Kingfisher (Lubrication) Limited

From humble beginnings as a manufacturer of greases and a blender of oil in 1867 Kingfisher has continued to operate in the lubrication field of engineering as their core business. Founded just after the American Civil War and in the year the Dominion of Canada was formed Kingfisher has a long and varied history. Through innovation, hard work and endeavour the company has survived 150 years of arguably the most critical period of economic history of Britain. Moreover the company has seen and been part of the most profound changes and seemingly endless revolution in the industrial life of the country. Throughout all this time Kingfisher has employed many local people training them in the skills required to engineer and produce the millions of our products we sell throughout the world. The Fisher family’s involvement in the company over four generations is obvious but there are also local families who continue to contribute by their employment gaining a living from the activities on the site occupied for nearly 150 years. For the last 50 years Kingfisher has taken a common article, the grease nipple, and manufacture it uncommonly well. High volume production of this low value product has been commercially successful because of wise investments in the in-house design and manufacture of high speed efficient automated machinery. This activity continues to drive the success of the company and has been used to build machinery to process other components some used in the roof-rail systems of high-end Land-Rover 4x4 vehicles. Higher value grease fittings made from CuNi alloys (Monel®) and the 316 series of stainless steel used in more aggressive environments have been a useful addition to the range of standard commercial grade grease nipples and set the company apart from rivals in the developing world. Interesting times lie ahead and Kingfisher are well prepared to face future challenges as a Leeds based leader in the world of high volume manufacturing. Kingfisher will continue to train and employ engineering skills to add value to raw materials and export the product of this work worldwide.