Rencol Manufacturing is a hybrid manufacturing business for the 21st century, with offices in three continents and a workforce that speaks at least five languages between us. Our heritage lies in British engineering innovation, our manufacturing base is sited in China’s cutting edge facilities, and our outlook is lean, global and ever evolving.
We’re a UK business offering custom manufacturing services to companies in the UK, Europe, US and beyond. Our offices are in Bristol, Brooklyn and Shanghai, with skilled teams in all three locations.
As we evolve, investing in our people is a priority – training and up-skilling our teams in all our offices and locations. This drive to maintain up to date expertise enables us to offer intelligent advice, support and customer service throughout the process of working with you.
History and heritage
Nearly 100 years ago we were Ray Engineering, a small engineering business based in Bristol, UK, and formed from the merger of two still smaller engineering businesses (one powered by water, the other by electricity!) whose roots go back even further into the heyday of British manufacturing.
Over the decades we became known for our innovative outlook. We developed the world’s first battery charger, and we owned only the second ever plastic moulding press in the UK. We were one of the very first businesses to specialise in the moulding of plastic. Engineers and designers would rent space in our factory for ready access to our workshop for prototyping and production.
In the Great Depression, however, the firm barely survived. We were down to a handful of employees working three half-days each, but scraped by until World War II brought new demand. It was during these years that our products became famous as Rencol. After the war, the business grew and diversified, employing a workforce running into the hundreds.
Our reinvention
Eventually, like much of British manufacturing, we fell behind in capital investment. While retaining our cutting edge expertise, we began the 20th century lacking the state of the art equipment found elsewhere in the world.
We have survived and succeeded in a global economy by evolving. We’ve combined our core strengths in engineering and management with a wide range of specialist external capabilities, leveraging excellent working relationships and great communication to deliver quality products with remarkable efficiency. We’re nimble and adaptive, responding rapidly to our customers’ changing needs.
Today Rencol Manufacturing is an open-minded, lean, innovative custom manufacturer, with our own warehouses and distribution networks, and a multilingual staff who specialise in design, engineering, quality and logistics, and are drawn from the UK, the US and China.