HISTORY
1982: Gerry goes it alone
Following his redundancy from CP, Gerry Stead started his own business selling pneumatic tooling. Gerry worked out of his house, and his wife worked for the company part time. Gerry handled the sales, and Mary ran the business admin/accounts.
1982: They became an Atlas Automotive Distributor
Mary and Gerry were awarded the Atlas Copco Automotive distributorship for 1 square mile in Leeds City Centre.
1983: Abbey Pneumatic was born
The business outgrew their home and they needed some kind of office. Mary’s sister Dot had a printing business with some spare space so they moved into a corner in “Abbey Design and Print”. This is where the name Abbey Pneumatic came from, Dot or Mary could then answer the phone with “Hello Abbey” to cover both companies.
1985: Moved to Penraven
Abbey outgrew its corner in the office of “Abbey Design and Print” so they had to find their own premises. They moved to Penraven, in North Lane, Leeds.
1986: Atlas Copco Industrial Distributor
Abbey became an Atlas Copco Industrial Distributor.
1986: First Employees
Chris and Martin, Mary and Gerry’s sons, as well as Paul Hadfield, current Technical Director, joined the business. Chris and Paul to work in sales, with Martin working internally with Mary.
1989: Incorporation
Abbey Pneumatics Incorporated
1989: First Workshop Opened
Abbey opened a workshop In Misterton, South Yorkshire. This is when Don Harris joined the company (Don is still with us).
1989: Workshop Accredited
Workshop became ISO9001 Accredited. We have retained this accreditation to this day.
1990: Moved to Balm Road
Outgrew Penraven and the Workshop in Misterton, so moved to Balm Road, Hunslet. Workshop and offices were combined in to one unit.
2003: Rebranded to Abbey Industrial Solutions
Abbey changed its name from Abbey Pneumatics to Abbey Industrial Solutions. The company had diversified from Pneumatics to a wide range of tools and services.
2007: Moved to Tuscany Court
Abbey moved from Hunslet to our current Service Centre in 2007.
2010: Workshop Additional Accreditation
Abbey becomes ISO14001 Accredited.
2016: Employees celebrate 30 years
Paul Hadfield and Chris Stead celebrate 30 years with the company.
2016: Team reaches 30 people
The Abbey team keeps on expanding and employ their 30th member of staff.
2016: Abbey announce ATN takeover
Abbey Industrial Solutions and ATN are pleased to announce that ATN has recently become part of the Abbey Team.