Established in 1922, Hillbrush, the UK’s largest manufacturer of brushes and specialist hygiene tools, is a family owned and operated company, now run by the 4th generation of the Coward family.  Having outgrown its former premises, Hillbrush opened its brand new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility on the outskirts of Mere, Wiltshire in 2017. From the moment that the first sods were turned by father and son team Philip Coward (Chairman) and Charlie Coward (Managing Director) at its groundbreaking ceremony in 2016, the buzz surrounding the company and its new headquarters has escalated. So, when we received the kind invitation to pay our friends at Hillbrush a visit, we jumped at the chance to find out what all the fuss is about!

Arriving at Hillbrush, the first thing that strikes you other than the impressive scale of the site, is that the not-inconsiderable car park was packed full and it soon became clear why. Having approached Hillbrush from the busy A303, which is the major route for traffic coming into the region, it is hard to miss the large road sign inviting you to take a break from driving and Visit Hillbrush: A visitor centre combining a restaurant, shop and museum all under one roof situated directly alongside the factory, offices and warehouses.

Not only was the expansion the talk of the brush industry, but we had also heard from non-brush friends who had done exactly as the sign suggested and broken their journey with an unplanned rest stop at Visit Hillbrush. They were left with sated appetites and a newfound enthusiasm for brushes!

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Philip and Charlie Coward, along with David Hagelthorn, Head of Marketing, who has been with the company for just under a year, leading on all brand, Channel and Lead Generation activities for the three divisions of the business – Hillbrush, Hillbrush Inc (its US division) and Visit Hillbrush. Luckily, our visit coincided with lunch time, so we were led straight to the visitor centre and were treated to a delicious meal in its bright, spacious restaurant whose warm, vibrant atmosphere, coupled with the locally sourced, imaginative menu includes something for every taste and appetite with a wide selection of fine dining options and takeaway goodies.

Over lunch, we learnt more about the reasons behind the move to the new location, which was essentially born of necessity, as the company outgrew the original site with its inherent size constraints. Having secured the current, spacious Norwood Park facility, Philip Coward was then able to realise his lifelong dream of creating the UK’s first brush-making museum. With ample space to accommodate such an attraction, ideas were bounced around and the concept of a visitor centre was arrived at, particularly once Charlie Coward, a self-confessed “foodie”, had expressed his longstanding ambition to open an eating establishment. Combining a museum, a restaurant and a shop enabling patrons to take home a little piece of Hillbrush, the visitor centre as it stands today was conceived.

With a range of over 2000 products that are distributed to more than 90 countries across the globe, the Hillbrush factory is a busy enterprise, but we were fortunate enough that Philip Coward found the time to show us around. It’s not every day that you get a tour with the Chairman and we were particularly grateful in this instance, as Philip has intimate knowledge of the machinery and processes used to drive the business forward, having started his Hillbrush career working on the factory floor.

The first part of the factory is home to its traditional brush-making activities. The company started its life supplying brushes used in the farms and factories around Britain and, today, is still supporting the agricultural, construction and household markets with exceptional tools. 

Using sustainably sourced materials including high-grade timbers and natural fibres, Hillbrush produces the majority of its traditional brushware at the Mere site. Modern robotic brush-making machinery, including custom-built lines designed especially for Hillbrush, are used to complete most tasks, with highly skilled operatives ensuring that exceptional standards are maintained at all stages of production.

The brooms and brushes fabricated in this department are grouped according to their quality bracket and budget range: Finest, Trade and Contract. This makes ordering easy, with customers able to easily identify the most suitable product group for their requirements.

In 1981, Hillbrush was granted a Royal Warrant as a mark of acknowledgement for supplying its products of high order to Royal Households. As one of 850 Royal Warrant holders, Hillbrush is entitled to use the title and Royal Arms. The Royal Warrant status products have been specially selected for their durability and effectiveness and are also available for purchase by its non-Royal customers.

Philip told us that despite the traditional side of the business continuing to flourish with a 9% increase in sales year-on-year to the domestic market, the biggest area of growth continues to be exports to the hygiene markets, focussing on production of food and beverage.

