User:MattyBKS/Canford Audio PLC

Background

The company was founded in 1976 by Iain Elliott. It was initially run on a part time basis from Iain’s house in Northumberland, hiring out P.A. equipment for mobile discos and radio shows. In 1978 a limited company was set up and in 1979, Canford moved to its first factory premises in Ryton. Swiftly outgrowing the Ryton premises, Canford moved to its current Washington headquarters in 1987. Two buildings form the complex. One houses an extensive warehouse facility plus Sales, Technical Support, Administration and Quality Assurance. The other building provides a large manufacturing area for the production of Canford, NEAL, EMO and TECPRO products, together with Design and Drawing Office.
A manufacturing operation at Portland in the South-West of England was acquired in 1999. This operation has extensive metalworking and assembly resources for the production of video connectors and panel products.
Over 3,500 items of the audio and video products in Canfords ranges are original Canford designs. These are either manufactured in house or by specialist cable companies, plastic moulders or metal fabricators to Canford specifications. Making most of their items unique.
The Canford website (canford.co.uk) is in constant development and includes online trading together with details of new products, technical information, special offers and clearances.

Awards

Canford Audio received the award for best UK distributor from Soniflex at the 2010 IBC exhibition in Amsterdam

Brands

Example of a 19" rack

EMO

EMO was acquired by Canford Group in the year 2000 and has worked to create numerous products such as the industry famous rack-light

Enclosure Systems

Enclosure Systems was integrated into the Canford group in early 2012. The company itself had been around since 1965 specialising in the design and manufacture of 19" Cabinets and accessories for the IT, telecom and defense industries.

NEAL Recordings

NEAL recordings joined the Canford Group in 1996 and specialises in cassette recorders for professional applications. This technology was developed into an unmatched range of secure audio and video recording and transcription systems for legal applications, particularly criminal evidence interviews. NEAL recordings preferred choice of many police forces, government agencies and large corporations worldwide. Recorders can be seen in many TV dramas and documentaries including The Sweeney and The Bill.

ASH Distribution

ASH is currently in it's 15th year in the IT peripherals business and merged into the Canford Group in 2007.

Panamic

Canford also acquired Panamic Boom poles in 2007. These Boom poles have been used on many films and TV series including Canadian documentary Tank Overhaul. Panamic boom poles were exclusively used on the feature film The Boat That Rocked

Tecpro

Plasa 2001

Canford acquired the established Technical Projects intercom range in 1986 and continue to manufacture the communication system, now known as Tecpro, at the factory in Washington, UK. The rugged two wire system is the industry standard in the UK theater and live events markets. It is seen as a viable and cost effective approach to professional intercoms.

Locations

1. Ryton (1979-1987)- First factory premises
2. Washington (1987-Present)- featuring Warehouse, Sales, Technical Support, Administration and Quality Assurance and a second building on the opposite side of the carriageway containing a large area for Production with a design and development office above.
3. Portland (1999-Present)- following the acquisition of Swift Precision, the Canford Manufacturing plant now includes CAD design systems, CNC vertical machining centres, CNC sheet metal fabrication equipment, a tool-making workshop, finishing machines and a powder coating suite. The standard range of connector and patch panels and rack hardware is produced here and having design and manufacture in house offers customised products. The majority of the fabricated enclosures and machined panels used in Canford’s other products are also produced at this plant.
4. France (1988-Present)-

Catalogue

The company’s longest surviving and most recognized publication is "THE source"™ – the Canford catalogue. First published in 1981, it has remained a "must have" document for broadcast engineers to theater technicians to system integrator's, almost since its first release. Now, in its 45th edition, it is a full colour 1,500+ page volume and has a print run of around 35,000 copies of the UK edition alone.

National and international

As Canford is a industry favorite it provides the ability to supply to some of the biggest events worldwide and top company's for instance the BBC. Canford Audio supplied patch panels for the Royal wedding ensuring the eager viewers around the world could see the "I do" from Westminster Abbey. Canford have also supplied to the G20 summit, Olympic games and the World Cup. Canford is also a registered Supplier to the Armed forces.

References

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/news/9702505.Acquisition_will_help_Canford_expand/ http://www.canford.co.uk/News/428_Royal-wedding-audio-and-video-routed-through-Canford-panels http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/news/4272201.Cable_firm_makes_connections_at_G20/ http://www.durhamtimes.co.uk/archive/2012/02/15/Business%3A+News/9532561.Electronics_firm_Canford_opens_Dubai_office/ http://www.bvenorth.co.uk/Show_Exhdetails1.aspx?exhid=exhiReg2&id=det http://www.armedforces.co.uk/companies/raq3f66e75f6be0d http://companycheck.co.uk/company/01385727