A specialist engineering company

100 years of Reliance history

Reliance has a long-standing history in the supply of intricate mechanical products and specialist design and manufacturing services. Founded in 1920 as Reliance Gear Company, Huddersfield, we are known to many of our customers for our expertise in gears and geared assemblies.

Reliance Precision (Ireland) Limited was set up in Bandon in 1970. At the time it was specifically established for the manufacture of high precision racks. Over the years the manufacturing facility has quadrupled in size and the workforce has also increased from an initial 9 to its current 36 people.

The 1960s saw the introduction of the first Reliance catalogue, the first to do so in the UK. Our standard product catalogue has been developed to provide a one-stop shop for the design engineer – from basic essentials, such as captive screws, to complete sub-assemblies for rotary and linear motion.

We offer a carefully selected mix of in-house designed and manufactured products together with products from leading global manufacturers, all of which can be modified to suit individual requirements.

In the 1980s the company expanded into scientific instrument assembly work, investing in cleanroom

capabilities at both sites together with engineering skills in research, development and test, and this has become a further core focus for the business. Reliance has recently expanded into the Life Science industry focusing on laboratory automation solutions.

Our ability to manufacture, assemble and undertake mechanical and functional testing of quadrupole mass filters for use in mass spectrometers has allowed us to become one of the world leaders in this technology.

The Reliance standard quadrupole provides a proven cost effective solution right through to the production and assembly stages.

Timeline of Reliance

A specialist engineering company

100 years of Reliance history

In the 1980s the company expanded into scientific instrument assembly work, investing in cleanroom capabilities at both sites together with engineering skills in research, development and test, and this has become a further core focus for the business. Reliance has recently expanded into the Life Science industry focusing on laboratory automation solutions.

The Reliance standard quadrupole provides a proven cost effective solution right through to the production and assembly stages.

Timeline of Reliance

Evolution

This timeline charts some of the history Reliance Precision Limited and Reliance Precision (Ireland) Limited.

1920

Reliance Gear Company Limited was incorporated and took over the business of “Gear Cutters and Engineers carried on by Byrom Jury & Co of Moldgreen”. Supplying gears and parts to the woolen mills of Huddersfield.

1930s

Early products included the Reliance washing machine, covered by a patent sealed in 1936 during the short reign of Edward VIII.

1955

The company was purchased by Mr Max Selka, who, together with his wife Jennifer, devoted the next sixty years to building Reliance into the world class organisation we see today.

1959

Reliance moved from Union Street, Huddersfield to St. Helen’s Gate, Almondbury. The shield of St. Helen forms the basis of our company logo to this day.

1960s

The 1960s saw the introduction of the first Reliance catalogue, the first contract from the Admiralty, the Indicon R closed loop analogue electro-mechanical machine tool read-out, and the modular gearbox.

1969/70

Our site in Ireland, Reliance Precision Manufacturing (Ireland) Limited was set up specifically to manufacture high precision instrument gear racks needed by the machine tool industries.

1970s

Further investment in Ireland sees the building double in size and workforce increase. Rack and pinion system produced by Reliance provides the positional feedback for the Jodrell Bank observatory radio telescope – still the third largest in the world today.

1980s

The 1980s saw the acquisition of Rowley Mills, Huddersfield and the installation of a laminar flow cleanroom. A similar cleanroom was built in Ireland, enabling the manufacture and assembly of clean high vacuum assemblies and quadrupole mass filters for the mass spectrometry industry. 1983, site in Ireland has second major extension and doubled in size.

1990s

1995 saw the first major extension to the Rowley Mills site and consolidation of all UK operations into one location. 1999 saw the development and manufacture of our patented Reli-a-Flex couplings. The catalogue standard products gear manufacturing cell is transferred from Huddersfield to Bandon.

2000s

Second major extension to Rowley Mills’ clean and fine assembly facilities saw the laminar flow cleanroom extended along with a larger area created for gearbox assembly. Continued investment in manufacturing saw wafer plates for the semi-conductor industries being manufactured in Ireland.

2005

Name changed to Reliance Precision Limited to reflect more accurately the broader range of activities now undertaken. Third major extension to Rowley Mills to create more space for prototyping, test and development facilities. Major investment in the apprentice facilities at Huddersfield.

2010s

Establishment of a new holding company, Reliance RG Limited, and a supervisory board of family shareholders. Continued investment in people, plant and technology to keep us at the forefront in our chosen fields and to enable growth in new sectors such as satellites, bionic prosthetics and DNA analysis instruments. continued investment in the manufacturing facilities and buildings at both sites. This included a precision CNC gear cutting machine to produce extreme accuracies over larger batch sizes in Bandon.

2020s

We will be celebrating our centenary year and 50 years in Ireland along with launching of the new brand. Plans to expand the Irish facilities further. We look forward to the next hundred years with excitement and confidence.