Monday Interview: Tim Parkinson, Chairman of Airedale Springs

The Chairman of a West Yorkshire-based family run spring manufacturer has drawn on decades worth of industry experience to guide his business through tough times.

Tim Parkinson, of Airedale Springs in Haworth, said the company continues to survive and thrive, despite suffering a devastating factory fire in 2010 which left it without a production facility.

He explained that even though his own grandfather, Gordon Parkinson, formed Airedale Springs in 1945, he had initially wanted to pursue a career away from spring manufacturing.

“However, I joined the company in 1979 after completing a traditional engineering apprenticeship at an engineering company in Keighley,” he said.

“I applied for a job as a tooling engineer before moving to a specialised production department and, from that point, worked in most departments.”

Parkinson has worked within the company for almost 40 years. His longest tenure in one role came when he was Quality Manager and he became Chairman in 2000.

He said that in his time at the firm he had seen many employees join the Airedale Spring’s 25 Year Club.

The company currently has 53 employees who have reached the milestone of working within the business for 25 consecutive years, something Parkinson said he was particularly proud of.

“With nearly 75 years of history, new employees can see how the older employees have developed and incorporated new technologies to tackle challenges,” he added.

“In turn, they pass their skills and experiences onto the next generation of engineers.

“While this is undoubtedly a challenge to maintain, it’s something we thrive on and take great pleasure in doing so.”

Parkinson said he had seen Airedale Springs go through periods of sustained change. Since becoming chairman, he has needed to keep up with the ever-evolving nature of the spring manufacturing industry.

He said: “We aim to be a modern profitable business, utilising the investment in CNC technology with the skills of our employees, the majority of whom come from the Worth Valley and span several generations.

“We pride ourselves on our ability to work closely with our clients, using our combined skills with our modern manufacturing facilities to produce high-quality products to customers specifications.

“We are a family and recognise the positive contribution this makes. However, we also recognise the need for family time and have worked hard over the years to obtain the right balance. We introduced flexible working in 1998, long before such ideas were fashionable.”

Outside of his work at Airedale Springs, Parkinson is an active member within the spring and engineering community, as well as in local education.

For the last 30 years he has been part of the UK Spring Research Association. He has worked on various committees and is currently a Director of the association.

In a bid to ensure young people have a route into spring manufacturing, Parkinson was responsible for the creation of the National Training Standards for Spring Manufacture for Level 2 Apprenticeships.

He is current Chairman of the Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Advisory Board, at Keighley College. This brings together engineering employers from the surrounding area to develop engineering provision for the district’s apprentices.

Finally, he represents Airedale Springs as a member of the Engineering Employers Federation in various positions, including Vice Chairman of the Regional Advisory Board of Yorkshire and the Humber.