Our History

Our Company History

  • Nick Hopwood and Alan Hopkinson founded the precision engineering company in 1974.
  • They purchased 2 lathes and 1 milling machine and set up Hopkinson and Hopwood in a small building in Oldham.
  • In 1975 we got an order for a gear so we purchased our first Gear cutting machine, a Sykes 3A and become a gear cutting company!
  • Over time we purchased more and more gear cutting machinery until we outgrew our small unit and moved to another, much larger premises in Oldham in 1980. In 1980 the company became incorporated.
  • In 1984 we purchased our First ever CNC, it was a Bridgeport Interact 4 universal milling machine. We purchased it new from Bridgeport. We still use this machine today! CNC machining had arrived!
  • In 1986 we purchased our first CNC Lathe. It was a Wasino LJ 62 axis lathe. We now realized the potential of CNC machining and the benefit of re investment into the company.
  • Nick could never see us outgrowing our last premises but in June 1988 we moved again to our current premises, Brownlow Gear works in Oldham.
  • In 2001 Alan Hopkinson retired and subsequently in 2010 we became Hopwood Gear limited.
  • In 2013 Nick retired and sold his shareholding to Cory Hopwood and Louise Spate (son and daughter) who have now taken over the running of the business

Our Business Philosophy

We are a family run business and have been dealing in the gear trade for over 40 years, and we apply this experience to all of our customer needs.

This experience has given us the capabilities to custom-build a product to meet your specific requirements.

We possess a wealth of skill and experience in precision engineering and are specialists in the manufacture of custom made gears, including spur gears, helical gears, bevel gears and worm gears. We supply the subcontract and spares market both nationally and internationally. The company prides itself on the quality of its products.

Quality is important to any manufacturer. We are fully ISO9001 compliant, which we apply to the complete service that we offer, right the way through to the end product that you receive. To ensure this, we emphasize quality throughout each step of our manufacturing process. This allows us to be as efficient as possible so that we are able to offer a competitive price to our customers.