E C Williams Ltd.

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EC Williams Ltd. is a specialist electroplating company based in Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, UK.

Founded by Mr. Williams in 1921, the company was established in the heart of the Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter to supply the decorative and tableware market with EPNS, electroplated nickel silver. As the business grew, Williams purchased adjoining properties to expand the production area. This now forms the site of the current 19,000 square feet purpose-built factory.

World War II forced the firm into war work and so EC Williams moved away from their traditional decorative finishes to engineering and industrial coatings.

After the war, engineering in the Midlands grew rapidly. This enabled the company to further develop it's industrial coatings capability. In particular the expanding automotive industry in the area (Austin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Rootes) gave rise to many well known component and sub-system suppliers, many of whom were (and some still are) customers.

During the 1970s the site in the Jewellery Quarter was completely rebuilt from the ground up. This gave the opportunity to design a purpose built electroplating factory with a view to the future. Even then it was realised that the environmental issues would become increasingly important and so drainage systems, effluent capability and health and safety issues were all addressed and built into the design.