Forrest Precision Engineering Company

What Forrest Precision Engineering Company does

Forrest Precision Engineering Co Ltd is a Glasgow-headquartered precision engineering job shop founded in 1983, providing custom gear cutting, general machining and fabrication, and reverse engineering services to industrial customers throughout the United Kingdom. The company operates three integrated service lines from a single site at Atlas Industrial Estate, Springburn: a Gear Cutting Shop producing spur, helical, bevel, worm gears and sprockets up to 1.5m diameter with spline cutting to 2m and optional hardening and plating; a Machine and Fabrication Shop combining CNC and conventional DRO turning and milling, internal/external grinding, slotting, cam cutting and MIG/TIG/stick welding; and a Reverse Engineering service that reproduces obsolete components from worn or damaged samples, notably for vintage transport such as the Waverley paddle steamer and pre-war vehicles.

The business is built around multi-axis conventional and CNC equipment with capacity ranges that include 410mm × 3m CNC turning, 1400mm × 600mm gap conventional turning, a VMC with 4-axis capability at 1400mm × 550mm × 550mm, gear cutting to 1.5m diameter × 200mm face, and spline cutting to 2m length. Customers span textile, paper, marine, leather, printing, transmission, and oil industries, alongside a niche heritage/vintage restoration segment.

The revenue model is project-based B2B contract manufacturing sold directly via phone and email enquiries, with quote-based pricing tied to part specifications, materials, batch size and complexity. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting UK industrial accounts, supported by an SEO-oriented company website with downloadable service flyers. The company is privately held with no external investment, no parent or subsidiary structure, no disclosed revenues, and no formal partnerships, awards, patents, or regulatory milestones recorded.

Name

Forrest Precision Engineering Company

Legal name

Forrest Precision Engineering Co Ltd

Website

https://forrestprecisioneng.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Forrest Precision Engineering Co Ltd is a Glasgow-based precision engineering job shop, manufacturing custom gears, machined components, and special-purpose machinery for UK industrial customers across textile, paper, marine, leather, printing, and heritage transport verticals since 1983.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Engineering Services

NAICS

Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing (33351), Cutting Tool and Machine Tool Accessory Manufacturing (333515), Machine Tool Manufacturing (333517)

SIC

Miscellaneous Fabricated Metal Products (3490), Metalworkg Machinery & Equipment (3540), Special Industry Machinery (No Metalworking Machinery) (3550)

akta.pro primary industry

Metal Cutting Tools, Tooling & Workholding (Cutters, Inserts, Chucks, Fixtures) (IMAHADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Metal Forming & Fabrication Machines (Presses, Bending, Shearing, Stamping) (IMAHADAC), Welding, Fabrication & Field Machining Services (On-site) (IMAIACAD)

Keywords

• Precision machining services
• Gear cutting services
• Reverse engineering parts
• CNC machining services
• Special purpose machinery

Headquarters

HQ city

Glasgow

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Precision Machining Services: Job shop manufacturing providing custom precision machining services including CNC turning, milling, grinding, slotting, and cam cutting. Revenue generated through one-off special orders and medium batch production runs. Services priced per job based on complexity, materials, and specifications.
2. Gear Cutting Services: Specialist gear manufacturing for spur, helical, bevel, worm gears and sprockets. Can supply complete gears or gearout only. Secondary hardening and plating operations available as add-on services.
3. Reverse Engineering Services: Reproduction of obsolete or worn parts from samples or damaged originals. Includes repair and refurbishment services for vintage machinery and transport vehicles.
4. Machine Fabrication and Welding: Welding services (MIG, TIG, Stick) with fabrication capabilities for mild steel and stainless steel. Manufacturing of machine components and repair of original parts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Forrest Precision Engineering is a Glasgow-based job shop providing custom precision engineering services for industrial customers across the UK. Its primary activities are gear cutting (spur, helical, bevel, worm, sprocket gears and splines), CNC and conventional machining (turning, milling, grinding, slotting, cam cutting), welding and fabrication (MIG/TIG/Stick), reverse engineering of obsolete and vintage components, and the design and build of special purpose machinery for textile, paper, marine, leather, printing, transmission, and oil industries. Production scales from one-off prototyping through small to medium batch runs.

