Where It All Began: The Story Behind Legacy Manufacturing Solutions
- Rachel Keefe
- Jun 29
- 4 min read
Every project has an origin—a moment where raw materials, engineering, and human intent line up.
The story of Legacy Manufacturing Solutions (LMS) isn't just about corporate frameworks. It’s a story rooted in the heart of British industry, shaped by global engineering giants, and built on the kind of resilience you can only get from decades on the factory floor.
Shifting From Mechanical to Electrical Precision
Our Founder and Managing Director, Neil Phillips-Gore, was born in Sheffield—a town famous for heavy engineering and stainless steel.
Neil always had an inkling he wanted to be an engineer. If there was a kit for making something when he was a child, he probably had it—from Lego and Meccano to candle-making and basketry. He simply loved to understand how things came together. He even dismantled a wind-up alarm clock once just to see how the gears worked before carefully putting it back together!
So, it was no surprise that when he left school, he wanted an engineering apprenticeship.
The country was in a difficult economic position at the time, and manufacturing was in a visible decline. Neil was fortunate to secure one of ten places on a Youth Training Scheme. In that first year, he took a City and Guilds course in mechanical engineering and passed with distinctions.
Recognising his potential, Baker Perkins offered Neil the opportunity to do an electrical apprenticeship. This is really where the engineering standards we base LMS on today were born.
From the Drawing Office to the Factory Floor
During his apprenticeship, Neil spent time in the electrical drawing office, production control, the stores, and contract control. It was his time in the drawing office that made him realise what he could achieve. As soon as his apprenticeship finished, he jumped at the chance to join the team as a design engineer.
The role required circuit diagram design, PLC control system design, and writing the supporting software. Because he knew the software inside out, Neil began travelling to sites to assist with plant commissioning.
This was a major turning point. It gave him a front-row view of how products are made inside active, high-pressure food factories.
When the opportunity arose to become a full-time commissioning engineer, Neil took it—becoming the youngest ever for Baker Perkins. The role took him all over the world, installing and commissioning standalone machines and complete process lines, from raw ingredients right through to final packaging and handover.
After five years on the road, Neil returned to the UK office to marry and transition into project management, handling multiple £1,000,000+ projects across the snack food, chocolate, biscuit, and bakery sectors. Managing everything from the initial inquiry to final handover gave him a detailed, practical understanding of what it takes to install a manufacturing plant successfully.
In 1996, Neil left Baker Perkins to pursue a career with a liquid processing company. Ready for a fresh challenge, he designed and project-managed the installation and commissioning of the first fully automated soup production plant for Marks and Spencer.
He was later headhunted by the Aeroglide Corporation from North Carolina to help establish their European operation. During his tenure, his focus on straightforward customer service and process knowledge helped Aeroglide become the world's number-one industrial dryer supplier.
Navigating Major Adversity
Life rarely follows a linear path, and true resilience is tested when things go wrong.
In October 2000, Neil’s life changed forever when he lost his wife and their unborn child in a tragic car accident. At the time, he was managing a massive global territory spanning from the top of Norway down to Cape Town, driving 30,000 miles a year.
By late 2001, Neil decided it was time to step back from the constant travel. True to his character, he stayed long enough to train his successor, but in November 2001, he started the business that would eventually become Legacy Manufacturing Solutions.
Initially, the business was a way to turn a hobby into a company while Neil finished up at Aeroglide. His father came out of retirement to run it on a day-to-day basis, building houses, extensions, and small industrial units. Neil joined full-time in 2004 and, over the next four years, grew the team to 12 employees.
In 2006, Neil faced another deeply personal loss when his second wife sadly passed away due to complications following a major operation.
Then came the 2008 financial crash. Overnight, the bank recalled just over £1,000,000 in borrowing. Neil was forced to start from scratch, making his entire workforce redundant, including two members of his own family.
The Birth of On-Demand Project Support
Neil put his CV back out to the industry as an independent contractor. Within 48 hours, Nestlé Purina offered him a short-term contract to help deliver a factory extension for a pet food pouch plant. Supporting the senior project manager, Neil redesigned the heat recovery system—saving the client over £250,000 in the process.
Over the next few years, Neil worked with household names like Allied Bakeries, Weetabix, Faccenda Foods, Cargill Meats, E.ON, Avara Foods, Tillery Valley, and EDME Food Ingredients, delivering highly complex CapEx projects on their behalf.
In the run-up to COVID, several former clients approached Neil seeking his assistance. They all had a common dilemma: they had projects running that required senior engineering skills, but they didn't need a resource full-time. They just needed a day here and a day there.
This is where the modern version of Legacy Manufacturing Solutions was born.
We realised that businesses were struggling to find a middle ground between over-hiring permanent staff or leaving high-stakes projects under-resourced. We built LMS to remove that specific pain point in CapEx delivery.
Legacy Today
Over the last five years, LMS has grown into a close-knit team of eight specialists, and we are still expanding.
Our focus is entirely on helping clients deliver their CapEx projects efficiently, safely, and without unnecessary corporate complexity. Those who have worked with us know that we are a practical, down-to-earth resource you can rely on when it matters most.
Need a practical partner for your next project?
Whether you are planning a complex modification, navigating CDM 2015 regulations, or trying to steady an installation that is drifting off track, we provide the flexible oversight you need.
