THE BRAND BEHIND THE BRANDS
Briggs of Burton is a process engineering company based in Burton-on-Trent and offers total project solutions for blue chip companies across the globe. With an illustrious history, it was founded in 1732 as a hardware and industrial metalwork manufacturer. These days it has a strong engineering presence across the distilling, brewing, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Head of Marketing Scott Davies explained more to Hannah Barnett.
The company may have been around almost three hundred years, but it is still impressive how many wellestablished brands Briggs of Burton has contributed to.
“You might know Macallan Scotch Whisky, you might know Carling lager, you might know Marks and Spencer’s chilli con carne,” said Scott Davies, Head of Marketing. “All of those have been brought to life through Briggs’ engineering know-how, project delivery expertise and process equipment manufacturing capability. You might even know Diageo, who supply the Johnnie Walker whiskey Keep Walking. But you probably didn't know that Briggs of Burton were the engineering company that built and expanded the distillery for major spirits producers like Diageo.”
The company’s status as a cornerstone in the supply chain of manufacturing is hard to dispute. As it goes through a period of expansion, it is becoming more established still.
Acquisition and growth
Following an acquisition in 2016, Briggs of Burton became part of the Liquid Food Division of CIMC Enric Tanks and Process BV, one of the largest international suppliers of tanks and process technologies.
Joining an international group of companies that provide the design and implementation of turnkey projects, stainless steel process tanks and engineering services has been beneficial for Briggs’ own growth. Mr Davies explained that upon acquisition the company set
a target to achieve a £100 million turnover by 2024. “We reached that target by 2022. Two years ahead of schedule,” he said.
“When the business was acquired, it was turning over about £20 million,” Mr Davies continued. “That used to be made up of a mix of projects, maybe a £10 million Scottish distillery expansion, a £5 million UK brewery project and a mix of smaller pharmaceutical and food projects. In the last couple of years, we’ve been winning £20 million projects, £50 million projects and in Q1 of 2022, a £95 million project.
“We’ve seen huge amounts of internal investments, in terms of employees and their training, and in infrastructure. Through our sales and engineering network we have increased our opportunities to bid, win and execute larger projects around the world. And Briggs acquired McMillan coppersmiths during the Covid pandemic. That whole mix of operations and activity have been a real
catalyst of change across the organisation. We’ve seen more growth in the last three years than we have in the last 30.”
International presence
Since acquisition, Briggs has spread its wings internationally. As Mr Davies explained, the company always had a global presence, but it did not have the resource and capability to manage multiple projects overseas before.
It now has a Mexico office, and a large new contract in the tequila industry to match. Briggs also recently opened a sales and engineering hub in Kentucky, alongside offices in upstate New York, China and the Global Technical Centre in Burton-on-Trent.
“Delivering these big projects feeds our appetite for risk, scale and complexity,” Mr Davies said. “Doing enormous projects in Mexico from Burton-on-Trent is one thing. But we’re now setup over there, with a local sales and engineering office, to get closer to
customer projects and increase site and after-sales support.
“Immersing yourselves in these locations, languages, and cultures gets you closer the customer. Our North America team are now in Kentucky, the home of bourbon. So having a sales and engineering office setup there to do the work is hugely beneficial. We were doing project work there for several years, but it was remote, we were parachuting in teams of people. Now we have a dedicated team and office, just like Mexico. These sales and engineering hubs provide a huge benefit to our customers around the world.”
Sustainable supply chain
One of the most exciting projects Briggs is involved in is the Ardgowan distillery in Scotland, which has
pledged to be carbon negative in its operations, ahead of targets set by the industry. Realising that ambition will be achieved by creating a modular distillery, able to adapt as sustainable technology evolves and matures. Each part of the whisky making process has been designed so that new technologies can be swapped to reflect the latest innovations in energy reduction, heat recovery and CO2 capture, as they become available.
“If you’re building a distillery now you can’t be anything but sustainable and mindful of the environmental impact,” Mr Davies said. “The Scotch whisky industry is on a trajectory to dramatically reduce its carbon intensity. We were focused on exploring a design that would implement the best available technology, that was sufficiently mature and commercially appropriate.”
He added that Briggs is investing in vapour recompression technologies, considering both thermal and mechanical types, which serve as an essential step in becoming efficient: “It’s all about reducing energy usage. The distillation process is quite energy intensive. Vapour recompression technologies can save between 45 to 85% of the steam usage in a still house. And that's significant for a distillery because that’s where most of the energy is.”
Unsurprisingly for a company that has been in operation for so long, Briggs has a large portfolio of suppliers, and that these days sustainability plays a large part in that relationship.
“Over time we’ve chosen a range of key suppliers and evolved and invested with
them,” Mr Davies reflected. “I think particularly with sustainability, honesty in partnerships is the most important it’s ever been. Reporting Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas emissions presents a challenge, which is being accelerated by our customers who ask more of us and our suppliers. There is a big pull through the supply chain on capturing and sharing data. Along with specification, health and safety and cost we are considering footprints and metrics associated with carbon, water, and energy. What we used to ask of our supplier was just a quote. But that’s rapidly evolving to the carbon footprint associated with the items transport to its destination.”
Looking ahead
The company has broken ground with an expansion to its manufacturing site, which will be dedicated to pharmaceutical systems in Burton-on-Trent. Briggs builds the mixing systems that produce the gases in blue asthma inhalers and Mr Davies explained how this work will contribute to sustainable practices too.
“There’s been a big change in the market,” he said. “Historically, it was chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the asthma inhalers acting as drug propellants, then the market shifted to hydrofluoroalkane’s (HFAs. Now it’s moving to even more environmentally green propellants. Briggs have been at the forefront of supporting the first commercial HFA systems and the first pilot of greener propellants. Alongside distilling, sustainability is growing in the pharma sector through designing and building these inhalant suspension production systems.”
As Mr Davies summarised, the work Briggs of Burton does allows other companies to flourish: “We join the bits, we give clients something bespoke. We have our own technology to meet our customers specific requirements, as opposed to a standard
catalogue offering. The sales team dream of selling the same system twice. That isn’t to say we don’t have standards; we have a broad set of engineering standards based on good practice, but its seldom that two jobs are the same. And having existed since 1732, we are incredibly fortunate have vast experience to draw on. We can add value transferring technology and learnings from one sector or region into another.”
Despite its longevity, the company is focused on the future and maintaining its well-established presence. Mr Davies concluded: “We do amazing things, we invest in people, we're nurturing future generations. And, modestly, we are the brand behind many of the other brands that you, your friends, and your family consume and enjoy.” n
Briggs of Burton are supporting new distilleries and existing distilleries with exploring energy and water reduction technologies. Company directors standing outside the Global Technical Centre following continued investment and growth. s steel tanks and equipoduced by Briggs of Burton sister companies to support mer with a Flash-Track project.
