
Edwards Vacuum

Edwards (formerly BOC Edwards) is a vacuum engineering company headquartered in Burgess Hill, in West Sussex in the United Kingdom. The company manufactures and supplies vacuum and abatement equipment used in advanced manufacturing processes. As of January 2014, Edwards is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Copco Group.
History.
Edwards equipment and services business was founded by physicist, F.D. Edwards in 1919 in south London. Initially the business imported vacuum equipment before commencing independent manufacturing in 1939. In 1953 the company relocated its factory and headquarters to Crawley and was later acquired by The BOC Group in 1968. This move prompted international expansion for the business, particularly across Asia.
Manufacturing operations continued to expand in the UK with a concentration of design and manufacturing facilities in the Sussex towns of Crawley, Eastbourne, Shoreham and Burgess Hill. From the mid 1990s a programme of outsourcing manufacturing to lower cost economies began, resulting in the eventual closure of all the Edwards facilities in Crawley and Shoreham with Burgess Hill becoming a headquarters and design centre.
In 1997 BOC Edwards was formed with the integration of Edwards vacuum business with BOC electronic gases unit before the BOC Group was itself acquired by Linde AG in 2006. Edwards subsequently became independent when it was acquired by CCMP Capital & Unitas Capital in 2007.
On 14 May 2012, Edwards became listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange as a publicly traded company.
In late February 2013 it was announced that Matthew Taylor would be standing down as CEO and was being replaced by independent Board of Directors member Jim Gentilcore effective 1 March 2013.
On 19 August 2013 it was announced that Edwards had been wholly acquired by Atlas Copco Compressors, becoming the Vacuum Solutions division of Atlas Copco. and Geert Follens was appointed Divisional president. The acquisition was completed in January 2014.
In 2018 Edwards agreed to a deal with Brooks Automation to acquire CTI-Cryogenics and Polycold. With the deal they also acquired locations in Chelmsford, MA and Monterrey, Mexico.
Operations.
The company’s key manufacturing sites are in Cheonan (Korea), Lutín (Czech Republic), Yachiyo (Japan), Qingdao (China), Eastbourne ("Global Electronics & Software Centre", UK) and Clevedon (UK).
Markets Served.
The company provides equipment and services across numerous industries:
Semiconductor – manufactures vacuum and abatement equipment designed to provide clean conditions for semiconductor manufacturing processes.
General Vacuum, which includes :
Research and Development – universities and major research institutes, national laboratories and industrial R&D facilities
Scientific – supply vacuum pumps and controllers to provide a clean vacuum environment for the production of analytical instruments
Process – dry vacuum systems are used extensively in the chemical, pharmaceutical and biofuel industries.
Industrial – manufactures vacuum systems utilised across a broad spectrum of industrial applications ranging from steel degassing and metallurgy, to coating and energy production plants.
Emerging Technologies (Solar, Flat Panel & LED) – manufactures a range of pumps and abatement technology in the crystalline and thin film PV solar industries as well as for the production of flat panel screens and all forms of LED lighting including display backlighting.