Brown and Holmes celebrates 80th anniversary
Brown and Holmes is celebrating 80 years of being in business! We were founded just before the outbreak of WWII by two draughtsmen, Holmes and Brown who had become disillusioned whilst working for a gauge and tool company. They decided to ignore the uncertainties of their time and start their own firm. Brown and Holmes - originally based in Coventry – was born and they opened for business designing jigs, tools and gauges.
The Holmes family continued running the company for 62 years until it was sold in 2001 . Whilst that sale was a low point in the management of the company, it provided an opportunity for our current Joint Managing Directors, Kevin Ward and Carl Baker to buy the company out of administration in 2003.
Both Kevin and Carl have forty years with Brown and Holmes, having joined as apprentices in 1979 as apprentices. Like many of our employees they have worked right across the business and were even the operators of the company’s first CNC machine!
Since they took over, Brown and Holmes as remained close to its roots, adapting the workholding solutions offered to meet the changing needs of manufacturers and tooling companies.
The firm moved to its Apollo, Tamworth site in 2004 and focused on rebuilding its customer base by putting customers first and developing personal relationships with both them and our suppliers.
Whilst the recession in 2008 was a test of commitment, since then, the business has built steadily. Expansion into our second, 19000 square foot site in 2018 on Anders on the same Lichfield Road Industrial Estate in Tamworth meant we were able to add a dedicated apprentice training section and a robot demonstration area in addition to further manufacturing, assembly, test and inspection facilities. Investment in new machines was made to complement our existing manufacturing of work holding equipment and add equipment to provide a lifting capacity of 10 tonnes. We also added two state-of-the-art 3D printers do we can offer additive manufacturing plus additional design, prototyping and manufacturing of complex parts and assemblies that are not possible through traditional machining.
Thank you to our loyal team, customers and suppliers for helping us reach our 80th anniversary. We look forward to working with you into the future and celebrating our centenary in 2039!