Company History
The UK business was started in 1885 by the Gate family, under the trading name West Surrey Dairy. Following reorganisation in 1925, trading subsidiaries were established, one of which was Wincanton Transport & Engineering Company Ltd. In 1929, the parent company changed its name to Cow & Gate, which was followed by various moves. In 1945 the business amalgamated with a local electrical firm and later changed its name to Wincanton Engineering Ltd.
Then in 1959, a merger by Cow & Gate with United Dairies resulted in the establishment of Unigate, which owned Wincanton Engineering until its sale in 1987 to Brunel Holdings PLC.
In 1998, the business moved to its present purpose built three-acre complex at Coldharbour Business Park in Sherborne, Dorset.
The next piece of history occurred in 2001 with the acquisition of the company by publicly quoted USA trading giant Carlisle Companies Inc.
For over 5 years the Sherborne company was part of Carlisle Process Systems Inc, a world leading systems and equipment business, supplying the cheese, dairy, food, beverage, pharmaceutical and powder industries.
In December 2006 a number of the Carlisle Process Systems group companies were acquired by Tetra Laval. Carlisle Process Systems and Tetra Pak teamed up to form Tetra Pak Cheese and Powder Systems.
In 2008 it was decided to change the name of the business in Sherborne to Tetra Pak CPS Ltd. The Dairy, Food & Beverage Division continues to serve its customers independently in the UK. Customers can carry on working with the same people they have known for years whose priority, as always, is to provide the same great level of service and attention that people have come to expect from Tetra Pak CPS. For engineered solutions, equipment, service and spare parts for dairy, food and beverage applications, please continue to contact our staff in the Sherborne office.
Today the overall Sherborne company is a global provider of hygienic liquid process systems and to meet on-going demand for its equipment, production at the UK factory has recently established lean techniques which, together with ongoing investment in machinery, technology and training, give it the capability of a quick turnaround in equipment manufacture by using proven designs, standardised modules and components all within compliance of its ISO 9001 quality system.