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Birkbys
This history by Brian Nixon was
taken from Birkby's: a name for 130 years
published in plastiquarian no. 18 (1997)
Birkbys has not only enjoyed an unbroken
existence at Liversedge, West Yorkshire, since its foundation in
1867, but has been continuously engaged in the plastics industry
from the early years of this century following the development
of phenolic resins, the first true synthetic plastics, by Leo Backeland. This record may well entitle Birkbys to claim the
longest-lived name among British plastics processors. The author, an ex-employee of Birkbys, recounts the highlights of
the company's long history.
AT Birkby (left), FE Birkby (right)
The Birkby family purchased an
existing small tannery and
chemicals works in Liversedge
in 1867 which was the basis of the
business over the next 40 years. But
on hearing of Dr Baekeland's
development of new resins in 1907,
they realized that their future could be
changed. It was this foresight that led
to Birkbys becoming a prominent
company in the plastics industry and
maintaining this position up to the
present day.
The Birkby Factory c1933
In the 1880s, electric tramways
began to replace more limited horse-drawn vehicles and Birkbys became
involved both with mechanical parts,
such as its patented 'oil-less, trolley
bush, and with items for electrical
insulation, using such materiails as
bitumen, vulcanized rubber and celluloid,
becoming known as a leading
supplier of such demanding components
It must have been this involvement that
led the Birkby brothers
Arnold and Freddie to decide soon
after 1907 to get to know all about the
new material, Bakelite. Prior to the
First World War, Freddie Birkby travelled to America to spend time with
the Bakelite Company to learn as
much as possible not only about
Baekeland's brittle resins but, more
important, how to use them by developing
compounds which contained the
fillers that enabled them to be processed
into strong electrical insulating
parts, their first area of use. Birkbys'
first patent on phenolic resins was
granted in 1920, to be followed by
others over the next 40 years.
It was fortuitous that Birkbys not
only saw the opportunities with
Bakelite but either already had the
engineering resources or was able to
get help to make all the necessary machinery. The resins had to be produced
in pressure vessels, then compounded and
the cure advanced using steam-heated rollers
to produce workable materials. These were then
moulded under heat and quite high
pressures which again necessitated designing
suitable tools and also hydraulic presses to manufacture
the end product. Birkbys performed all these
operations and continued to do so,
except for later purchasing presses,
until the company ceased moulding
thermosets in 1973. (The tradename
Elo was applied to both materials and
mouldings.)
The Birkby brothers then developed
the new materials for another major
new industry of the era - motor-car
manufacture. The first distributor
heads for ignition systems, fuse boxes,
light reflectors, small instrument cases
and even woodflour-filled dashboards
were made at Liversedge. Then between 1920
and 1960 Birkbys became a major producer of
telephone cases, handsets, ear and mouth-pieces, for
most of those years predominantly in
traditional black phenolic. The third
area that was developed from the late
1920s was radio equipment: in 1932
Birkbys moulded the then largest wireless
cabinet using a one-and-a-half ton
tool. During the Second World War,
Birkbys produced some items for military
use, such as pistol and bayonet
grips, parachute harness buckles and
numerous knobs and switches but
these were of less significance.
The switch to thermoplastics
Although thermoplastics began to be
developed in the 1930s they did not
become available for mass production
until after the war. Birkbys was a few
years behind competitors in injection
moulding these materials, which were
more versatile than the established thermosets but did not take long to
catch up. The company converted an
old 1937 phenolic telephone mould to
produce the first acrylic cases in May
1952. After later development using
ABS this was to result in Birkbys
becoming the major supplier of
telephone mouldings not only to the
General Post Office (GPO) directly but
also to all the latter's suppliers. At one
time over 75% of the company's
business was in telephone parts
and the associated exchange
equipment.
In 1928 the Birkby
family had decided to
form itself into a limited company,
Arnold and Freddie
each having one
share. Sadly, Arnold died in 1949
so did not see the later developments.
In 1959, Freddie had to retire through ill
health at the age of 75, so the family association
ceased. The company was
sold to AT&E, a major customer,
but within three years was taken
over by Plessey Co. which was to own
Birkl)ys for over 28 years. Although
these takeovers were not liked at the
time, they were undoubtedly beneficial
as it would have been difficult for the
family in its later years to invest in the
company to the extent that was required. AT&E built a new thermoplastics
processing shop in 1959 and over
the years Plessey more than doubled
the manufacturing area, investing
heavily in the latest machines.
The moulding shop which at one time contained over 200 presses
up to 40 tons size
In the late 1960s Birkbys started to
produce interior trim parts for cars in
addition to the long-established electrical
and electronic automotive components. The company also began to
manufacture TV cabinets and record-player plinths, not only
moulding them
but more important, decorating them,
either with paint, woodgrain finish or
aluminium foil. At the same time more
emphasis was put on assembly work.
