For over 150 years, Kingfisher (Lubrication) Limited was owned by the Fisher Family. The Fishers transformed the organisation from a Victorian oil blending and grease manufacturer to a globally recognised producer of high-quality grease fittings. In 2020, after four generations of family ownership, Kingfisher embarked on an exciting new phase of its development as the Fisher Family stepped back, and the company became part of an Employee Ownership Trust.
“Kingfisher is a historic company, but in 2020, we took a big step in modernising by becoming an employee-owned business,” confirms the company’s Technical Director Richard Holt. “Our Chairman and former MD, John Fisher, transferred all his shares into the employee ownership trust. Led by the new Board of Directors, our goal is to evolve without losing sight of our history.”
A Legacy of Quality
The history Richard refers to is long, storied, and permeated by a commitment to quality service and good value. Building on its early years as a manufacturer of grease and a blender of oils, Kingfisher has concentrated on the production of grease fittings since the mid-1960s. At its peak, around the year 2000, the company was selling close to 120 million products a year. While various factors, including global competition, have tempered those numbers since then, Kingfisher has always found ways to adapt and diversify.
Lately, aerospace has become a key industry for Kingfisher, where its specialist products are always in demand. To support its aerospace efforts, the company recently invested over £1.2 million in state-of-the-art new machinery.
“We’ve just acquired a brand-new Index MS24-6 machine,” Richard says. “Our existing machinery was quite basic. It was very good at high-volume simple products, but it could only work on one end of the fitting. It limited what we could produce, which is why we took the decision to purchase the new Index.
“The Index MS24 offers a lot more in terms of complex machining and provides us with significantly more flexibility. It is also able to cut more exotic materials. We use Monel (a nickel-copper alloy) for some of the aerospace grease fittings and it can produce them very accurately and very repeatably, with a better surface finish and better tool life.”
World-Class Machinery
Kingfisher’s new equipment is also helping the company make more sophisticated components. Alongside Managing Director Lorraine Nugent, Richard has recently visited companies in the defence industry, opening the door to new opportunities in one of the UK’s highest-growing sectors.
“We followed up with these companies and should be receiving a visit from them any day now,” Richard reveals. “It’s potentially the beginning of more lower-volume, higher-value work for us.”
Further from home, Kingfisher is looking to capitalise on a gap in the American military and aerospace market. It’s a firm example of the company’s global potential.
“The longstanding source for US military and aerospace contracts recently ceased grease fitting production,” Richard reports. “Qualifying rules can exclude Far Eastern companies from supplying these kinds of US military contracts, so we believe that gives us greater opportunities to be able to supply these components within the market.”
Global expansion and a new ownership structure might lead many companies to forget their roots, but Kingfisher is determined to stay true to the values that have made it such a long-standing success. For instance, the organisation’s ability to adapt over the years has been key to its longevity, and Richard is aware that moving with the market will be equally vital in the future.
“In some settings, grease fittings are being replaced by sealed bearings and automatic lubricators, so we need to look for other opportunities too,” he points out. “We recently diversified to manufacture a core component of the Rhodes Piano for the local company that produces the instrument. We use our CNC machinery to make that component, and we perform some assembly for Rhodes, too.”
Making Music
As the company’s work for Rhodes Music illustrates, Kingfisher has the capability to manufacture products for a huge variety of applications, thanks to its advanced technology and considerable expertise. The organisation is proud to be independent as an EOT company; this promotes autonomy and trust across the workforce.
“We do a lot of things in-house here,” Richard states. “We have specialist machines that cut metal, our own heat treatment plant, and we can design and produce our own tools. Some companies wait eight to ten weeks for tools, but we can turn a new job around internally and have it up and running on our machines within two or three days.”
Complementing Kingfisher’s production capabilities is a reliable, long-tenured team unafraid to modernise. Though many of the company’s people have been with the organisation for multiple decades, there is a common understanding that evolution and employee empowerment will be instrumental in Kingfisher’s future success.
People Power
“We’re trying to change the culture within the business,” Richard remarks. “In line with our new ownership structure, we want the company to be workforce-led.
We have new people coming through at Kingfisher, and we want them to feel involved, heard and appreciated.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to empower people. In a few years, we want employees to step into the shoes of the current directors and lead this company forward. Team members who show interest and want to develop themselves here are rewarded.”
This push for a new business culture is being driven by three core company values – Quality, Commitment and Respect.
Even in the face of major international challenges like Brexit and COVID-19, Kingfisher has remained resilient, building on its reputation as a fast and reliable solutions provider. As the organisation journeys deeper into its employee-owned era, Richard is buoyed by the certainty that Kingfisher’s long-term prosperity will always come first.
“Due to the way the trust is set up, the directors can’t sell the company and profit,” Richard says in summary. “We’re dedicated to making the business as good as it can be.”
