History
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1892 |
Arthur L.F.Carr Ltd.: Company founded by Arthur L.F. Carr in Bloomsbury, Birmingham. |
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1900 |
Company moved to Saltley Birmingham. |
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1910 |
Moved to Artillery Street, Birmingham (0.5 Hectare, 45,000 sq ft floorspace). |
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1920’s |
Period of major expansion and became a major supplier to Morris Motors in Oxford – Products supplied during this period were based upon Oleoresinous finishes which were applied by brush and air dried – it took 10-14 days to paint a motor car! |
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1925 |
Opened factory in Paris, France. |
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1930’s |
Introduction of nitro-cellulose finishes which revolutionized the curing time & appearance of paint finishes. |
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1950’s |
Large supplier to UK automotive paint users including Morris, Austin, Jenson, Triumph, Hillman, Triumph motorcycles etc. |
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1953 |
Company name changed to Carrs Paints Ltd. |
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1960’s |
Became major supplier to motorcycle industry inc. BSA, Norton, Arial as well as the UK automotive wheel industry for both cars and trucks. |
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1962 |
Developed new alkyd resin technology for the manufacture of primers and colour coats for Rover, Jaguar and Triumph ~ main line colours at Jaguar, Browns lane, Triumph, Coventry & Liverpool and Austin Morris, Longbridge and Oxford. |
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1964 |
Purchased factory at West Heath, Birmingham, to expand production capacity for automotive market, and to provide new head office. (2.5 Hectare, 75,000 sq ft floorspace). Turnover 1969: £1.0m |
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1970’s |
Period of steady growth particularly in the UK motor industry with supply of primers and colour to Triumph, Jaguar and Austin / Morris. |
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1978 |
Signed a license agreement with Beckers of Sweden for the manufacture of coatings for automotive interior plastics. |
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1979 |
Signed a license agreement with Berger Paints of UK for the manufacture of Thermoplastic coatings (TPA) for automotive car bodies. |
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1980’s |
Rapid growth in the UK automotive industry, particularly Rover and Jaguar, where the company became the main coatings supplier and won many quality awards, and also at Peugeot. Turnover 1983: £6.7m 1990: £25.0m Employees: 200 |
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1982 |
Signed a license agreement with DuPont Automotive Paints of USA for the manufacture of Clear-over-Base coatings (COB) for automotive car bodies. |
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1982 |
Installed a powder production plant at West Heath. |
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1982 |
Purchased Glixtone, a decorative coatings company selling products to the Middle East. |
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1983 |
Turnover reaches £6.7million. |
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1988 |
Awarded Jaguar Cars “Supplier of the Year – 1988”. |
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1990’s |
Consolidation of the company’s position as “preferred supplier” to Rover, Jaguar and Peugeot. A toll manufacturing agreement was also signed with DuPont for supply of products to Ford and Vauxhall in the UK – the company’s share of the UK automotive market had by now reached approx. 65%. Carrs also entered to plastic coatings market and rapid growth saw the company achieve 70% of the market by 1997. Turnover 1997: £55.0m Employees: 350 |
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1992 |
Developed water-borne COB technology for automotive plastics. |
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1994 |
First paint company to manage an automotive paint application plant ~ Jaguar, Castle Bromwich, Birmingham. |
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1995 |
First paint company to be approved for the supply of water borne technology to UK automotive plant ~ Rover Longbridge, Birmingham. |
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1995 |
Closed Artillery Street factory, and opened new state of the art automotive manufacturing facility at Minworth, Birmingham (2.0 Hectare, 100,000 sq ft floorspace). |
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1997 |
The company was aware that it’s long term future position as a major automotive supplier in the UK was limited due to the Globalisation of the market. It was felt that action was needed to safeguard it’s position and an agreement was signed with DuPont who purchased all of the company’s automotive / plastic and refinish business. Turnover 1997: £6.0m Employees: 70 |
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1998 |
An agreement was signed with a major multinational company for the toll manufacture of it’s industrial product range ~ new division formed for the provision of sub contract manufacturing services. |
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2002 |
Glixtone Division sold to E.Parsons and Sons (Blackfriar Paints). |
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2003 |
Powder Division sold to Sonneborn & Rieck. |
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2004 |
Entered Joint Venture partnership for the manufacture of powder coatings with Advanced Powder Coatings. |
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2004 |
Opened new automotive manufacturing plant at Droitwich. |
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2006 |
Moved to new purpose built factory at Redditch. |
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2008 |
Carrs Paints sold to Stretford Group and renamed Carrs Coatings Limited. |