JWF is founded by James Wilder Fairbairn
JWF becomes partners with Fischer & Porter
JWF becomes partners with Hunt & Mitton for the supply of valves
JW Fairbairn Ltd. operated from Wellington Street in Glasgow for 10 years and with the company growing Jimmy bought and relocated to factory premises in Paisley where he set up Fairmac Engineering Ltd, a light engineering manufacturing company.
JWF & Fairmac were two seperate companies with JWF operating out the upstairs offices.
Fairmac manufactured:
- Small industrial boilers to own design
- Light sheet metal work, ducting for air conditioning systems
- Components for GM Terex earth moving equipment
Turnover - £9,199
JWF becomes partners with WIKA
JWF becomes partners with Eltron
Jimmy Fairbairn passed away, Isabelle Fairbairn became the driving force behind the company and was largely responsible for keeping the company afloat
John Robertson installed as Managing Director
Turnover - £151,770
Fairmac Engineering ceased trading to focus solely on growing J.W. Fairbairn Ltd
JWF relocated from Paisley to Darnley, the company faced a number of issues including a break in on the first night due to whisky cases being used to transport components! This even led to Kenneth camping out on the second night with his boxer dog as defence!
Bailey entered a period acquisition in 1989 when Finmeccanica S.p.A., purchased Bailey from McDermott International through its Elsag (Elettronica San Giorgio) Group.
Turnover - £749,445
At this point, 10 employees work at JWF
First extension at Darnley to meet business growth
JWF's first £1m order for John Brown Engineering which supplied Fischer and Porter control system and electromagnetic flow meters for Frankley water treatment works
Isabelle Fairbairn passed away
In 1993 the company incorporated in The Netherlands as Elsag Bailey Process Automation N.V. (EBPA).
JWF win contract to supply BP Exploration as a master agreement holder and Tier 2 supplier (still in place today)
EBPA then acquired The Fisher & Porter Company in 1994.
JWF partner with Elsag Bailey
Hartmann & Braun of Frankfurt, Germany was then acquired by Elsag Bailley which included Bush Beach Engineering.
JWF partner with Durag Group to supply, install and commission flame scanners to the power station at B.P's Grangemouth refinery.
Turnover - £1,543,390
At this point, 14 employees work at JWF
Elsag Bailey was acquired by ABB
Kenneth Fairbairn becomes MD of JW Fairbairn (with brown hair)
JWF become partners with ABB
JWF wins first major project in Oil and Gas industry delivering Britannia Satellite instrumentation package
JW Fairbairn is rebranded as JWF Process Solutions to reflect business growth
JWF Instrumentation is established in the North of England as a channel partner for ABB instrumentation products
New extension to Darnley due to a significant increase in business levels and additional personnel
JWF partner with Vega offering guided wave level systems
At this point, 19 employees work at JWF
JWF becomes partners with Flexim - introducing clamp-on ultrasonic flow technology to the Scottish marketplace
JWF celebrate their 50th Anniversary with a trip to London
JWF join WIKA at London Olympics 2012 watching Jessica Ennis win the first Gold medal
JWF becomes partners with Canalta to increase DP (differential pressure) flow product portfolio and launch the Double Block and Bleed assembly to the UK market.
JWF are UK winning team again at WIKA Marathon in Germany. JWF has held on to this title for three years running (excuse the pun)
JWF move to Seaward Street to reflect position in the instrumentation marketplace and accomodate growth into new areas of business e.g. service, refurbishments, panel and skid manufacture
JWF Group is established covering the three divisions -
- JWF Process Solutions
- JWF Instrumentation
- JWF Measurement Solutions
At this point, 26 employees work at JWF
Turnover - £10m
4,000 enquiries this year
JWF expand the business covering three different areas:
- Instrumentation products
- Flow Measurement
- Metering Solutions
JWF launch Tank Calibration service with the new JWF mobile flow rig.
JWF launch new area of Flow Verification where JWF can provide a bespoke flow system to enable flow meter verification within your own premises.
JWF sign a UK agreement with KPM to supply their range of innovative products that enable pulp and paper mills to successfully manage and control consistency.
JWF’s first van with the move into providing Flow Meaurement services including flow surveys and tank calibration projects.
Official opening of the JWF 3G pitch at GHA RFC for the GHA v Marr game.
JWF acquire Manchester-based flow measurement specialist Stream Measurement.
JWF are first in the UK to gain ABB Value Provider certification.
JWF launches oxygen measurement dashboard for NHS hospitals.
JWF win the contribution to mitigate covid-19 issues award at the CeeD (Centre for Engineering, Education and Development) annual industry awards.
