History

Our story starts in 1987, when Michael Pix began utilising his skills in pneumatic engineering by forming a UK business. 12 months later, he partnered with Luciano Migliori, Founder of the UNIVER Group - which later became an independent British owned manufacturing company: Tecnair! Over 36 years later, Tecnair has grown into one of the largest independent British manufacturers, with its own partnerships internationally. 

History

1987
January 1
1987

Michael Pix trained as an apprentice at a local pneumatics distributor, before changing roles to a sales engineer in the 70s for a leading UK pneumatics manufacturer. Michael was soon promoted to senior management, before using his background in pneumatic engineering to form his business Totalnet.

1989
January 1
1989

Totalnet partners with a growing Italian pneumatics company, UNIVER. Totalnet changes its name to UNIVER Manufacturing Company Limited.

1994
January 1
1994

UNIVER Service Centre opens in Leeds to support the growing UK manufacturing site.

1996
January 1
1996

Pneumatechnique Ltd. is acquired to support our control systems growth.

2000
January 1
2000

Joint venture in Melbourne, Australia: investing in an established business to further assist growth and expand our overseas production facilities.

2008
January 1
2008

UNIVER Manufacturing Co Ltd. is 100% acquired and solely owned by the founder Michael Pix.

2010
January 1
2010

Dominic Pix takes over as Managing Director and Christian Pix as Operations Director, acquiring shares in the business.

2011
January 1
2011

Tecnair Italy, a custom cylinder production site, is acquired. UNIVER manufacturing rebrands as Tecnair.

2012
January 1
2012

Tecnair China is established to aid in the supply chain & the manufacturing of custom solutions.

2016
January 1
2016

Tecnair moves the site from Bradford to Shipley, Saltaire.

2017
January 1
2017

We invest in brand new fully automated CNC machinery to expand its UK capacity by over 800%

2018
January 1
2018

Pownall Security systems, a manufacturer of vehicle safety solutions, is acquired, strengthening custom solutions offered to the transport market.

2019
January 1
2019

Tecnair expands by acquiring a second building in Shipley, Saltaire, converting it into offices and production, and linking both facilities.

2020
January 1
2020

Tecnair continues to invest in further CNC automation machinery which aids in supplying machined parts for ventilators to the NHS during the COVID pandemic.

2021
January 1
2021

Tecnair’s Shipley site extends its storage with a new factory extension completed in late 2021.

2022
January 1
2022

Tecnair group has evolved and continues to uphold a reputation as a group of innovative pneumatic engineers supplying companies across the globe.