AE, maker of automotive components, of Ince House, Leamington Spa (1966)
1947 Company incorporated as Associated Engineering Holdings to bring together 3 piston ring makers: British Piston Ring Co, Hepworth and Grandage Ltd and Wellworthy Piston Rings Ltd[1].
1950 Developing Al-fin process for bonding aluminium to cast iron[2].
1951 One of the group companies (Hepworth and Grandage) had been machining blades for aircraft engines[3]
1954 Acquired Aeroplane and Motor Aluminium Castings Ltd
1955 In the past year, there had been expansion of the drill bush business, new factory for making engine blades for aircraft, Wellworthy had started making piston-based compressor for supercharging diesel engines, designed in conjunction with Ricardo and Co[4].
1955 Acquired Coventry Radiator and Presswork Holdings Ltd[5].
1957 Head office moved from London to Leamington Spa which was more central for the subsidiaries[6]. Acquired Universal Metallic Packing Co and 2 small companies: Arrow Aircraft and Reid Watt Sales Ltd. Proposal to change name of company to Associated Engineering Ltd[7].
1958 Acquired High Precision Equipment, which became part of the General Division[8].
1961 Established R&D centre at Cawston Hall[9]
1962 Acquired Specialloid jointly with Clifford Motor Components[10]
1965 Associated Engineering Group included further companies: Glacier Metal Co, British Aero Components and Crow, Hamilton and Co[11]
1966 Associated Engineering Ltd had 19 principal companies in the UK and 10 major subsidiaries overseas[12]. Products/brands included:
- Wellworthy Specialloid diesel pistons
- Glacier plain bearings
- AMAC aluminium castings
- Hepolite petrol pistons
- Covrad radiators
- Dravo space heaters
- Brico sintered products
- H.P.E. numerically controlled milling machines
- H&G (Yeadon) gas turbine blades
1967 Associated Engineering acquired the shares of Specialloid it did not already own[13]
1968 UK manufacturing companies in group:
- Glacier Metal Co
- Dualloys
- Universal Metallic Packing Co
- Crow, Hamilton and Co
- Wellworthy
- Specialloid
- Powder Couplings
- Brico Engineering
- Brico Metals
- British Aero Components
- High Precision Equipment
- Hepworth and Grandage
- Aeroplane and Motor Aluminium castings
- Coventry Radiator and Presswork Co
1968 Details of the R&D centre at Cawston Hall. The group consists almost entirely of companies supplying the automotive sector [14]
1968 Group had a total of 28,000 employees. Acquired Edmunds Walker and Co[15].
1969 Formation of Associated Engineering Developments, at Cawston Hall, to develop spin-off and diversification business in addition to providing technical support to the 31 existing businesses[16].
1969 Midland Aluminium sold its subsidiary London Aluminium Co to Associated Engineering Group[17]
1972 The Covrad subsidiary developed the first low-cost aluminium radiator for cars[18]
1984 GKN bid for the group but was thwarted by a Monopolies Commission decision.[19]
1986 Bid for the group from Turner and Newall led to questions about how the City handled take-overs of important British companies[20] [21]
See Also
- The Engineer 1962 Jul-Dec: Index
- The Engineer 1964 Jul-Dec: Index
- The Engineer 1966 Jan-Jun: Index
- The Engineer 1966 Jul-Dec: Index
- The Engineer 1967 Jul-Dec: Index
- The Engineer 1968 Jul-Dec: Index
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times 10 June 1947
- ↑ The Times 3 February 1950
- ↑ The Times 1 February 1951
- ↑ The Times 13 January 1955
- ↑ The Times 27 January 1956
- ↑ The Times 1 February 1957
- ↑ The Times 31 January 1958
- ↑ The Times 18 January 1960
- ↑ The Times 19 January 1962
- ↑ The Times, Aug 08, 1962
- ↑ The Times 19 October 1965
- ↑ The Times 26 January 1966
- ↑ The Times Aug 16, 1967
- ↑ The Engineer 1968/07/12 p53
- ↑ The Times 19 February 1969
- ↑ The Times 10 April 1969
- ↑ The Times, Jul 30, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Nov 23, 1972
- ↑ Illustrated London News - Friday 01 February 1985
- ↑ The Times 29 November 1986
- ↑ The Times 21 January 1987