which comprises the complete industry. There is a special workshop for the making of tin canisters, and in the different rooms the filled tins are placed upon racks in a manner which admits of great orderliness and facilitates their enumeration when they come to be consigned to the covering, labelling, warehouse, and dispatch departments, which all occupy one end of the main building towards the front.

    The amount of baking sugar contained in one of the apartments adjacent to one of these rooms is of itself a telling evidence of the magnitude of an industry wherein several tons of cognate commodities are daily absorbed. The making of peel is not only an interesting but extensive process, and from the apartment in which it is carried on an elevator is continually in motion. The immense sugar stores in conjunction therewith and the candying processes, as well as the careful selection of the various ingredients, all tend to endorse the importance of the industry here so splendidly typified ; and, considering the extensiveness of the buildings, nothing appears so remarkable as the capable control exerted over all and the precision with which the whole work progresses without the slightest waste of time or power. The utensils are principally of copper, and are at all times of a bright and tidy appearance.

    The self-contained character of this comprehensive model confectionery is further illustrated in the mechanics’ shop for the repair of the machinery and appliances, and the whole equipment and plant exemplify a forethought in design and general standard of completeness which it would be manifestly impossible to improve. Accommodation is reserved for vans, horses, and stables, and the systems of transit from the warehouses to the various stations and shipping centres are accomplished in a manner favourable to the speedy delivery of the firm’s goods to their numerous patrons at home and abroad. They command the services of a staff of 500 hands and direct their whole commercial ramifications with the ability essential to the preservation of their world-wide repute and the expansion of their admirably developed trade.

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