Kepston

What Kepston does

Kepston Limited is a UK-based sub-contract thermal processing specialist founded in 1916 and headquartered in Wednesbury, West Midlands. The company operates as a job-shop service provider delivering vacuum and controlled-atmosphere furnace processes — specifically vacuum and continuous furnace brazing, vacuum and continuous bright annealing, magnetic annealing under hydrogen, and a broad suite of vacuum, continuous and batch heat treatments — to manufacturers in the aerospace, defence, medical, motorsport, marine, power generation/nuclear, heat exchanger, and scientific instrumentation sectors. Operations are delivered from a single UK manufacturing facility housing 16 furnaces, including vacuum furnaces (up to 1400°C, working zone 1200x1200x1200mm, 1500kg gross load), hydrogen atmosphere humpback furnaces, and mesh belt continuous furnaces.

The company's underlying technology is rooted in physical metallurgy rather than software: AMS-2750 Version E-compliant vacuum brazing, hydrogen-driven oxide reduction for brazing and magnetic annealing, and multi-atmosphere processing (air, hydrogen, reducing atmosphere, high vacuum, and partial pressure of N₂/Ar/H₂). It holds NADCAP Special Process Approval for Brazing and Heat Treatment, AS9100 Rev D, and ISO 9001:2015 certifications, and has secured customer-specific approvals including Rolls-Royce Nuclear Submarines (Aldridge site, September 2019). The firm markets itself as uniquely positioned in offering dual vacuum-and-continuous bright annealing capability.

The business model is a B2B sub-contract transaction-fee model: customers submit components for processing and Kepston quotes per-job based on component specifications, materials, process complexity, and volume. No public pricing is disclosed. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales led by Sales Manager Chris Marsh, supported by regional sales contacts, with customer acquisition reinforced by industry-event presence (Farnborough International Airshow, TCT Show, GTMA) and Midlands Aerospace Alliance membership. Ownership is private, with Managing Director Brent Millage having acquired the firm in 2004; there is no institutional investment, parent company, or disclosed revenue figure.

Name

Kepston

Legal name

Kepston Limited

Website

https://kepston.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1916

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Kepston Limited is a UK sub-contract thermal processor founded in 1916, delivering NADCAP-approved vacuum brazing, bright annealing, magnetic annealing, and heat treatment from its Wednesbury facility to aerospace, defence, medical, motorsport, nuclear, and other precision manufacturing customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Metal Heat Treatment Services

NAICS

Metal Heat Treating (332811), Industrial Process Furnace and Oven Manufacturing (333994)

SIC

Industrial Process Furnaces & Ovens (3567)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYIMAHADAI

Heat Treatment & Thermal Processing Furnaces (Hardening, Annealing, Induction)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Industrial Machinery & Heavy Equipment/Machine Tools & Metalworking Equipment

SECONDARYIMAHAEAE

Industrial Furnaces, Kilns & Thermal Processing Equipment

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/Industrial Machinery & Heavy Equipment/Process & Industrial Plant Equipment

Keywords

• Vacuum furnace brazing
• Bright annealing services
• Magnetic annealing
• Heat treatment services
• Sub-contract metal processing

Headquarters

HQ city

Wednesbury

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Sub-Contract Thermal Processing Services: Job-shop style sub-contract manufacturing services providing vacuum brazing, bright annealing, magnetic annealing, and heat treatment to aerospace, defence, and precision manufacturing customers. Revenue generated through per-job processing fees based on component specifications, materials, and process complexity.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kepston is a sub-contract thermal processing company offering vacuum and continuous furnace brazing, vacuum and continuous bright annealing, magnetic annealing, and vacuum/continuous/batch heat treatment services to manufacturers. The company operates 16 furnaces from its Wednesbury, UK facility to process metal components for aerospace, defence, medical, motorsport, nuclear, marine, heat exchanger, and scientific customers, providing services such as hardening, ageing, annealing, normalizing, tempering, stress relieving, and hydrogen de-embrittlement.