Hillbrush is one of the few companies that has its own in-house fibre dressing department, strengthened by acquisition to include dressing and mixing machinery. The natural fibres used to fill its brooms and brushes are bought in large quantities and are cut to the required lengths and dressed/mixed internally, thus giving the company the required degree of control over the quality of materials used. The fibre operation is so successful that Hillbrush now supplies mixtures to other companies around the world.

Nowadays, Hillbrush is most known for its internationally recognised Hillbrush Hygiene brand of hygienic cleaning equipment. Using pioneering technology, Hillbrush manufactures a world-class range of high-performance brushes, squeegees and other cleaning equipment.

Philip explained to us that the Hillbrush Hygiene range is one of the most advanced in the world and includes products available in 12 colours to aid colour-coding. Its Resin-Set Dual Retention System (DRS®) is one of a number of advanced solutions that set Hillbrush apart from its competitors, using anti-microbial epoxy resin to set the filaments in the brushes/brooms to eliminate the risk of filament loss and to prevent a build-up of dirt in the holes. The process is such a close-guarded secret that unfortunately we were not able to view the production room – indeed, even new employees are excluded until they have passed their 6-month probation period!

The Hillbrush MDX range of hand brushes and plastic tools has been engineered using metal detectable and x-ray visible plastic additives to allow for easy identification of lost parts in the food manufacturing industry. Philip highlighted these products along with its Anti-Microbial range as part of the company’s unique selling point.

Another of the projects that has helped put Hillbrush on the map is the development of its Shadowboards: custom-made visual aids that organise a company’s hygienic equipment according to colour-coded systems, allowing staff to access the right cleaning item for each task, keeps products stored and hung separately to air dry to reduce bacterial growth potential and enables the monitoring of product whereabouts and condition. These boards can be customised to show the company’s and/or its customers’ logo and any other information required. These have been a huge success and reflect the company’s constant endeavours to add value to the customer experience.

Philip explained that Hillbrush is registered to the FEIBP (European Brushware Federation) Charter for Professional Hygiene Brushware, ensuring compliance with all existing hygiene regulations and assuring customers of the product’s fitness for purpose.

Hillbrush used to rely on buying its moulded parts from external sources due to the costs associated with the moulding process. Philip explained that in order to guarantee the high quality of its products, particularly the Hillbrush Hygiene range, the decision was taken in 2011 to undertake this part of the manufacturing process themselves, and the move to the new site has facilitated the growth of this section of the company which now also moulds for other companies.

Over the last 3 years, the moulding department has rapidly expanded to accommodate for additional demand; each new moulding machine equipped with its own automatic material feed and dosing system to introduce polymers and additives. The most recent addition has been a new 1000 tonne robotic injection moulding which makes high-speed, large-volume, precision-moulded parts to specific requirements, both in terms of design and composition. So successful is the moulding division that plans are already in place to extend the operation with the addition of further injection moulding machinery in the near future.

The moulding process is incredibly efficient already, with overhead cranes installed for lifting of heavy mould tools and central cooling system to cool moulded parts quickly and to remove fumes. Philip informed us that the removal of the moulded items and transferal of the same to cooling tanks which is currently done by hand, would soon be undertaken by robots.

All excess plastic resulting from the injection moulding process is recycled, as it is granulated and re-worked into non-hygiene products.

Philip was keen to highlight that the smooth operation of the whole of the factory is kept on-track with recently deployed state-of-the-art scheduling software and IT systems, which monitor the performance of each machine and each department within the company, supporting the experienced and knowledgeable workforce in their respective functions. 

Using its expert knowledge of brush manufacturing, Hillbrush can easily deliver bespoke solutions to meet its customers’ requirements and can advise on the design, materials and all other aspects of the manufacturing process. Logos can be applied to both wood and products with the aid of the in-house printing facilities.

Finally, we were shown the warehousing facilities which employ the latest technology to store, pick, pack and distribute product. This well-organised department ensures that orders are processed and delivered to their various destinations on time!