Product overview

Forrest Precision Engineering Company is a precision engineering and special purpose machinery manufacturer established in 1983, offering a portfolio of interconnected manufacturing services. The core offerings include the Gear Cutting Shop (producing spur, worm, helical, and bevel gears, sprockets, and spline cutting up to 1.5m diameter), the Machine and Fabrication Shop (CNC/conventional turning, milling, grinding, slotting, cam cutting, and welding services), and Reverse Engineering Services (reproducing vintage parts from samples or worn components for transport vehicles and obsolete machinery). The company also manufactures special purpose machinery for industrial applications in paper, marine, textile, leather, printing, transmission, and oil sectors. Secondary operations such as hardening and plating complement the primary manufacturing services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gear Cutting Shop Specialist gear cutting service producing one-off and small to medium production run gears to exact customer specifications. Covers spur, helical, bevel, and worm gears, sprockets, and internal/external splines up to 1.5m diameter, with hardening and plating offered as secondary operations. Intended for industrial buyers needing custom or replacement gearing.
• Machine and Fabrication Shop Comprehensive machining and fabrication services covering CNC turning (up to 410mm x 3m), conventional DRO turning (including 1400mm GAP capacity), CNC and conventional milling, VMC with 4th axis capability, internal/external grinding (up to 250mm x 1m), slotting (360mm stroke x 1.5m dia x 600mm depth), cam cutting (up to 600mm dia), and MIG/TIG/Stick welding with fabrication equipment (iron worker, presses, saws, guillotine, folder). Serves customers needing one-off specials through medium batchwork in mild steel, stainless steel, carbon steel, and exotic alloys.
• Reverse Engineering Services Reverse engineering and refurbishment of vintage and obsolete engineering components, including gears, gearboxes, and machined parts for transport vehicles (e.g., differential gearboxes for vintage cars, paddle steamer components, steam waggon parts). Reproduces components from damaged or worn samples when original drawings are not available, using traditional engineering combined with modern manufacturing techniques. Targeted at heritage vehicle restorers and operators of obsolete industrial machinery.
• Special Purpose Machinery Design and manufacture of bespoke special purpose machinery tailored to specific industrial applications across textile, paper, marine, leather, printing, transmission, and oil sectors. Delivered as one-off custom-engineered solutions built around customer-defined specifications and production requirements.

Quantifiable outcome

• High levels of customer satisfaction achieved through reputation and recommendations from existing customers

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• AES Engineering Ltd: UK-based precision component manufacturer supplying mechanical seals and engineered metal parts to industrial markets. Comparable as a small-to-mid UK precision manufacturer serving industrial maintenance customers.
• Dawson Shanahan: Welsh precision engineering firm offering CNC machining, gear cutting and turned components for industrial customers across the UK. Directly comparable in service mix, scale and customer profile to Forrest Precision Engineering.
• Mikron UK: Swiss-headquartered manufacturer of gear cutting machines and precision machining systems, with UK presence. Operates in the same gear-cutting and precision-machining space as Forrest, although at a much larger scale.
• Trinity Precision Engineering: UK precision machining job shop providing CNC turning, milling and subcontract manufacturing services to industrial customers. Comparable in service offering, customer type and company size.

Broad incumbents

• Seco Tools: Global supplier of metal cutting tools and machining solutions for turning, milling and drilling. Comparable customer base of industrial manufacturers, though not a direct competitor to Forrest's job-shop services.
• Kennametal: Global manufacturer of metalworking tools, inserts and tooling solutions for precision machining. Adjacent rather than directly competitive, but operates in the same industrial customer ecosystem Forrest serves.
• WFL Millturn Technologies: Austrian manufacturer of large-format mill-turn machining centres used for complex precision components. Operates in the same large-precision-machining capability space as Forrest, albeit as a machine OEM rather than a job shop.
• Guhring: Global manufacturer of rotary cutting tools (drills, taps, end mills) for metalworking. Overlaps indirectly with Forrest's gear-cutting and machining operations as a tooling supplier to similar customers.
• Sandvik Coromant: Global division of Sandvik providing metal cutting tools, machining solutions and digital manufacturing technology. Overlaps with Forrest's gear-cutting and machining capability but at a vastly broader portfolio and global scale.
• Walter Tools: Germany-based precision tooling brand within the United Grinding Group, supplying metal cutting tools to industrial manufacturers. Comparable end customers and adjacent in the precision metalworking ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/forrest-precision-engineering-company-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Forrest Precision Engineering Company