TheBusinessDesk.tv: Museum showcases manufacturer’s heritage
THE world’s first ‘gritter museum’ has been opened by Yorkshire company Econ.
The museum, at the manufacturer’s Ripon headquarters, will be a permanent showroom for fully restored vintage road maintenance vehicles, gritters, spreaders and snowploughs, as well as brand new state of the art equipment.
The £25m turnover family-owned business was established in 1969 and has grown to become the UK’s leading supplier of gritting and snow plough vehicles.
The North Yorkshire factory employs more than 190 staff, manufacturing 12 new road mending and clearing vehicles every week.
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The new museum will also be used as a showroom for the firm’s newest state of the art vehicles and has been equipped with the latest AV and presentation equipment to enable the firm to host events for local business and trade bodies, as well as training seminars for staff and apprentices.
To mark the opening of the new museum, Econ also unveiled a fully restored former army 1972 Bedford gritter boasting full red white and blue Jubilee livery that has been carefully brought back to mint condition by engineers and apprentices at the firm.
Econ director Andrew Lupton said: “We have been manufacturing commercial vehicles here on this site for two generations, and we take great pride in our craftsmanship and engineering heritage.
