Incorporated in 1946, Blackwood Engineering will this year celebrate another key milestone in its history. The business, with its headquarters in Aberbeeg, South Wales, has a long-established presence and reliable reputation as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of castings and counterweights for heavy machinery.

Having originally started out as a general foundry, Blackwood Engineering diversified into counterweights during the 1970s, and further diversified again in the 1990s producing more complex, engineered castings in a variety of materials. Blackwood Engineering has rapidly grown in the last 25 years under the ownership of Paul Connor, who took the decision to work alongside partner Chinese foundries in 1997.

Since this investment, the business has become a total solution partner for its customers providing quality ‘The Blackwood Way’, offering financing of stock, engineering project management, inventory control, warehousing, Just In Time (JIT) delivery and customised finishing which it has become renowned for.

Blackwood Engineering has developed meaningful long-standing partnerships with partner foundries in India and China, and in 2015, decided to acknowledge the contribution of their partners by setting up The Blackwood Engineering Trust. The Trust provides support to charities, communities, orphanages, and various other initiatives in and around surrounding geographical areas where the business has a physical presence such as (South Wales, Belgium, India and China).

Despite the effects of Covid-19 on the construction industry, Blackwood Engineering is celebrating another successful year providing castings and counterweights for several large OEM global brands.

The business is continuing to grow and invest in its facilities, with a recently acquired a second UK site (Blaina, South Wales) and expansion within its European facilities in Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgium. Alongside this there has also been in personnel with the South Wales business, now employing over 100 people to help meet the growing demands and needs of their customer base. Commercial director Dominic Connor adds:

The Company has a proud heritage in the foundry industry. We have come a long way from early days of being a local foundry in Blackwood, South Wales, producing castings for the domestic market, to now where we are shipping parts to major global manufacturers across the world on a weekly basis. With a fantastic team on board, we are optimistic the future holds equally exciting opportunities for the company to continue its journey.

To celebrate and promote this anniversary, Blackwood Engineering has recently launched its new 75^th icon which will be used throughout the year and will also be running several campaigns and a range of new initiatives in 2021 as the business continues to push their boundaries and continue its steady growth.