A company that started with two men (Roy Taylor and Hubert Hands) in a small
converted malthouse in Oldbury now employs 190 people on five sites supplying
industry with high-quality parts at competitive prices. There was four options for the company name: Orchard Works, Malthouse
Engineering, Harlee Engineering (combining Harwood and Lee), and Sprand Engineering (combining Spry and Hands). Huber
t was much taken with his new premises and wanted the name ‘Malthouse’. So official recognition of the Malthouse Engineering Company Ltd finally arrived, in a letter addressed to Hubert Hands dated 1 January 1948. Ronald L Christianson Ltd of Wordsley were among the first big customers, wanting Malthouse to supply heating boilers for the greenhouses they made. Ernest Lake Ltd, a sheetmetal company, wanted circular blanks for the dished ends of compression tanks. Nevertheless, Malthouse’s chief customer remained Bell & Harwood, who placed 38 of the first 50 orders. On June 1952 new factory was complete and the company took root at Hainge Road. On 31 January 1968.Fred Cooper was officially appointed Malthouse Chairman. At the turn of the decade, the UK hit recession, with manufacturing output falling
by over 14% between 1979 and 1982. Many of Malthouse’s customers felt the pinch, and orders fell off, but the directors were determined to keep the company open and trading. Hubert brought in Maurice Coleman to redesign the antiquated machine with new bearings and an electronic drive-system. Malthouse made 14 horseshoe-nail-making machines.Malthouse accepted an order for champagne-bucket stands for restaurants, the recession was gradually passing, and Malthouse’s business was picking up.
1984. The sourcing of steel became one of Roy Taylor’s main concerns in seeking to develop Malthouse’s potential, and he helped to found the profilers’ group of
the National Association of Steel Stockholders (NASS).
1997. Quality certificate from a new Italian firm called Trametal.
2006 – Change in ownership
The Malthouse committee to look at continuous improvement has enhanced
the company’s approach to environmental issues so much that, in early 2008,
the company received the BS EN ISO 14001:2004 Award.
