Wolverhampton firms win Birmingham Chamber manufacturing award

At a packed 1,200-guest show-biz scale event at Birmingham’s ICC, group managing director Richard Skan, was presented with the award by Paul Kehoe, president of Birmingham Chamber, and event host, Gyles Brandreth.

Boughton Engineering and Oldbury UK, both based on the Balliol Business Park in Wolverhampton, are specialist firms making trailers, hook loaders and skip loaders.

Speaking immediately after the presentation, Richard Skan said, “We are naturally delighted to have been shortlisted as a finalist against some of the best companies in the Birmingham and West Midlands area and then to have won the award itself.

"It is a tribute to the success of our businesses, but particularly to our outstanding people, both within the management team and across the companies.

“For Boughton Engineering particularly, this marks a watershed moment of its return to a market leadership position in the waste handling equipment sector, following its acquisition by my family just over five years ago. We have made significant changes to the business, with the introduction of new and updated products and we are now in a strong position to move forward towards a planned and successful long term future."

Boughton Engineering and Oldbury UK share a base in Wolverhampton, supported by a modern fabrication facility in North Devon. The customer base includes major fleet and hire companies, as well as smaller operators and its defence sector products are supplied to military users both in the UK and elsewhere.

The GBCC award criteria involved a detailed examination of the business covering manufacturing processes, structural organisation, output and financial performance as well as human resources, aftermarket & service support and customer satisfaction.

Richard Skan added: “There are three crucial elements to our business – time, money and people. Time is a given, money is digits, but it is people who define success or failure. People are the most important asset in our business."

Boughton Engineering incorporates the former Reynolds Boughton businesses, previously often known collectively as the Boughton Group. The company specialises in the design and manufacture of wastes handling equipment, specifically as a market leader of hook loaders, skip loaders and automatic sheeting systems, under the brand names Kwikcova and Intacova.

Involved in engineering since 1897, its early ventures were connected with agricultural equipment, farm implements, contracting, forestry and transport. More recently, it became a successful manufacturer of products such wet waste tankers, fuel oil tankers, dry waste ejection trailers, military logistics equipment and aviation rescue and fire fighting vehicles.

Oldbury UK provides specialist trailers, transportable systems and carrier platforms for a wide range of sectors and industries worldwide, including defence, homeland security, CBRN, aerospace, construction, extraction and waste management.

Founded in 1861 by Isaiah Oldbury, supplying axles, suspensions and components for horse drawn carriages and carts, the company was acquired by Skan in 2000 and subsequently relocated to its new freehold headquarters in Wolverhampton in January 2006. Its facility covers a 2.5-acre site, of which 30,000 sq ft is enclosed and includes overhead craneage; extensive fabrication, erecting and fitting bays; a dedicated axle shop and advanced CAD and design engineering capabilities.