Loughborough-based brushware business Charles Bentley & Son Ltd is strengthening its East Midlands manufacturing base by investing almost £400,000 in state-of-the-art manufacturing processes.
The company, which is celebrating 155 years in business this year and employs 175 people in Loughborough, has received funding from Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership to safeguard manufacturing jobs in the region. In order to access the funding, Charles Bentley & Son has had to protect ten jobs and create a further eight opportunities.

The bulk of the investment has funded the purchase of a state-of-the-art brush filling manufacturing machine. The fully automatic, CNC controlled, brush making machine can produce 1,200 brush tuffs per minute and will increase production capacity by almost one third.

Managing director Charles Bentley explained: "The real advantage to this machine is that it can change between products very quickly, which will reduce the manufacturing lead times from a full day to having a finished product in your hands within a couple of hours."

He continued: "This investment marks a step change for the business. In our anniversary year, we are investing in a future that means we can compete with the best in Europe and also safeguards manufacturing jobs in the East Midlands."

Charles Bentley & Son Ltd was established in 1860 and is still owned by the original Bentley family. The company originally started out providing brushes for Victorian chimney sweeps and is now a multi-million pound operation, with specialisms in the equestrian, cleaning and household sector.