Menu
Get A Quote
Part two of the Excelsior Heritage series, taking a deep dive into our achievements throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
A Plastic Revolution The 60s, 70s & 80s:
Post-war industrialization saw the dominance of vulcanized fibre spinning cans and trucks, primarily made of thick fibre and metal.
However, by the mid 1970’s plastic was emerging as a viable alternative. Excelsior recognised this shift and made a bold move: acquiring the assets of a small East Lancashire company with a single moulding machine and six tools. This gamble paid off handsomely and the company’s turnover skyrocketed from £400,000 to £2 million within a few years. We supplied rotational moulding solutions to prestigious clients through the UK and Europe.
International Reach
In the 1980s, Excelsior expanded its services internationally both in terms of roto moulded products, and also with our fabricated HDPE products. John Fielding became friendly with a number of leading Worldwide cricketers as he sought ways into the sporting sector, this led to us supplying many national and international teams with their Cricket “coffins” as they were called – this included Lancashire and other English teams as well as countries such as India. The exposure gained from these partnerships graced the back pages of national newspapers and we still have the framed articles!
By 1994, our business had outgrown a single site. The fibre (or fabricated) division relocated to Irwell Works, Bury, while the expanding (and clearly future of the company) roto moulding side was moved to our present location at Hartshead Works, with the traditional but impractical site at Ferngrove Mills being sold for housing. We also own and occupy a large site at Woolford Trading Estate, Bury, where our sister company Crossfield Excalibur manufacture sheet steel tooling for the roto moulding industry, they are also specialists in powder coating and metal fabrication work and have a long and illustrious history of their own.
Keep an eye out for the final instalment of this fascinating family business success story.
Read more news here