David Brown
Location: Huddersfield
Turnover: £50 million
A prestigious history
For over 150 years, David Brown has been at the forefront of the engineering industry, and a major Huddersfield employer.
Having started out as a gear pattern maker in 1860, the company's tractor division gained worldwide recognition. During its history, David Brown has owned a number of other prestigious brands including Aston Martin and shipbuilder, Vosper Thornycroft.
David Brown tractor interests were sold in 1972, and in 1998 David Brown was acquired by the US-based Textron. A turbulent 10 years followed as the company underwent a rationalisation and restructuring programme. This ended when the company was bought in 2008 by Clyde Blowers, a portfolio management company committed to supporting the company's growth into new markets. General manager, Ian Farquhar commented:
"Kirklees Council has been a great help during this short-term transitional period. They've provided us with access to funding for training and grants towards machinery purchases, enabling us to compete in new markets."
A name to be proud of
David Brown is the ultimate, worldwide brand in gears and gearboxes, used for 'assurance critical applications', where failure is not an option. The quality and reliability of David Brown gears makes them ideal for heavy process industries, such as marine and land defence, mining and power generation.
Indeed, the company has supplied gears for every tracked vehicle in the British military, since 1908. Further testament to the excellence of David Brown's products, is the gears it supplies for submarines, which demand quiet, high-precision parts.
"We have some of the most skilled engineers in the industry, which is why we've developed the David Brown Academy. It's a training and apprentice programme allowing us to develop our own people and pass skills onto future generations. We also work closely with schools, offering work experience and sponsoring awards," said Ian.
Entering new markets
In a joint venture with wind turbine manufacturer, Clipper Windpower Plc, David Brown has recently been awarded £2.5 million to develop gearboxes for the world's largest wind turbine - a 10MW offshore structure. Recognising that its 'fit and forget', high-performance gears are perfect for wind turbines, the company is now expanding into the repair, servicing, consultancy and supply of gears for this growing industry. The firm has also secured £1.2m from the Government's Offshore Wind Component Technologies Innovation scheme.
As the company continues with its aggressive expansion plans, it anticipates that turnover will more than double, to around £110 million, in the next 5 years.