Interview with James Bridges, Orbital Fabrications Ltd

James joined Orbital in mid-2024, shortly after Bergman & Beving acquired a majority stake in the company. His career began in operations and developed to encompass global leadership positions at Johnson Matthey Life Sciences and advanced materials manufacturer Zotefoams plc.

“Orbital had been a successful, family-owned and -run business for 35 years at the time of the acquisition,” says James. “While it was established as a general welding and metal fabrication company, the technical skills and quality of work produced by founder Ian Pearson and the team he built soon led to Orbital being sought out for the most demanding applications, where high-purity, high-integrity welding were mission-critical.”

In the intervening years, Orbital became the go-to for high-purity gas and liquid delivery systems for advanced manufacturing processes in sectors such as semiconductor, life sciences, academic research, nuclear and, latterly, clean energy and data centres.

The company is currently nearing completion of its most complex project to date, which involves some 14-plus kilometres of stainless steel pipework, along with 1500 valves, 44 Valve Manifold Boxes (VMBs) and 107 Valve Manifold Panels (VMPs). Elsewhere, in a hydrogen fuel application, Orbital was able to demonstrate purity levels of 99.999%, exceeding the specified 99.97%.

Needed investors to fund growth

Based in St Ives, near Cambridge, UK, Orbital has around 90 employees and revenues of 180 MSEK.

“The Pearson family faced decisions that will be familiar to many successful business owners,” continues James. With the growth of Orbital, the financial commitment to support long-term, high-value projects was becoming burdensome and it was clear that outside investment was necessary to enable the company to continue on its growth trajectory.

“At the same time, the Pearsons were aware that the team and culture they had built were key ingredients of Orbital’s success, and were determined that these aspects should not be adversely impacted in any future ownership scenario. Bergman & Beving was an ideal partner in that respect, with an acquisition strategy focused on identifying high-flying, niche engineering companies and then preserving and nurturing what makes those companies special.”

Keeping the culture intact

James’s role as CEO is to guide that transition from family-owned to listed company status, enabling Orbital to leverage the benefits of B&B ownership to continue growing. “I’m incredibly fortunate in my team,” he says. “They are highly capable and all experts in their respective disciplines, so my job is more to provide guidance than direction. In a way, that reflects the relationship between Bergman & Beving and Orbital: our experience is that the team in Sweden sets realistic expectations and plays a supportive role in helping us to achieve those goals, while respecting the culture that has played such an important role throughout Orbital’s history.

“We are now embarking on a growth plan that is incredibly exciting—but which would not be possible without the financial backing of Bergman & Beving. Over the next few months, we will expand our facilities and capabilities, enabling us to take on more projects to meet increasing demand in advanced manufacturing for the high-purity systems and supporting services we provide.”