Established in 1867, Birkby’s was a pioneer of industry in Spen Valley. It grew to be the biggest employer in the district. Trams were the boom industry at the beginning of the 20th Century and Birkby’s started to dominate overhead line materials production and electrical insulation. During World War One the brothers worked with Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite. Birkby’s became the first British firm to manufacture moulded articles. Although Birkby’s retained its other interests (tanning, carding of fibres and textile machinery manufacture), plastics eventually dominated and it was the ability to spot trends and evolve that ensured the survival of the company. The Automotive industry was next to boom (1920s) and Birkby’s was well placed due to its involvement with the trams. It produced dashboards (sawdust filled phenolic), fuse assemblies and boxes, light reflectors, clutch discs and brake linings. London Passenger Transport was its biggest customer. In 1926 Birkby’s started producing telephone handsets for GPO. Later it also produced parts for wireless’s (another boom industry), including plastic casings, knobs, valve bases, coil bobbins and loudspeaker chassis. In the same year, Birkby’s became Birkby’s Limited. It was one of the founder members of The British Plastics Moulding Trade Association, formed in 1932. In the 1950’s the company started producing thermoplastics (acrylic) as well as thermoset plastics (phenol/formaldehyde). It moulded the first acrylic telephone cases. In 1958, the last family tie, Freddie Birkby retired and Birkby’s was sold to its biggest customer; AT&E. The name was kept due to its local association. Birkby’s expanded with a new thermoplastic moulding shop. In 1961 Birkby’s was taken over by the Plessey Company. This took it into the defence, avionics and electronics industries. The ownership lasted 28 years during which sales increased tenfold. In February 1968, a disastrous fire caused £2.5m worth of damage. Within 48 hours 10 presses were working and whatever work could not be done on site was subcontracted out. A new injection shop was completed by the end of the year with three times the original area. In the 1970’s 1.8 million telephone sets were produced per year. In 1972 Birkby’s merged with Viking Industrial Plastics to become Birkby’s Viking Ltd. In March 1982, the Thermoset Moulding Shop was closed, there was no more demand. In 1975, Viking were bought out by Birkby’s and the company reverted to Birkby’s Plastics Ltd. The main sales were in telecommunications, as far afield as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. In the early Eighties Birkby’s made major investments in its site, buildings and technology. Its relationship with Ford strengthened, getting all Ford’s instrumentation business. Birkby’s became pioneers in the use of CAD in the plastic moulding industry in the 80’s. In 1989, the company was bought out by GEC Siemens only to be sold to the Marubeni Corporation a year later. Under Marubeni the company has undergone a massive modernisation Birkby’s underwent restructuring in 2002 to facilitate growth and development in manufacturing excellence and technical capability. The corporate image is also transforming, supported by the launch of a new website and corporate literature. Birkby’s offers a full service from product design through to JIT manufacture of mouldings, product stands and cabinets, metalwork and assemblies. Specialisation in ‘Value Engineering’: Optimisation of material properties, ease of manufacture and assembly using latest technologies, assurance of quality. Birkby’s offers turnkey services for complex assemblies, using a wide variety of components with its injection mouldings. The company engineers according to guidelines for safety and the environment and conforms to international specifications. It currently exports to over 80 locations in more than 20 countries Turnover at Liversedge is currently £50m - there are over 500 employees at the site. Birkby’s Detroit Technology Center was launched in December 2001 to support the North American automotive industry. Parent company, the Marubeni Corporation, is the 6th largest company in the world with one of the largest business networks. It comprises 200 offices and 650 affiliated companies in 90 countries. Its annual turnover is US$16763m and it has 60,000 employees worldwide. 31st March 2003 - Management Buy Out by Ian Hunter - Managing Director; Andrew Bullivant - Finance Director and Stephen Harrison - Operations Director. Birkby's looks forward to the future with plans to stay ahead of the plastic moulding industry through new innovations and customer focus. Birkby’s was the only plastics manufacturer to receive one of Toyota Motor Corporation’s four inaugural Regional Contribution Awards at the company’s Global Supplier Convention in Nagoya, Japan in March 2005. After a highly competitive pitch with other leading European moulders, Birkby’s has signed a prestigious technical agreement with Global Automotive parts supplier Kumi Kasei of Japan.  This significant partnership will involve close collaboration between Kumi Kasei and Birkby’s for the design and development of innovative automotive trim products for a leading Japanese automotive manufacturer. Recognising the increasing levels of strict environmental legislation facing the automobile industry, scientists at QinetiQ, formerly part of DERA (Defence Evaluation and Research Agency) are researching the potential of natural plant fibres for use in thermoplastic injection moulded vehicle components.  QinetiQ has formed a consortium of specialist companies involved in natural fibres, thermoplastic injection moulding, component supply and vehicle manufacturing and called it BIOMAT.  Birkby’s Plastics is one of the partners in the project, which aims to take the research through to volume production during the next three years. Birkby’s received a QAD Rev’d Up Award for its rapid upgrade from MFG/PRO 8.5e computer programme to eB2 which took just 8 weeks to undertake.  QAD view Birkby’s as a company who has achieved something special by completing this process in such a short time frame.