Fume and dust extraction specialist Increases UK footprint by 25%

Phil Black - PII Editor 13/11/2017

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BOFA International is increasing its UK footprint by 25% to meet growing worldwide demand for its market-leading fume and dust extraction technology.

Work has started on creating an additional 12,000 sq ft of space in the company’s home town of Poole in Dorset to house its corporate functions, along with a state-of-the-art research and development centre.

BOFA, which recently achieved the Queen’s Award for Innovation, employs almost 250 people in the design and production of fume and dust extraction systems that remove harmful airborne contaminants associated with industrial processes.

The company has expanded rapidly over the last two years, following a management buy-out, and currently sells 90% of its products overseas, meeting the needs of customers across a diverse range of sectors in over 100 countries.

Managing Director, Tony Lockwood, commented: “BOFA started out as a small family business 30 years ago and has grown to become a world technology leader.

Throughout this time, our commitment to UK manufacturing has been unwavering and we continue to fly the flag for British innovation through this investment in additional premises in Poole.”

BOFA’s new building will be home to a world class R&D centre, along with corporate functions, such as customer service, marketing, training, technical support, product management, HR and accounts.

The facility will enable BOFA’s 16-strong R&D team of specialist chartered engineers, technicians and support staff to push new concepts in the development of fume extraction systems for an ever growing range of materials and processes.

At any given moment, the R&D team is working on multiple projects, utilising in-house skills but also collaborating with health institutes and specialist university departments to apply the latest academic research. Currently this includes new woodworking dust extraction technology and an innovative concept for a ‘self-clean’ filtration system.

“As a business, innovation is our lifeblood – it makes us agile and keeps us ahead of the competition,” said Tony Lockwood. “Our people are highly skilled and are empowered to look for new ways of doing things, as evidenced by our development of technology that leads the world in keeping people safe in the workplace.”

In addition to its UK facilities, BOFA has operations in Germany and the USA.