The UK arm of a global power-management company, with electrical switchgear and components made in Greater Manchester and a plant in Worksop making rotary switches.
Eaton describes itself as a power management company that makes products and services for managing electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. In the UK its Electrical business makes switchgear and electrical components, the boxes and switches that protect circuits and control power in buildings, factories and infrastructure. Grace's Guide lists Eaton Electric, based in Worsley, Manchester, as a manufacturer of electrical switchgear and components, a subsidiary of Eaton Corporation incorporated in 2003. Eaton also took over the electrical division of the British group Delta plc, whose brands included MEM and Holec.
Eaton's pages we could read do not give a formal mission or values statement. An aggregator profile says the company aims to improve quality of life and the environment through its power management technologies, and that it is committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. The group is American, and its history runs back more than a century. Grace's Guide records that its British operations were once based in Hounslow and, in 1977, included axles and transmissions, Yale trucks and industrial drives, much of which has since been sold or changed.
In the UK today, the sites we found are Worsley in Manchester and Worksop in Nottinghamshire. A 2014 trade article reported a £3.8m investment in the Worksop plant, which has about 200 employees and makes rotary cam switches and rotary switch disconnectors rated up to 100 amps. Its plant manager said the site had adopted lean manufacturing principles, which means constantly looking for ways to cut waste and improve quality. An aggregator profile gives about 3,000 people working for Eaton in the UK, although that is an undated figure. Apprenticeship listings in search results also point to other UK sites.
We found little first-hand material on day-to-day culture. The Worksop article describes a factory with new injection moulding equipment, automatic assembly lines, an automated test facility and robot palletisers, so it is a place where people work alongside automation. Eaton's own UK careers page exists but was not read. We therefore cannot say much about what the teams are like beyond what the sources show, and we have not made anything up.
A switchgear maker needs production operators and technicians, maintenance engineers, test engineers, design engineers who turn customer needs into products, project managers, and sales and customer-service teams who work with electrical contractors and wholesalers. Eaton job listings in search results include a multi-skilled maintenance engineer apprentice and an electronics degree apprentice. Electrical engineering, electronics, manufacturing engineering and business are the natural subject choices.
Website: www.eaton.com/gb
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