John Guest (company)
The John Guest Group of Companies is a manufacturer of push-in fittings, pipe and plastic plumbing systems to a wide variety of industries and applications such as Drinks Dispense, Plumbing, Pneumatics, Compressed Air Systems, Water Purification, Drinks Vending, Automotive and Telecommunications. Headquartered in West Drayton, United Kingdom, the company has a global presence with offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, as well as the Pacific.
John Guest Ltd. is a family-owned company founded in 1961 by John Guest, after whom it is named. John Guest is famous for pioneering the concept of the Speedfit push-in fitting which completely changes the ways of contemporary plumbing.
John Guest has facilities in the UK, Europe, North America, Korea and the Pacific with over 1200 employees.
Headquartered in West Drayton, United Kingdom, which is also the production site for many of its products, the company has spread operations across sites in Maidenhead, Hayes, Cornwall and Bracknell in the UK.
The first overseas company - John Guest SA was created in France in 1983. Two years later John Guest Pacific Ltd opened in Auckland, New Zealand and in 1986 John Guest USA Inc started life in New Jersey.
John Guest Italia SRL opened in Turin northern Italy, followed by John Guest Gmbh in Bielefield, Germany in 1990.
With the beginning of 1997 new offices were established in Sydney, Australia - JG Pacific and John Guest SL in Barcelona, Spain.
The first Far East operation opened in 2004 Seoul, Korea. In 2005 the company expanded reach over Eastern Europe with offices in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic and Poland.
The company founder - John Guest was born in Doncaster in 1927. John Guest started his working life as a toolmaker apprentice in the Royal Ordinance factory in Hayes. In 1950 John Guest had already developed his first prototype hollow pressure die-casting machine.
Under the name of John Guest Engineering the newly established company specialised in tool making and precision engineering. It operated out of a small building that was known as Factory 1.
The following year, John Guest Engineering merged with Guest Castings Ltd - a company specializing in zinc die-casting. This business also operated out of the Factory 1 site and its name remained unchanged until the early 1970s. During the 1960s both companies grew steadily specializing in simple die-cast products and tool making, consolidating their business in the white goods and automotive industries.
Renamed to John Guest Ltd in the early 1970s, Guest castings started producing more complex die-cast items and machining for the UK’s major pneumatic valve manufacturers. The steady expansion enjoyed by the company was also the result of the investment in the second operation-machining department and painting facilities, including an automatic black elector-phonetic paint plant.
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