Company History

The company was formed in 1965 and incorporated on the 1st of March 1966 by Dennis Dibley and William Hutchinson to meet the growing demand for the remanufacture of steam and gas valves, work which was initially undertaken in William Hutchinson's garden shed. However, it soon became apparent that the shed would no longer meet the Company's requirements as a facility, and in 1967 the company moved to it's first factory in Maidenhead, Berkshire, with a staff of two full-time employees to cope with the growing demand for it's services.

In 1968, after a period of continued growth, the company moved to a much larger facility in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The company resided here throughout the 1970s, expanding it's capabilities to cover all types of machining, fabrication and the repair, refurbishment and manufacture of machines as diverse as paper-converting machinery and props for films, whilst continuing to provide it's extensive sub-contract machining services.

During the early 1970s, the company became a major supplier to the fledgling North Sea Oil Project. As a result of this business, and because of the Project's deemed importance, the company was declared exempt from the Three Day Week legislation on power consumption instituted by the British Government during 1973. Such was this business that in 1978, further expansion necessitated the establishment of an auxiliary facility in Dorset and the Company's purchase of it's first NC and CNC machines. The expansion also saw the purchase of an engineering Company in Exeter and the creation of CHAD Engineering, amalgamating the Exeter and High Wycombe branches of the Hutchinson & Dibley. The name CHAD was taken from the first letter of the principles, Curtis, Hutchinson, Austin, Dibley, who all became joint owners. In the early eighties CHAD Engineering was sold and continues to trade today.

At the beginning of the 1980s, a major economic recession in the United Kingdom saw many companies cease trading, but Hutchinson & Dibley's links with the petrochemical industries proved of exceptional value in insulating it from the adverse effects of the economic downturn.

In February of 1985, the Company moved to it's present facility in Bourne End, a modern 3,000 square foot building. This change of site allowed considerable expansion of the already extensive machining capabilities of the Company.

A period of consolidation followed, pre-empted by the first signs of an imminent recession in 1989, which resulted in the closure of the facility in Dorset. However, undaunted by this, the company embarked upon an extensive re-appraisal of it's manufacturing capabilities. The acquisition of RJK Engineering was completed in 1993. During the following five years, almost all of the CNC equipment was upgraded. An ongoing investment programme is still in place at this time. In August 2000, the acquistion of Adwest Adamant from Dura Automotive of the USA was completed. In September 2000 Actuator production commenced from Bourne End and an overhaul and repair facility was set up to cope with the repair of units that had been in service for as much as 20 years

Hutchinson & Dibley Ltd, Unit 4, Wessex Rd, Bourne End, Bucks, SL8 5DT, England, U.K
- Telephone: +44 1628 530448 - Facsimile: +44 1628 530630