Part of the Black Country. An’ proper proud of it!
Posted on Jul 14, 2026On 14 July we mark Black Country Day 2026 with a look at how Donghua Limited has brought chain manufacture back to the region.
Bob Wellsbury, Managing Director of Donghua Limited, the UK arm of one of the world’s largest chain manufacturers, has spent much of his career pursuing an ambition to bring chain manufacturing back to the Black Country.
Following investment in a technical workshop in 2015, bespoke Attachment Chain production began at Donghua’s Wolverhampton premises supported by capabilities new to the UK which included in-house chain length measuring, chain pre-loading, chain matching in pairs, and hot dipped chain lubrication.
Further investment in 2017 saw a move to larger premises on the same industrial site, including a bigger 25,000-capacity warehouse and a purpose-built technical laboratory. Machinery in the lab can test for conformance, concentricity, bore size, and parallelism of made to measure sprockets, as well as hardness of chain components.
In the last couple of years, Donghua has installed several automatic chain cutting machines to enable the precision cutting of chain to order with additional Kardex machines for the storage of smaller components plus shrink wrapping packaging machines. The company will soon be spearheading the European manufacture of extended pin chains with the delivery of machines designed for a new purpose-built mezzanine in the existing warehouse.
Bob said:
“The West Midlands has a long tradition of metalworking and played a key role in the Industrial Revolution. With the investment we’ve made over the last 10 years, I’m delighted to see chain manufacture return to its roots in the Black Country.”
Black Country Day is celebrated on 14th July each year and honours the history, culture, and heritage of a region in the West Midlands which incorporates Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.