Richard Puxley started Oakleigh Cases with his uncle in 1976: like others in the industry, his interest had been fostered by his father, who manufactured record player and tape recorder cases. The fledgeling company started in the the British Rail Yard in Camden Town, north London. By a stroke of luck, in one of the adjoining units, sat Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull’s management company, and it wasn’t too long before Oakleigh was asked, first to repair, and then subsequently manufacture, flightcases for both bands. Other interesting neighbours soon emerged - Autograph Sound, Staging Catwalk, Livingston Hire and Bagleys amongst them - all of whom needed flightcases, and all of whom were happy to feed the work Oakleigh’s way. Within a couple of years, the company was not only courting the touring and theatre markets, but was also establishing a growing profile in the AV field, with clients such as Viewplan and Metro nailing their colours to the Oakleigh mast. When his uncle retired in 1985, Richard was joined by his wife, Liz.
Growth across the industry meant growth for Oakleigh and a move to a new facility at Potters Bar in 1986, followed by further expansion three years later to their current purpose-built facility. All the while, Richard and Liz Puxley were reviewing techniques, looking for ways to improve the product, the service offered to clients, the manufacturing techniques and generally trying to identify ways in which they might build the business.
And then the impact of the late eighties/early nineties recession began to filter through the industry, and a great many companies found themselves facing difficult decisions, Oakleigh amongst them. At a time when the easy option would have been to cut costs, use lower quality materials and find savings wherever they could, Oakleigh chose to do the opposite, unwilling to compromise on quality. The decision paid off, and whilst it didn’t guarantee them an easy passage, it did help them weather the recession and by the mid-nineties, emerge the better for it.That emphasis on quality has remained, and one only has to look at their manufacturing techniques to understand just how central it is to the business. All the company’s flightcases are manufactured using rabbetted construction methods, in preference to the alternative slide-in panel technique. Rabbetting, should you be unfamiliar with the term, involves the fabrication of a stand-alone structurally sound PVA glued and air-stapled ‘box’ to which the edging is added as a reinforcement.
Not content with off-the-shelf options from extrusion stockholders, the company has also invested in tooling so that it can manufacture its own-design edging extrusions. The same attention has been paid to anodising techniques, the process which renders the case surface smoother, harder and more resistant to oxidation. Fittings and extrusions are then secured onto the case using steel bifurcated rivets, which offer 10 times the holding power of the more familiar pop-rivets.
Oakleigh takes the same pride in its foam work and has purchased high quality band saws and laminating equipment in order to deliver a high quality cell foam insert that ensures maximum protection for equipment and a long working life for the case.
Of course, one of the big developments in flightcase manufacture has been the actual material used in the construction of the cases. Oakleigh does
