Company History

Numatic International was founded in 1969 in Crewkerne, Somerset, England where it produced its first commercial vacuum cleaner designed for cleaning coal, oil and gas fired boilers.

At the beginning the company employed 6 people, the factory was not as big as a garage and the most sophisticated equipment was a drill. Thank heavens the days were 24 hours long!

The first vacuum cleaner designs were made from a combination of oil drums and components that were readily available such as suitcase handles, furniture castors and domestic washing-up bowls. All assembled in such a way as to provide a simple, reliable workhorse for commercial and industrial use.

By 1971 the sales had grown too big for Crewkerne and we moved into a water-mill in Yeovil, Somerset which is where we learnt all about wet pick-up machines. When the river was high the factory flooded between 5 and 10cm, but production continued. It was in Yeovil that the first serious commercial vacuum cleaner was developed, the NV-2, followed very closely by the original NV-250. Both were all steel machines and the majority are still working today, 33 years later. We pride ourselves on the fact that we can still supply parts and replacements for all Numatic vacuum cleaners, ever produced, back to number 1.

By 1973 we started to enter the cleaning industry and produced our first floor machine and wet and dry cleaners. Once again based on components that could be purchased from existing suppliers.

By 1974 the mill was too small and we moved to our first serious home in Beaminster, Dorset where we stayed for 20 years. Beaminster was the home of Henry, the product for which Numatic is famous throughout the world, with sales increasing year by year since its inception in 1981.

Up to this point in 1990 we were mainly assembling our products from components supplied by sub-contractors in metal and plastic, we then branched out with our own tube manipulation facility to make improved, stronger, commercial products. It was at this point that we also realised that we needed increased production capacity and more manufacturing expertise if we were to remain competitive in world markets.

The Chard site on which Numatic International is situated today was acquired in 1990 and has been developed over the past 13 years. The site is 9 hectares, employing over 700 staff, parts of which operate 24 hours a day, it produces 3,000 products per day and encompasses many state of the art and fully automated facilities.

In 1995 subsidiaries near to Paris, France and in Johannesburg, South Africa were established to provide full support for our increasing overseas activities in these regions, Germany was added to the list in 2002 and The Netherlands in 2004.

The key to the success of Numatic International is the close relationship that has been established with both customers and suppliers worldwide. Many of these relationships have survived throughout the whole lifespan of the company, and indeed, many have entered second and even third generation associations. Over the past years we hope we have always listened, and paid heed, to advice and in so doing provided a better service to our dealers and they, in turn, to our customers.

Our aim is to continue to be innovative, maintain a high standard of quality and to provide good value for money.