HAKKO Information

The company was formed in 1941 by Henry Kingsbury whose background was in the electronics field. The original company, Kingsbury Components, manufactured on/off volume controls under licence. Some of the switches that Henry Kingsbury manufactured proved to be open circuit. He found that an invention of his, a specially formulated oil which had the ability to lubricate electrical contact or moving surfaces, not only cured the problem but also extended the lifetime of the contacts. From this was born a range of lubricants which were, in turn, developed into greases. Through this grew the range of products available today which are designed to service the electronics industry, covering the fields of lubrication, cleaning, conformal coatings and photoresists plus other areas such as anti-static flooring, surface mount products, application machinery and de-soldering aids. Henrys wife, Lady Patricia, joined the company in the mid-1950s. Her role was to run the financial side of the company. AF International , another branch of the company, was formed in 1963. Originally, it supplied fire-proof safes for storage of data tapes. In 1967 AF became the channel for selling two aerosol products: AF Spray and Ultraclene . This later developed into the selling of cleaning and maintenance products for computers and office equipment. In 1968, Gerald Kingsbury, one of Henry Kingsburys sons, joined the business. His area of expertise was selling both in the UK and the rapidly developing export markets. In the 1970s the Kingsbury family decided to take control of their destiny by purchasing their major supplier, a company called DCS (Aerosols) Ltd, who were based in Atherstone in Warwickshire. This move gave the company its first manufacturing capability. The company rapidly outgrew its facilities and in 1981 moved out of its 3,000 sq ft into 13,500 sq ft of factory in Swadlincote. At the time, the companys manufacturing and distribution operations were centralised at this factory. The Woodley warehouse was closed, leaving the ...