Avon Rubber

Avon Rubber p.l.c. is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel as well as milking equipment for dairy farmers. Its corporate headquarters are 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Melksham in Wiltshire, England, at the Hampton Park West development. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

Avon Rubber PLC
Public (LSE: AVON)
ISINGB0000667013 
IndustryManufacturing
Founded1885 (1885)
HeadquartersMelksham, Wiltshire, England
Key people
David Evans Chairman Paul McDonald CEO
ProductsRubber and polymer-based products for personal protection (industrial and defence) and dairy
Revenue£179.3 million (2019)[1]
£31.3 million (2019)[1]
£14.3 million (2019)[1]
Number of employees
854 (2019)[1]
Websitewww.avon-rubber.com

History

The business was established when a cloth mill, known as Avon Mill, on the banks of the River Avon at Limpley Stoke, which had been producing timber but had later diversified into rubber goods, was acquired by Messrs E G Browne and J C Margetson in 1885.[2]

Avon military dry diving suit label
Avon wellington boot markings

By 1890 the business had transferred to premises in Melksham and was named The Avon India Rubber Company Limited.[2] Products at this time included solid tyres, conveyor belts and components for railways. By 1900, pneumatic tyres for bicycles were being produced, and by 1906 the first car tyres were advertised.[2] The company acquired the Sirdar Rubber Works at Greenland Mill in Bradford on Avon in 1915.[2]

The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1933. It acquired the rival company of George Spencer Moulton in 1956, bringing with it Abbey Mills and Kingston Mills in Bradford on Avon, and a jointly owned plant in Paris.[2]

In June 1958, an advertisement appeared in the British Sub-Aqua Club journal Triton to publicise the "Typhoon dry diving suit manufactured by the Avon India Rubber Co. Ltd. exclusively for E. T. Skinner Co. Ltd.".[3] For many years, Avon Rubber also produced back-entry dry diving suits for military use. The company also moulded lined "Stonehenge" brand wellington boots at a time when such footwear was manufactured by calendering or dipping processes.[4]

Production started on a range of inflatable boats in 1959.[2] In 1994 the Llanelli-based marine business Avon Inflatables was split-off and sold; it subsequently became a division of Zodiac Marine, France.[5]

In 1997 the Avon Tyres business was sold to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio in the United States, leaving the company to concentrate on its core businesses of automotive components, technical products and protective equipment.[6]

In March 2000, Avon moved its activities at a manufacturing and head office facility at Hampton Park West, south of Melksham.[7]

In June 2005, Avon purchased International Safety Instruments, Inc., based in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. Avon-ISI is a manufacturer of SCBA, APR, and thermal imaging systems for fire, law enforcement and industrial applications.[8]

In August 2006, the Avon Automotive division was sold to a US-based management team and became a separate entity called Avon Automotive Holdings Inc.; this was the largest buy-out in the company's history. The aerosol division was sold for £1.75 million in March 2008 to Avon Group (an unrelated Bristol-based company), enabling Avon Rubber to concentrate on its core protective equipment, dairy and extrusions markets.[9]

In November 2008, the mixing plant at Westbury was sold to ATR Compounding Ltd, a division of SPC UK, a compounder of rubber based in Whitby.[10]

The company, which had a long history of manufacturing respirators – including the S6 NBC Respirator, a gas mask used by the British armed forces from the 1960s, and the S10 from the 1980s – began to supply the M50 mask to United States forces in 2009.[11]

Notable people
  • Robert Fuller, son of George Pargiter Fuller, was managing director in 1927[12]
  • Charles Floyd (1905–1971), chairman 1955–68[13]
gollark: And the game mostly uses... faux Greek or something.
gollark: See, LASER is a complex technical English acronym.
gollark: I was asking about their NAME.
gollark: Wait, lasers? What apioform produces them?
gollark: Apioelectrohazards, which can... something something lightning?

References
  1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Avon Rubber. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  2. "Avon India Rubber Co". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  3. "The Typhoon Dry Diving Suit", Triton Vol. 3 No. 4 (June/July 1958), p. 30.
  4. Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission, Report on the Supply of Certain Rubber Footwear, London: HMSO, 1956. Full text retrieved on 22 February 2019 at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111202181215/http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1950_1959/015footware.htm.
  5. "Rebrand for Avon Inflatables after takeover". Insider Media. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  6. "Cooper buying Avon Rubber tire unit for $110.4 million". New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  7. "Public Document Pack" (PDF). Melksham Town Council. 18 November 2019. p. 5. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  8. "Avon acquires International Safety Instruments". European Rubber Journal. 21 June 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. McNulty, Mike (25 February 2008). "Crosslinks to buy Avon Rubber unit". Rubber & Plastics News. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  10. "Avon plant in £2m buyout". Wilshire Times. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. Ficenec, John (18 November 2015). "Questor share tip: Hold Avon Rubber as gas mask orders rise on risk". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  12. "Obituary: George Pargiter Fuller". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 44: 65–66. 1927 – via Internet Archive.
  13. Obituary: Mr C. M. Floyd, The Times, 29 June 1971, p. 17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.