History

Realising they were limited in what they could offer in the makeshift workshop, and after a stint in rented, Grantham premises, Gordon and David spotted an abandoned former shoe factory on Dysart Road in Grantham and made an offer on the premises. Here started the business as we more commonly know it.  Shortly after the acquisition, the partnership dissolved leaving just one sole owner, David Holt Snr.  With the new premises, equipment and people in place, the company began to increase its slip ring offering to compliment the growing reputation of the brush holder business. Manufacturing of slip rings began with small 2-way and 4-way hand built units and quickly developed into larger and modular solutions.  Having put everything on the line to wholly own the Business, the Holts were now starting to see the success and reputation develop steadily within the UK. Little did they know the growth they were about to witness in the next decade as the renewable energy market started to take shape in the 1990’s...
 

At the turn of the 1990's, BGB’s reputation for individual slip rings and brush holders was clear to see, particularly in certain industries such as Packaging, Standby Power, Cable Reeling, Fairground and Water Treatment. It's within the wastewater industry where we designed and manufactured the first slip ring packaged assembly, combining both slip ring and brush holders into one neatly packaged sealed unit. Investment in compression moulding machines, lathes, CNC and other manufacturing equipment saw the volumes start to increase and improvement in quality and capabilities such as 1 piece moulding. 
Seeing the success of slip ring packages and wanting to expand the business through exporting, David started to exhibit at more internationally focussed events, and it's here where we first spotted an opportunity in an emerging energy market coming out of Denmark where wind turbines were becoming a popular way of producing energy from a renewable source.  With the help of a Danish agent, Jorgen Hansen, BGB began to form great relationships with early OEM's: NEG Micon, Vestas, Bonus and Siemens, providing NEG Micon and Vestas with our first wind specific pitch control slip ring.
 

As the wind industry took off in the late 90's early 00's and OEMs merged to form big multinational companies, BGB also grew significantly completing a major expansion of the Dysart Road site in 2009.  The mid 2000's saw BGB win some major recognition through national awards, not only for Manufacturing excellence but also for "People Effectiveness" from the prestigious Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) in 2006.  One of our most memorable moments in the company’s history came in 2009 when we won The Queens Award for Export and visited Buckingham Palace to meet HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of York. A fantastic accolade and one David and the rest of BGB were proud to accept.  The award coincided with the grand opening of the factory extension so we combined the celebrations by inviting local dignitaries, key suppliers, customers and of course the whole of the staff to enjoy the occasion.  This decade also saw the design, development and production of our highly successful Fibre Optic Rotary Joint (FORJ).
 

In 2012, BGB Technology Inc. was formed to extend our product offering to the US market.  Based in Richmond, Virginia, BGB Technology Inc. paved the way to bring the BGB culture and vision to USA industries and helped to expand our global reach into the Americas.
In 2013, our first venture into creating an induction power-based product was created as we entered into the luxury yacht market with an Induction lighting system.  Other innovative solutions of note in this decade included our first De-Icer Slip Ring Assembly for the renewable sector and a new line of product category, Hydraulic Rotary Joints to complement our rotary transmission offering. 
A second UK site was set up in 2017 for R&D, testing and commercial staff in the UK. The site, less than a mile away from the main Dysart Road plant, was formed to keep the BGB brand at the very forefront of modern and future technology and houses our world-class test facility.
2018 saw the sad passing of David Snr, and in 2019, and under new leadership of David Holt Jnr, we combined all previous divisions and names of BGB under one single brand - 'BGB'
 

The history is yet to be written for this decade, but with our first venture into EV (Electric Vehicle) cable reeling, Condition Monitoring, and other ‘Smart’ technologies and investment into our new Spares & Repairs area, the future is looking bright…