Apiezon Memories: Steph Stockton’s 47 Years of Apiezon History

Over the years, Steph has worked in testing, quality control, product development support, quality systems and customer service. Today, as Customer Service Co-Ordinator, she helps customers across the globe find the right products for their applications, drawing on decades of technical knowledge built from her time in the laboratory.

Yet despite the changes she has witnessed, one thing has never altered.

“The commitment people have to the product,” she says. “We always want to do the best for it.”

That pride runs deep.

“It’s a prestige product and we all just love it. We can’t help it.”

When Steph first arrived at the Manchester site, the scale of the operation was extraordinary. “There were around 24,000 people on site,” she recalls.

The site had its own fire station, medical department and bus station. There were social clubs, gardening clubs and overseas clubs. It was, as Steph describes it, “like a village in itself.”

Working in the laboratories, she experienced a world of innovation and experimentation. Pilot plants operated alongside research and testing facilities supporting a range of specialist products and technologies. “It was phenomenal,” she says.

Apiezon itself was manufactured in the very building where Steph worked. Testing in those days was often carried out by hand, requiring patience, precision and skill. Over time, Steph became involved in introducing some of the first modern testing equipment, including simulated distillation technology that helped make testing faster and more efficient.

The equipment has evolved many times since, but for Steph it represents something bigger: Apiezon’s continual drive to improve.

That spirit of innovation remains one of the reasons she believes the product continues to thrive after 100 years. Yet what fascinates her most is not always what happens inside the factory walls.

It’s what happens after the product leaves them.

From Mexico to Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region, enquiries arrive from scientists, engineers and researchers looking for solutions to highly specialised challenges.

Many applications are confidential. Some sit behind non-disclosure agreements. Others push the boundaries of science and engineering in extreme environments. Often, the team never learns the full story.

But every now and then, a glimpse appears.

One of Steph’s favourite memories came when an engineer visited the site to look at a piece of laboratory equipment. As he opened his toolbox, Steph noticed something familiar.

Inside was a tube of Apiezon.

The engineer wasn’t an employee or customer representative. He simply carried it with him because he had used it since university. “It was always in his toolkit,” Steph remembers.

For her, it perfectly captured something she has observed throughout her career. “Once someone starts using it in their lab, they tend to use it throughout their whole career.”

That loyalty continues to surprise her.

On another occasion, while chatting socially with someone she had only just met, the conversation turned to work. “I told them I worked for M&I Materials and we made Apiezon,” she says.

To Steph’s surprise, they replied: “We use it in our lab.”

Moments like that never get old.

For Steph, they are reminders that a product made in Manchester has become part of scientific and industrial work across the world. They are also reminders of the people behind it.

Throughout our conversation, Steph returns repeatedly to the idea of family. Not just family ownership, but the culture that exists within the business itself.

She talks warmly about colleagues past and present, about generations working together, and about spending time in production understanding every part of the operation.

“We’re small enough that we work alongside each other,” she says. “That’s great.”

It is a sentiment that feels closely connected to Apiezon’s success. Behind the technical specifications, the specialist applications and the global reputation sits a team of people who genuinely care about the product they make.

As Apiezon reaches its 100th anniversary, Steph’s overwhelming feeling is simple.

“Pride.”

Pride in the product’s heritage. Pride in the people behind it. And pride in knowing that after a century, the story is far from over.

If Apiezon founder Bill Burch were able to visit today, Steph believes he would be astonished by what his invention has become.

“I think his mind would be blown,” she says. “There are more products, they’re used for so many different things and in some of the most technologically advanced applications.”

And while a hundred years is a milestone worth celebrating, Steph is already looking towards the next chapter.

“It’s been going for 100 years and it’s not nearing the end of its life.”

After spending nearly half of that story alongside Apiezon, she should know.

Discover the full history behind Apiezon here.