At a time when many areas of UK manufacturing are sadly in decline, one company is bucking the trend and proudly flying the British-made flag. Demand for the extensive range of British-manufactured Shepherd zinc cast furniture castors from Midlands-based firm Kenrick is at an all-time high as the company approaches 65 years of manufacturing them at its site in West Bromwich.
The company, which is the UK’s only manufacturer of the world class Shepherd castor, now manufactures 800,000 of its flagship product each a year. The castors are supplied throughout the UK and into Europe.
Steve Jones, Kenrick’s managing director, says: “The Shepherd castor is a great British icon and we are very proud to be the only UK manufacturer of this type of product. We’re delighted that the manufacturing rates of the Shepherd castor have remained buoyant, particularly at a time when many manufacturers are reducing output. I’m looking forward to many more successful years of manufacturing the Shepherd castor and providing employment for the skilled craftspeople who make it.”
Manufactured from die-cast zinc, the European-patented Kenrick Shepherd castor is a British-made design classic. It was first introduced by Kenrick in 1950 and has been designed to be strong and robust. The castor comes in four standard fixings – peg and socket, 38 x 38mm square plate, round plate and M8-M10 fixing. For added versatility, the castor is available with an anti-static rubber wheel for use on smooth floor surfaces. It can even be supplied in any RAL paint colour and paint finish and in a polished gold, nickel, brass or bronze plated finish.
The Shepherd mini castor is also manufactured at the West Bromwich site. This product was first launched in 1961 and has all the benefits of the Shepherd castor but in a smaller size.
Kenrick also supplies 2.5 million of its nylon twin wheel plastic castors a year. Designed to combine performance and value for money, the castor comes with or without a brake option and is available in black or beige. There is also a range of legs in various sizes as well as black and chrome finish glides with a peg and socket fitting.
Archibald Kenrick & Sons Ltd has been manufacturing in the Midlands for more than 200 years, originally making buckles and livery fittings. The company continued through until the 1950s until it adopted new processes, which included zinc die-casting and metal presswork.
The company’s flagship Shepherd castor range is widely used and its highly successful textile castors are exported as far afield as India and South America. Kenrick has also been producing high security door and window hardware for many years and now has an impressive array of locking solutions for the PVCu, aluminium and timber window industries.
