We were invited to visit the factory of ‘Boxford’ in Elland. Our host, Paul Barraclough who is Managing Director, welcomed the group and we were given a short presentation and video history of the company. From somewhat less than ideal conditions in a former mill that dated back to the mid-nineteenth century the company had moved to a brand new factory in Elland.
The tour encompassed all departments including CNC machining and we were lucky enough to see a couple of machines operating.
We saw the sheet metal laser cutting equipment as well as folding and welding. The company had two ten metre high automated storage and picking towers which were taking over from the previously used rack and bin storage system. Their philosophy is to do as much ‘in-house’ as possible and so powder coating and wet painting facilities were also shown to us.
The company has a niche market and specialises in producing educational equipment to teach young engineers the principles of CNC machining whilst giving them a ‘hands-on’ experience of writing programs and then seeing their work produced.
At the end of the most interesting tour Barrie Yates proposed a vote of thanks to Paul Barraclough and wished the company well for the future.