Moving away from the factory and warehouse, we were shown around the Hillbrush R&D and testing department. With a high emphasis attached to product quality and consistency, this department not only engages the latest engineering tools to design new items, whether standard or bespoke, but also rigorously tests its products using devices such as tuft-pulling equipment, autoclaves and metal detectors.

The Hillbrush team is committed to protecting and preserving the environment and the construction of the new facility afforded the opportunity to re-think its practices and build-in energy and resource saving methodologies. Using recycled materials and, indeed, recycling its own by-products at every stage of the manufacturing process, Hillbrush is making great strides in reducing its ecological footprint.

Everyone knows that a great company relies on great staff and Hillbrush goes that extra mile to ensure that its workforce is well taken care of. With top-notch facilities including a “staff hub” with its own restaurant and rest areas and even a gym, Hillbrush has created a fantastic working environment for its employees, most of whom have been employed for many years, including generations of the same family, reflecting its status as a progressive and caring employer.

Having completed our tour, we were excited to be invited to take a closer look at the visitor centre - Visit Hillbrush, with David Hagelthorn joining Philip to show us around. Not only does it benefit from its prime location for catching passing trade, particularly during the summer months as tourists flood into the popular South West of England, but the venture has been successful in also attracting customers from the local area. Many of whom are now regulars in the restaurant which hosts Friday night theme nights with entertainment laid on and has recently been overwhelmed by the interest shown in its Christmas openings which proved immensely popular and were almost immediately sold out!

In addition to the restaurant, Visit Hillbrush houses a shop, stocking not only a vast range of Hillbrush’s own items, but also a comprehensive range of brushware and complementary goods from industry and Royal Warrant-holding peers.

With such a long and well-documented history, the Visit Hillbrush museum really helps the visitor to not only identify with Hillbrush and its roots and company ethos, but also to understand the materials and processed involved in the manufacture of brushware in general.

Guests at the restaurant are surrounded by brushmaking memorabilia, with machinery from a bygone era on display in amongst the tables giving an idea of the effort required to produce brushes, even in days when mechanisation took over many of the mundane tasks that were previously done by hand.

An entire wall of the restaurant depicts the average household and reminds the viewer of the importance of the numerous brushes used in the different areas of the home; many of the brushes we use are such an integral part of everyday life that they are frequently overlooked. And these are just household brushes: it is only when you stop to consider the many industries and applications that rely on brushes, that you begin to realise why anyone involved in the sector will respond with passion and display a certain sense of pride when discussing their industry, and this feeling is very much in force at Visit Hillbrush.

One end of Visit Hillbrush is entirely dedicated to exhibits, both large and small, designed with a very hands-on feel to draw in customers, old and young alike. Walls of photos recording the family’s brushmaking heritage include many gems, among which show our monarch Queen Elizabeth on her visit to the old site in 1952, when current Chairman, Philip Coward, was but a lad. I am sure he behaved appropriately on the day in question and the Queen was left with lasting impression of the company and family; so much so that she is happy for her seal of approval to remain on many of its current products.

Other displays show the origins and different qualities of the various filling materials used brush manufacturing, colour-coding practices in hygienic areas encompassing the varieties and properties of the Hillbrush Hygiene range, filament retention methods and additional vintage brushmaking machinery, as well as display cases of brush-related artefacts, both from the Hillbrush vaults and contributions from brushmaking friends from across the globe. Whilst we were there, we were very pleased to see youngsters enthusiastically interacting with the exhibits: maybe these will be the brushmakers of the future, inspired into finding new solutions for industrial and domestic solutions in which brushes will no-doubt continue to be of great relevance.

Both Josie and I are very grateful to the Coward family for their generous hospitality and wholehearted commitment to engaging the public in this special industry. Proud of their history, mindful of their present and excited for their future, we are certain that Hillbrush will continue its rise to fame both within the brush world and beyond.

More pictures from our visit can be found in the www.brushexpert.com Image Gallery available via this link.