Product overview

Kepston is a subcontract heat treatment and furnace brazing service provider offering four integrated service lines: Vacuum & Continuous Furnace Brazing, Vacuum & Continuous Bright Annealing, Magnetic Annealing, and Vacuum/Continuous/Batch Heat Treatment. The company operates 16 furnaces on site including vacuum furnaces, hydrogen atmosphere humpback furnaces, and continuous mesh belt furnaces, enabling it to serve various market sectors including aerospace, defence, medical, motorsport, and nuclear. The services range from high-temperature vacuum brazing at 1400°C to specialized magnetic annealing under hydrogen atmosphere for soft magnetic alloys.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vacuum & Continuous Furnace Brazing Subcontract furnace brazing service using vacuum and continuous mesh belt furnaces for joining metal components without flux. Includes mesh belt brazing, hydrogen brazing, and vacuum furnace brazing with working zone of 1200 x 1200 x 1200mm, maximum temperature of 1400°C, and gross load of 1500kg, offered to aerospace, defence, heat exchanger, and precision manufacturing customers.
• Vacuum & Continuous Bright Annealing Bright annealing and vacuum annealing services carried out in controlled furnace atmospheres to produce clean, scale-free surfaces suitable for subsequent forming, bending, or electroplating. Includes solution annealing for austenitic stainless steels, stress relieving, normalising, and annealing for softening materials, improving machinability, and increasing ductility.
• Magnetic Annealing Magnetic annealing service carried out under hydrogen furnace atmosphere with extended soak times and controlled cooling rates to achieve optimum soft magnetic properties. Applied to nickel irons, cobalt irons, soft irons, silicon irons, and very low carbon steels for components requiring high permeability or low coercivity in scientific and motor applications.
• Vacuum, Continuous & Batch Heat Treatment Comprehensive heat treatment services including ageing, annealing, hydrogen de-embrittlement, magnetic annealing, normalising and tempering, stress relieving, and vacuum hardening. Operates in air, hydrogen, reducing atmosphere, high vacuum, and vacuum with partial pressure of nitrogen, argon, or hydrogen across 16 furnaces to handle components in a range of shapes, sizes, and materials.

Quantifiable outcome

• Joint strength exceeding parent metal
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Advanced Heat Treat Corp: US-based heat treatment sub-contractor specializing in nitriding, carburizing, and specialty processes for aerospace and industrial customers. Comparable size, accreditation profile (NADCAP), and service portfolio.
• Wallwork Heat Treatment: UK-based sub-contract heat treatment and brazing specialist serving aerospace, defense, and motorsport. Closest analog to Kepston in scale, geography, customer mix, and service portfolio (vacuum brazing, bright annealing, nitriding).
• Nitrex Metal: Specializes in nitriding, nitrocarburizing, and heat treatment services with aerospace/automotive customers. Direct competitor in the sub-contract thermal processing market with overlapping capabilities (vacuum, controlled-atmosphere furnaces).
• Paulo Products: US-based sub-contract heat treating company serving aerospace, automotive, and industrial customers. Comparable job-shop model with vacuum, atmosphere, and induction furnace capability; provides a US analog for Kepston's service mix.
• ThermTech: Mid-sized US sub-contract heat treater offering vacuum, atmosphere, and induction processing with NADCAP accreditation. Serves aerospace, defense, and industrial customers with a similar job-shop model to Kepston.
• Ajax Manufacturing: US-based specialty heat treatment and brazing sub-contractor with aerospace and defense customer base. Comparable in scale and scope of vacuum and atmosphere thermal processing services.
• Metal Improvement Company: Curtiss-Wright subsidiary providing sub-contract thermal processing, shot peening, and coatings to aerospace and defense. Competes for similar high-spec heat treating and brazing work in the same customer verticals.
• Parker Trutec Group: US-based sub-contract heat treatment provider with multiple plant locations serving aerospace, automotive, and industrial customers. Comparable size, NADCAP-style accreditation footprint, and job-shop business model.

Broad incumbents

• Bodycote: LSE-listed global leader in sub-contract heat treatment and thermal processing services with hundreds of plants worldwide. Operates in all of Kepston's segments (aerospace, defense, automotive, energy) at vastly larger scale; sets competitive benchmark for accreditation and breadth.
• HEF Group: France-headquartered surface treatments and heat treatment sub-contractor with global footprint. Overlapping capabilities in vacuum brazing and heat treatment for aerospace and automotive; broader portfolio (PVD, coatings) but competes for similar sub-contract thermal work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kepstonlimited

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kepston