In 1968 Birkbys lost its injection
moulding shop in a disastrous fire.
Many companies could well have
given up after such a catastrophe but,
because of strong leadership and the
support of the employees, the company
not only recovered in a very short time
but probably benefited with the investment
then made in the latest machines,
giving Birkbys an advantage over
competitors for some years to come.
In the early 1970s Birkbys' telephone business exceeded 1.8
million
sets a year, and the company set the
colour standards required bv the GPO
that then had to be met by its
competitors. However, it was at this
time that the thermosets business was
declining and, with the decision of a
major company to cease manufacture
of ignition systems and the requirement for more space for other
business
opportunities, this department was
closed. The original involvement of
Birkbys in thermosetting plastics had
come to an end after 50 years, but the
decision to concentrate on thermoplastics and the
finishing and assembly of
mouldings was considered to be the
future of the company.
Through a reciprocal deal with
Bakelite (UK) Ltd., Birkbys was able
to start moulding much bigger parts,
such as automotive instrument panels
on 800-ton and 1000-ton machines
obtained from the former. (Bakelite
acquired the company's phenolics interests in exchange.)
It was at this time that Birkbys invested in structural
foam moulding which, although
fraught with many problems and at
times considered not a good business
policy, did give its first inlet into the
business machine market. The first
major product was an assembly of 13
parts for a cheque-processing unit.
This later helped penetration into areas
such as photocopiers, fax machines
and computers.
Steady progress was made
throughout the 1970s, but the
beginning of 1980 saw an
economic depression in
Britain and the future of Birkbys, like so many
others, was in question. Plessey would
probably have sold
the company as it
was not a core part
of its business: however, with a new
general manager. and
an aggressive policy,
Birkbys was able to ride
out the problems and build
up its resources prior to an
upsurge in the European
economy. Over the next ten years
Birkbys not only re-established itself
within the UK but more importantly
became a major supplier in Europe and
began its association with both American and Japanese companies.
Synthetic resin kettles. The plant became capable of producing
over 200 tons of resin a week
The exit from telephones
With the GPO, Birkbys' engineers
developed a terminal block which
became known as the 'Test Jack' and
could accommodate 100 lines, whereas
previously the same area could only
take 40 lines. The main problem in
getting a telephone at that time was
not with the instrument itself but the
capacity of the exchange, and the 'Test
Jack' helped to resolve this situation. However, the mid-1980s
saw another major decision: no longer to participate in the
telephone business. On the one hand the market was getting
saturated and on the other more model variety was being
required. Birkbys decided that, with the proposed privatization
of the GPO and imports from the Far East coming into the UK, it
was time to concentrate on other market opportunities,
particularly with those overseas companies wanting to set up
manufacturing facilities within Europe. The first two major customers
with whom Birkbys was able to do business were IBM and Xerox,
undoubtedly due to the large investments which had been made,
especially in computeraided design and in the modernization of
the laboratories.
In 1989 Plessey succumbed to a takeover by GEC-Siemens so,
after a successful 28 years, Birkbys again had new owners.
However, because the company did not fit into the long-term
business strategies of either GEC or Siemens, it was put up for
sale. Birkbys' success can be measured by the fact that over 100
companies worldwide showed an interest in its purchase. In 1990
the Marubeni Corporation of Japan, one of the largest trading
companies in the world, succeeded in buying Birkbys. Marubeni
has continued with the investment necessary for today's
high-quality manufacture, including setting up a new facility
in Scotland to support the now-major customer Sun
Microsystems. The plant at Liversedge also continues to be
updated to enable Birkbys to maintain its standards for all its
customers, such as Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Black & Decker.
Past
attempts to use an alternative title for Birkbys have never
succeeded, as customers have always wished to use the name. So
today after some 130 years, the company is still trading as
Birkbys Plastics Ltd. and well recognized as a major supplier of
plastics mouldings and, more important, of engineering
components, not just in Britain but throughout Europe and
also in America. It is also good to know that the company has
survived for so long on the original site at Liversedge.
In these days it is extremely difficult for any manufacturer
to anticipate the future as one cannot see beyond the next few
years with any degree of certainty. Not only is the marketplace
constantly changing but the pace is forever quickening and the
design life of products ever shorter. Gone are the days when Birkbys would receive orders for millions of' telephones in just
one style with a limited colour range, to be made over many
months. Nowadays one has to conform to Customers' requirements
with limited runs on a `just-in-time' basis. However, with the
support of Marubeni and its own customers, Birkbys is well
placed to remain a dominant company in the plastics world.
Birkbys Ltd. under their
trademark ELO were major manufacturers of telephones,
principally from phenolics. These products required considerable
skills in both design and manufacture - not least of which were
the finishing operations such as mopping and polishing. The
range of telephones featured in this advertisement date from the
1920s to the 1960s.
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