Celebrating 20 Years of Success

We are proud to announce that we have crossed another milestone in the history of our Company. This month, the business is marking 20 years of establishment.

We would like to thank each of you for your continued support, and for playing your part in the growth and development of Fahr Industries Ltd. Since our inception in 2001, we have grown from a very small team to boast nearly 40 employees across Design, Production, Manufacturing and Support. We have enjoyed unbridled success and have countless achievements and accomplishments, all of which have played their part in the strength and productivity of the business. The past year alone has been an extremely exciting one for us. In the last 12 months, we have introduced a new website and logo, invested in our facilities in the shape of a major refurbishment of our offices and factory and launched multiple new and exciting products, whilst also supplying products for a number of theme parks. Without the dedication of our exceptional team, our business wouldn’t have grown to such an extent in these 20 years. With an ever-expanding global outreach (we currently sell to 39 countries), we are excited to see where we can take our business next.

Find out what our CEO had to say on the subject of the company's biggest achievements were when we interviewed him for the business's 20 year anniversary.

What was the path you took to get you where you are today?
"My adventure into the play industry started from a young age. I started installing fencing for most of the UK’s largest playground companies, which quickly evolved into the manufacture of custom fencing systems, then installation of playground equipment and eventually manufacturing timber play equipment for schools and local authorities. While I was still busy building up my playground company FRS, a really good friend of mine Andy Hoddle, came to me and said we should work together and start up a plastics machining business, manufacturing parts for the play industry which we both knew really well at that time. I met Andy in Atlanta to go negotiate and sign an exclusive deal with one of the world’s leading manufacturers of co-extruded HDPE sheet. There was competition for the exclusivity at that time and we only got that deal because we made the effort to travel all that way to meet the company owners in person, which to be honest was all Andy’s doing. We were competing against plastics distributors and all we could offer was a forecast based on an estimated business plan, it also goes to show what a great company Polymer Industries was and is, to give us that chance, their faith in us was rewarded by becoming one of their largest customers in only a few years. When we officially started the company late 2001 we also exhibited at our first trade show in Germany, which was a roaring success. We had all this interest and yet we had no stock, no machine and no factory to put it in. We were flying by the seat of our pants! The intention was to machine parts and products to the designs that our customers brought to us. We would help with the designs, but the products were all theirs. However, we realised quite quickly, that to get the company really moving and to repay the faith that Polymer had put in us, that we needed to start creating standard designs of our own that our customers could just buy from us, which then lead to more complicated products and assembly."

What are you proud of most?
"Our reputation within the industry, our continuous improvement and innovation, and the people that work here. I have a great team around me."

What has been the company’s biggest moment in its 20 years since starting?
"If I’m honest, there hasn’t been any one big moment. Everything is an evolution of small steps that takes time, we spot an opportunity and go after it. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t."

What are the long-term goals for the business?
"To continue innovating, creating and selling great products."

How important is company culture to you?
"Very important, if the culture is right our customers continue to receive great products and service."

Would you describe yourself as a risk taker?
"Yes! You can't start and run a business without taking risks."

What is most important to your organisation?
"Everything, including the little things."

What's your favourite product range?
"If I had to choose, I would say the Electronic products, but don’t tell the other products!"

There's talk of expansion at the head office into an adjacent building....
"That’s right, we are reorganising the factory and offices to give us more storage, office and production space. We have our 6th CNC machine on the way and we are setting up a technology centre in the new building to expand our electronics capabilities."

Would you look to have offices in different countries?
"I would like to, but only if we can maintain our quality and service."

Where will you be in 20 years time?
"Hopefully retired, I’ll be in my 70’s! But if I’m still going, I’m sure I’ll be involved somewhere in the business, I love what I do, my wife Katrina might have other ideas though."

"I would personally like to thank all the marvellous people, both past and present that have made Fahr what it is today, without all your efforts, we would not be who we are today. However, there is one special person that I would like to thank, and that is Andy Hoddle, without his vision and drive Fahr would not have started 20 years ago, it's as simple as that!"