From Leicestershire roots to multi-megawatt offshore wind platforms, BGB celebrates 50 years of British manufacturing and global co-engineering excellence.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of BGB, one of the world’s leaders in rotary transfer solutions. Founded in 1976 by David Holt Snr in a modest Leicestershire workshop, the company began life producing traditional carbon brush gear for local industries. Fifty years on, it has transformed into an internationally recognised engineering group led by David’s son, operating from its state-of-the-art Lincolnshire headquarters in Grantham and a dedicated facility in the United States.
BGB’s growth into a key player on the international stage was driven by an early pivot in the 1990s into the emerging wind energy sector. Partnering with Scandinavian pioneers, BGB moved beyond component manufacturing to become a co-engineering partner for major OEMs.
As the market grew, the company evolved its engineering alongside flagship platforms, ranging from early Vestas V52 and V80 models to setting new multi-megawatt benchmarks with the Vestas V236-15.0 MW and EnVentus platforms. Over the years, it has rightly earned recognition for developing complex slip ring assemblies, hydraulic rotary joints and fibre optic rotary joints.
Its move into North America over two decades ago – which saw it establish a facility in Virginia – embraced new opportunities in the US East Coast offshore wind corridor. On the ground, partnerships, such as custom slip ring refurbishments for Deutsche Windtechnik UK, demonstrate how BGB’s co-engineering directly reduces operational downtime and material waste.
Product Innovation
Distinguished by complete end-to-end control at its Grantham headquarters, where 3D mechanical simulation, thermal modelling, precision automated machining, and climate testing take place under one roof, BGB is able to solve complex design challenges where standard off-the-shelf components fail.
To meet the demands of modern offshore wind, aerospace and industrial automation, the company has pioneered hybrid rotary unions that combine high-voltage power transmission, high-speed optical data, fluid hydraulics and signal lines into single integrated assemblies.
By pushing beyond hardware engineering, BGB is advancing smart maintenance through its Brush Wear Indicator (BWI) condition monitoring technology. By embedding real-time predictive analytics into assemblies operating in harsh or remote offshore environments, the company provides operators with early warning performance data, optimising service intervals and reducing costly downtime.
Advanced UK Manufacturing
Despite exporting over 90% of its output, BGB remains deeply committed to UK manufacturing, continuously reinvesting in its Lincolnshire facilities. Recent introductions include automated robotic machining cells for ring turning and upgraded environmental test chambers capable of simulating Arctic freezes, marine humidity and extreme thermal shock to validate durability prior to installation.
Additionally, operational resilience is underpinned by proactive supply chain management. Crucially, it achieves a 99% on-time delivery rate. Complementing new-build capabilities, BGB champions industrial sustainability through its Spares & Repairs service and the launch of its Circularity Collection initiative. By recovering, refurbishing or remanufacturing used slip rings and carbon brushes directly from customer fleets, BGB significantly lowers lifecycle operational costs while diverting high-value engineering materials from landfill.
50 Years of Success
“I often sit back and think about how my father would have thought to it all,” reflects CEO David Holt Jnr. “From a small, former shoe factory in Leicestershire, to operating internationally out of two sites. Combine that with our 11 partners around the globe, it’s become a huge operation. That level of scale over 50 years has been a pleasure to watch unfold.”
Today, the company remains a family-owned business with David’s son now on board learning the ropes of each department. “While our technology has advanced from basic brush gear to multi-gigawatt offshore wind turbine solutions, I’d like to believe that our core values – British engineering excellence, family culture and innovation – remain unchanged.”
Manufacturing & Engineering Magazine | The Home of Manufacturing Industry News
