Ajax Marks 75 Year Anniversary at MACH

22 January 2016

Machine tool builders steeped in the same level of pedigree as Ajax Machine Tools are few and far between. This year, the Hampshire company is celebrating 75 years of manufacturing excellence in the UK; and at MACH the company will be drawing visitors attention to the build quality of its machine tools - a quality that only comes from a manufacturer with a long tradition of machine building.

The Ajax Machine Tool Company Limited of Halifax was conceived in 1939, the same year that marked the start of the 2nd World War. The following year the doors opened for business. Just another year later in 1941, the company was re-named to a shortened 'Ajax', after the HMS Ajax cruiser warship was adopted by the town of Halifax during World War II. For those with a thirst for naval history, the HMS Ajax was in the Battle of the River Plate and it was one of three cruisers that attacked and forced the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee to port. Whilst in port, the captain of the Graf Spee decided to scuttle the vessel to prevent it from being sunk by the British Navy.

Like many companies in the day, products are respective production volumes were determined by the demands of post-war nations. Ajax was no different, it established a subsidiary company 'Ajax Domestic Appliance' to benefit from the UK's increasing demand for washing machines.

Like its machines of the 1940's, Ajax was continually innovating and in 1945 the company presented its new vice with one fixed jaw and one floating jaw. Undoubtedly a technological revelation of its day. In 1960, the company was acquired by Philips Electrical and just two years later, the appliances and machine tool businesses were separated. During the 1970's the company relocated to the Ajax works site in Stockport and it underwent numerous acquisitions through the 1970s to 1990's, until a 2001 acquisition by the Viking Group saw Ajax leave its Northern roots and move to Birmingham.
The final acquisition of this remarkable brand of British machine tools occurred in 2002, when current owner Mr William Savin relocated the company to Hampshire and set about bringing the company back it its former glory days. Little over 10 years into this challenge; and Ajax is rising like a phoenix from the flames with a new range of machine tools that are built more cost effectively, more efficiently and with greater technological advances. Now, 75 years on from its inception and Ajax is once again leading the way in British built machine tools.

If you want to reminisce over the joys of your old Ajax machine and also see how the company has progressed through the decades, please come and speak with our engineers at MACH 2016 on Stand 5194. The Ajax team will be delighted to introduce the current range of milling, turning, drilling, boring, grinding, cutting and forming machinery for the challenges of the modern manufacturing landscape.