Clifford Jones Timber Ltd was started in 1948 by Clifford Jones. The company initially started hauling timber out of the woods are transporting it to various sawmills in the local area of Wrexham. He invested in various lifting and dragging equipment, which meant he could move larger timber into the hardwood sawmills.
In the early days very large hardwood timber would be hauled from the woods to the local sawmills around Wrexham. It was from here that Clifford started to work on his vision of growing the company and with the help of his son, Alan that dream became reality.
Alan Jones, Clifford’s eldest son joined the company and together they formed what was to be the start of a generation of family members joining the business. With the depreciation of the availability of hardwood timber in the UK, the company diversified into softwoods and employed 7 gangs all around the UK.
Alan’s son, Richard Jones joined the company and started to learn about the family business. He started as a feller in the woods, soon acquiring his HGV licence so that he too could start hauling the timber that he actually felled. He has worked in every department of the business and has a big part into making the business the success it is today. Now he is the Vice Chairman and continues to look for new ways of improving and expanding the business.
A small stake mill in Ruthin came up for sale and it made logical business sense to purchase it. This enabled Clifford Jones to start processing the raw material which they were already felling and hauling, into machine round stakes to be sold on by themselves. A treatment tank was installed at a cost of £4000 and Clifford Jones Fencing was born.Starting with just 2 employees and 1 part time office staff member they still managed to produce 1,700 posts a day all by hand. Since becoming mechanised through out we now produce over 10,000 daily.
As Clifford Jones Fencing continued to grow, they purchased a small vehicle to delivery locally into the surrounding area.
After completing her business degree, Sarah, Alan’s daughter joined the family business. She initiated the set up of the office, introducing a new computer system and systems of good practice within the company.
In 1996 an new piece of equipment was installed to help speed up the de barking and grading of the timber being brought into Clifford Jones. This would allow the timber be easily debarked and sorted into different sizes, thus helping improve the quality of the fencing posts Clifford Jones were producing.
In 1996 the purchase of a new 410 hp ERF EC14 greatly improved the transport efficiency of Clifford Jones Timber. It could be used to collect lumber from the forests and bring it into the mill and also then could be used to deliver onward to contractors and merchants all over Britain. The crane mounted on the rear of the vehicle made it an extremely versatile and invaluable piece of equipment. This was driven and used by Richard Jones.
By 2002 the company was growing and expanding so quickly that they needed to employ a person to take sole charge of the purchase of the raw material, and Penny Lloyd joined Clifford Jones Timber. She was instrumental in helping secure, and subsequently maintain, the FSC status that the company are proud to have. Penny also oversees the logistics with the company and was made Director of Purchasing and Logistics in 2009.
A briquette line was installed to utilise the waste sawdust and the first briquette was introduced into the Clifford Jones product range other than fencing. At this point in time the UK consumers were not ready for briquettes and the orders were shipped into Europe. Now they are massively popular in the UK which sees us selling around 6,000,000 logs a year.
Clifford Jones acquired a further site in Scotland. Adding Hunter Wilson to their growing business empire brought much pride, knowing that they could now claim to be the largest fencing manufacturer in the UK. Having two modern sites ensures that raw material and production can be utilised to the maximum, for the continuous supply of stakes and strainers throughout the year.
After much investigation and research into the European wood pellet market, Clifford Jones decided to invest heavily to the tune of around 6 million pounds, in the construction of a brand new pellet mill, which would see them start utilising all their residue completely, either into wood briquettes or wood pellets.
Blazers Fuels opened and went into production towards the end of 2008. Officially opened by First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones, Clifford Jones were extremely exciting to be going into a completely new venture once again. We now produce over ??? ton of pellets annually and they are supplied into the general heating market as well as supplying the National Trust and local Councils. The new RHI Scheme launched by the government in 2012 has seen the popularity & demand for this form of energy increase in a massive way.
2 new products, CJ’s cat litter and Blue Ribbon Horse Bedding, were added to our growing range. Through our Blue Ribbon brand we supply wood pellets in the horse bedding market and are please to be able to have World Champion and Olympian Blyth Tait as one of our customers. Our CJ Cat litter range has just started to expand and although we sell under own brand, we also supply the larger chain suppliers of pet products using our pellets but under their own branding.
To speed up the bagging process in our Blazers Fuel Plant, a new bagging line and packing ABB robot was installed. This means that we can operate the line more efficiently with just one operator bagging and the ABB robot stacking the filled bags.
Josh joins the business as Area Sales Manager to oversee UK and Irish sales from our diverse products range, from fencing to fuels.
James also joins the business as Yard Supervisor to oversee the yard and dispatch process for our fencing range of timbers.
