Volex history

By 1922, the Company employed 850 people and manufactured and/or sold a wide range of electrical products, including lamps, torches, medical coils, electric kettles, batteries, dynamos and telephones, as well as wireless telegraphy sets.

Product ranges in all divisions continued to expand after 1945.

By 1969, Ward & Goldstone was selling its products in around 100 overseas markets.

In 1983 the company’s name was changed from Ward & Goldstone p.l.c. to Volex Group p.l.c., with a divisional structure that included Volex Accessories, Volex Pencon, Volex Wiring Systems and Volex Raydex.

In July 1991 the company sold its Volex Accessories division due to a long-term downturn in the building industry.

In 1992 – the acquisition of Cable Products, Inc., gaining manufacturing operations in the USA and Ireland.

In January 1993 – the acquisition of Component Manufacturing Services Inc. in Massachusetts and North Carolina.

In 1997 – the acquisition of Capulum, located in Ottawa, Canada, which gave us additional factories in Chula Vista, California, and in Shenzhen, China.

In 1998 – the acquisition of a majority stake in Telepart Cables in Brazil, gaining plants in China, Croatia and Malaysia.

In 1999 – the acquisition of Belden Inc., with further plants in the USA, Mexico and Chennai, India.

By 2000, although the head office remained in Warrington, in northwest England, and some manufacturing was still taking place in the UK, Volex had expanded to become an international company, with not only significant sales operations but also multiple manufacturing sites around the world.

In 2009, Volex plc moved its head office from the northwest to London, where it remained for the next 10 years.

Since 2015, when the current executive management team took over after a series of difficult years for the Company, Volex has once again become a profitable, expanding and acquisitive business.

The Group has acquired ten businesses since 2018, and through its ownership of GTK is now manufacturing in the UK again after a gap of over 10 years.

In April 2020, the head office was moved to Basingstoke.