Edwards Ltd is a British, multinational

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or " void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often di ...

and

ultra-high vacuum Ultra-high vacuum (UHV) is the vacuum regime characterised by pressures lower than about . UHV conditions are created by pumping the gas out of a UHV chamber. At these low pressures the mean free path of a gas molecule is greater than approximately ...

pump manufacturer. It is based in Burgess Hill and has been a subsidiary of

Atlas Copco Atlas Copco (Copco from Compagnie Pneumatique Commerciale) is a Swedish multinational industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tools and equipment. The Atlas Copco Group is a global industrial group of companies ...

since 2014. Edwards holds 1,700 patents, including for dry (oil-free)

vacuum pumps A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or " void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often di ...

, and produces equipment used for manufacturing semiconductors; scientific research; freeze drying, and in other industries. Its pumps remove contaminants at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Manufacture is predominantly by subsidiary businesses in Czechoslovakia, South Korea and China. Edwards' global research and development facilities remain in the UK. Major customers in 2012 included

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

Hynix SK hynix Inc. is a South Korean supplier of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips. Hynix is the world's second-largest memory chipmaker (after Samsung Electronics) and the world's third-largest semiconductor company. ...

Agilent Agilent Technologies, Inc. is an American life sciences company that provides instruments, software, services, and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Its global headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California. Agilent was establi ...

and LG.

Edwards E2M2 2-Stage Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump (15957733526)

History

Independent

In 1919, physicist Frederick David (F E) Edwards and his father William founded their eponymous business in Camberwell as Edwards Equipment and Services, importing vacuum equipment from Germany's Leybold. Cut off from its supplier because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and with German patents voided in the UK, independent manufacturing began in 1939. The firm was renamed W Edwards and Co in 1940, then Edwards High Vacuum International Ltd in 1950, and moved to Crawley in 1953. Edwards purchased Italian freeze drying equipment manufacturer Alto Vuoto SpA in 1954, followed by the Shoreham factory of former subcontractor J H Holmes and Son Ltd in 1958. In the 1960s the firm

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

as a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

; suffered from strike action; F E Edwards died, and after financial difficulties it was sold to BOC.

BOC

BOC Group's purchase of Edwards in 1968 was followed by international expansion, particularly into Asia, and investment at the Crawley,

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, Shoreham and Burgess Hill sites. In 1984, Edwards developed and patented the first practical high vacuum dry (no-oil) pumps. The design was taken up by the fast growing

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way. ...

manufacturing market.

Linde and CCMP Capital

Linde AG Linde plc is a global multinational chemical company founded in Germany and, since 2018, domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Linde is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. It serves ...

purchased BOC in 2006 for , selling Edwards to

CCMP Capital CCMP Capital is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPMorgan Chase o ...

, and its Asian fund, in 2007 for becoming Edwards Group Ltd, and then Edwards Group plc. New, Cayman Islands holding company Edwards Group Ltd

on NASDAQ, in 2012 via

ADS" \n\nads.txt (Authorized Digital Sellers) is an initiative from IAB Technology Laboratory. It specifies a text file that companies can host on their web servers, listing the other companies authorized to sell their products or services. This is des ...

under

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters ...

EVAC, with a IPO. It delisted in 2014 when

purchased operating subsidiary Edwards Ltd for £1 billion. In 2011, manufacturing sites were opened in Czechoslovakia and South Korea for industrial / pharmaceutical / chemical / scientific, and semiconductor markets respectively. Most of Edwards' UK manufacturing capacity was closed, completing plans proposed under BOC in 2005. Edwards was awarded its seventh Queen's Award in 2012.

Atlas Copco

Controversies

Domain registration

In 2005, Nominet determined the domain name ''bocedwards.co.uk'' had been abusively registered by Eaton Engineering (Herts) Ltd and ordered that it be transferred to The BOC Group Ltd, the then owners of Edwards.

Hoffman Instrumentation Supply Inc

In 2019, Hoffman Instrumentation Supply Inc was a component vendor to Edwards' US, subsidiary Edwards Vacuum LLC, and held talks about becoming exclusive supplier for some items. It was also proposed that Hoffman would construct subassemblies and complete systems, but only for Edwards. One of Hoffman's key customers enquired whether it could provide a vacuum system that would work with pumps other than Edwards'. Hoffman informed Edwards whose response was to suggest purchasing Hoffman. Information was provided about Hoffman to Edwards for due diligence, under a non disclosure agreement, in order to progress the acquisition. It included technical specifications for the pump agnostic vacuum system and Hoffman's cost structures. The parties did not agree terms to purchase Hoffman and Edwards withdrew from the process. A group of employees left Edwards to work for Hoffman and in 2020, Edwards sought an injunction against Hoffman to prevent misuse of the ex employees's

trade secrets Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily a ...

. Hoffman counter claimed Edwards used the confidential due diligence information to pitch their products to Hoffman's key customer at prices just below Hoffman's own intended level, and to demand cost reductions from suppliers to match those obtained by Hoffman. Hoffman alleged Edwards employed

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

practices in breach of the Sherman Act because it had 70% share of the integrated vacuum pump frame systems market in the US and suppressed competition, imposing non-compete covenants on its suppliers and engaged in employee intimidation; customer threats, and bad faith litigation. In May 2021, Edwards was granted a partial, interim injunction against Hoffman selling a

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtig ...

component. Judgement declined to accept Edwards' application of Noerr–Pennington doctrine to dismiss Hoffman's anti competition counterclaim. In June 2022, the parties entered into a Confidential Settlement Agreement through which both parties' claims were dismissed with

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

Patents

Edwards makes many

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

applications which are opposed, and frequently challenges those made by its competitors.

References

External links

Official Site
{{Authority control Engineering companies of England Companies based in Crawley Pump manufacturers Vacuum pumps 2014 mergers and acquisitions