Our Story
First Engineering Services Ltd was founded in 1999 by our Managing Director and owner, Simon Oliphant — beginning as a one-man operation working from shared premises in Cumbria. From day one, our approach has been built on two simple beliefs: look after the customer, and the business will look after itself — and that there’s no substitute for hard work. Those values still shape everything we do today.
Our earliest contracts came from local manufacturers in the convenience food sector — the start of long-standing partnerships and our entry into food manufacturing, which remains a cornerstone of our work. As word spread and customers returned, the team grew quickly: our first fabricator joined in 2000, and by 2002 we had four on the workshop floor, prompting a move to larger rented premises.
The business continued to take on increasingly ambitious projects, including conveying and material handling systems. To support this, we welcomed our first design engineer in 2004. In 2007 we purchased our own site at Barras Lane Industrial Estate in Dalston, relocating with a team of seven — including two design engineers — and launched our first company website.
As our reputation for quality, reliability and genuine customer service spread, the business expanded further. We extended the workshop, added new offices, and grew the team to twelve. In 2012 we appointed a Works Manager to support the next phase of growth, and acquired a local competitor in the same year — taking the team to nineteen and broadening our customer base significantly.
In 2013 we opened Weldtech UK at our Dalston site, supplying welding consumables and workwear to the engineering trade, followed shortly afterwards by an e-commerce platform.
In 2015 we acquired another local specialist serving the beverage industry — a natural complement to our convenience food sector work, with busy periods that balance neatly across the year. This brought nine skilled colleagues into the team and opened the door to much larger contracts. To accommodate the growing team and ambitions, we moved into our current modern, environmentally friendly manufacturing facility.
Where We Are Today
What started as a one-man business is now a thriving group of over 60 people — supported by an experienced management team and made up of design engineers, machinists, fabricators, fitters, apprentices and office staff, all working under one roof and one set of family values. With a clear management structure now in place to guide the next stage of our journey, we remain proudly independent and family-run — and despite our growth, every customer still matters as much to us as that very first contract did in 1999.
Today we supply tailor-made equipment, material handling systems and maintenance services to blue-chip companies across the UK and around the world. Long-standing customers include Crown Bevcan, Ardagh Packaging, Britvic, Nestlé UK, Pladis, Carrs Billington, Greencore Convenience Foods, 2 Sisters Food Group, Pirelli Tyres, and Heinz — alongside many smaller businesses we’re equally proud to serve.
Our reach now spans four continents. Complete material handling lines built in Cumbria are operating across Europe — in Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and France — as well as in Africa, with installations in South Africa and Kenya. We’ve also supplied equipment further afield to customers across the Americas, including the USA and Chile. Every new export opens the door to fresh sectors and markets we’d never imagined back in 1999, and we’re excited to keep building on that international growth.
Looking Ahead
We’re a forward-looking, family-owned business that continues to invest in our people, our apprentices and the latest manufacturing technology. But the heart of First Engineering Services hasn’t changed. Our customers are central to everything we do, and we measure our success by the strength of the relationships we build with them.
