Apiezon Memories: Michael Anderson's travelled the world and Apiezon still surprises him
Commercial Director Michael Anderson has travelled thousands of miles during his career with Apiezon.
He has visited customers across America, Russia, APAC and China, walked around factories producing superconducting magnets for MRI scanners, and helped launch products that found entirely unexpected applications around the world.
After 18 years with the business, what fascinates him most is not how far Apiezon has travelled, but how often it continues to surprise him.
And that’s the point.
“Without high vacuum processes, a lot of modern technology simply wouldn’t exist,” he explains. “You couldn’t have mobile phones. You couldn’t have computers. You couldn’t have many of the specialist coatings we use every day. We’re a small but significant part of all of that.”
It’s a thought that still excites him since joining the business in 2009.
Back then, Michael’s introduction to Apiezon looked very different. As he got to know the business, he spent time on the shop floor, pulling on overalls and learning the intricate process behind products that had already earned a reputation around the world.
“It was just great,” he recalls.
What followed was a career that would take him far beyond Manchester.
One of Michael’s earliest memories is travelling overseas to meet distributors and customers face-to-face. It was an opportunity to see first-hand where Apiezon products ended up and the industries they supported.
Sometimes the travel didn’t quite go to plan.
On one visit to America, Michael arrived for a meeting only to discover the person he had travelled to see had gone home unwell.
Her assistant greeted him with a smile. “Have you come far?”
“Only about 3,500 miles,” Michael replied.
It is exactly the sort of story he tells with a grin.
Because for Michael, the real reward has never been the miles travelled. It’s discovering the extraordinary places Apiezon appears.
Over the years he found himself visiting specialist facilities, scientific laboratories and advanced manufacturing sites around the world. One visit that particularly stayed with him was to a company producing superconducting magnets for MRI scanners.
For Michael, it was another reminder of how Apiezon supports technologies that millions of people rely upon without ever knowing it exists. That sense of discovery has never really left him.
One of the most exciting moments of his career came when Apiezon launched PFPE 501, introducing a new chemistry and the first major new product technology the business had developed in more than two decades.
“It was really exciting,” he says. “A completely different technology for us. It brought people together from across the business.”
Then something unexpected happened.
The product found its way into a rapidly emerging application in the United States. Demand accelerated, new markets opened and suddenly a product developed by the team in Manchester was being used in ways nobody had originally anticipated.
For Michael, it perfectly demonstrates why Apiezon remains as relevant today as it was a century ago. “Even after 100 years,” he says. “It’s still a living, developing brand at the cutting edge of vacuum technology.”
That curiosity about where the next application might come from continues to drive him. It also explains why one of his favourite stories involves a training course in California.
As attendees introduced themselves around the room, an Apiezon colleague simply mentioned where they worked. Before they could say anything else, the facilitator interrupted.
“I know Apiezon.”
Michael smiles as he remembers it.
Within the scientific and engineering communities that rely upon it, the Apiezon name carries remarkable recognition. Michael has seen that recognition time and again.
At one exhibition, a professor approached the stand carrying a tube of Apiezon in his briefcase. “I saw you were here, so I brought this with me,” he said.
The tube had been with him since the 1970s. He was still using it.
Stories like that continue to amaze Michael.
So does the global reach of a product founded a century ago. From laboratories in America to advanced manufacturing in Asia, where Apiezon is used in testing processes for electric vehicle battery technology, he has repeatedly witnessed the role it plays in supporting innovation around the world.
And perhaps that is what Michael loves most.
The science. The history. The travel.
But above all, the idea that Apiezon continues to evolve. That every year brings new applications, new discoveries and new possibilities.
When asked what founder Bill Burch would make of Apiezon today, Michael smiles at the thought.
“I think he’d be fascinated.”
He imagines the inventor listening to stories about satellites, MRI scanners and cutting-edge scientific research with the same curiosity that drove him to create the product in the first place.
“I think he’d be absolutely delighted,” says Michael. “Like a typical engineer and scientist, he’d probably just say, ‘Tell me more.’”
One hundred years after Bill Burch first developed Apiezon, that spirit of curiosity remains alive and well. Because while the world has changed beyond recognition, Apiezon continues to solve problems, support innovation and find new applications in industries most of us never see.
And that is what excites Michael most.
One hundred years on, the story of Apiezon is still being written.
Discover the full history behind Apiezon here.