Boughton marks its first five years as part of Skan Group

It is five years since Boughton Engineering, Britain’s longest established designer and manufacturer of hook-loaders, skip-loaders and close-coupled trailers, became part of private family-owned Skan Group Holdings, based in the West Midlands. “It has been a period of change, transition, progress, growth and development – which are exactly the things we assured the market we would do with the business when we acquired it in 2011”, says Group Managing Director, Richard Skan.

In that time, the company has moved from its former facility at Barton-under-Needwood on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border, to Wolverhampton, where it is now co-located alongside Skan Group’s other engineering business, Oldbury UK.

Concurrently, Skan relocated Boughton’s fabrication operations from old and outdated premises at Winkleigh in Devon to modern, well equipped and streamlined facilities in nearby Bideford – which have already been expanded to meet growing demand.

In 2013, Boughton launched its Power-Reach PR18 skip loader which, the company stated at the time, was the first major ground up design engineering review of the of type for a generation, incorporating features and options highlighted in a twelve month in-depth market study with operators. It’s ‘best in class’ Intacova auto-sheeter was introduced at the same time.

The company’s ubiquitous hook loader product continues to command a strong following in the market and the company’s recent announcement of its strategic partnership with McNeilus of America is a further indication of the group’s longer term plans and ambitions. These include additional premises and the creation of new jobs in the Wolverhampton area.

“We would like to think that we are now well on the way towards returning the Boughton brand to its rightful place at the forefront of the waste industry. Our family is passionate about the businesses it owns – a culture and ethos established by my grandfather who founded the original company in 1954. Today, Skan Group Holdings owns two engineering businesses, both highly respected within the specialist sectors they serve. Three things make our businesses – time, money and people... and in marking these first five years with Boughton, I want to recognise the enormous contributions which every single person in our businesses make to our success”.