One of the UK’s largest independent workspace furniture designers and manufacturers, Gresham Office Furniture operates from a 200,000 sq ft factory on a 14-acre site in Bolton. In early 2025, the company installed three machines from BLM Group UK, including an electric press brake. 

The investment has enabled Gresham to bring all metal furniture component manufacture in-house, having previously outsourced around two-thirds of production. 

“The BLM acquisitions were part of a £7m investment last year that also included a new enterprise resource planning system and a Homag line for processing wood-based panels,” explains operations manager David Openshaw. “Insourcing all of our metal component manufacture has been a major benefit, as Brexit, swiftly followed by Covid and then war in Ukraine, all played into lengthening lead times from our subcontractors.” 

He continues: “We pride ourselves on quick deliveries to customers in 10 to 15 days from receipt of order, so we wanted total control over the supply of all office furniture components. Our latest investments have delivered exactly that.” 

The BLM STR Verde 2.6 m/100 T press brake features LED-guided tool positioning, with lights along the upper beam indicating precisely where punches and dies should be placed. The system also guides operators during sequential bending operations, reducing set-up times and errors. 

An infrared laser measures bend angles in real time, automatically compensating for spring-back and material variation. Optimised parameters can then be saved for future production. 

The press brake’s integrated EsaBend 3D software also accepts STEP files generated from Gresham’s Autodesk Inventor CADCAM system. EsaBend identifies available tooling, applies crowning and spring-back adjustments, and generates the G-code, helping ensure the first component is right-first-time. 

More information www.blmgroup.com