A UK company, whose name has become synonymous with air movement equipment, is celebrating its centenary year.
The name, Fläkt Woods, only partially conceals the origins of Woods of Colchester originally founded in 1909 by Maurice Woods as a manufacturer of single-phase motors.
Later gaining a reputation as one of the world's leading fan manufacturers, Woods stayed true to its Colchester roots and remained a family business until 1945 when GEC gained a controlling interest.
It remained with the GEC group until being bought by Global Air Movement Holdings in 2000. The addition of the Fläkt business a year later led to the formation of Fläkt Woods in 2002.
Today, the Colchester facility employs about 460 workers directly with many other local jobs reliant on Fläkt Woods business. The group delivers an air handling unit every six minutes in Europe, Middle East and Asia or the USA, and manufactures 150,000 fans per year for building and tunnel air movement systems, fire safety applications and process ventilation. It also manufactures air terminal devices, chilled beams, controls systems and housing ventilation.