About Us
The F. Ball Philosophy
F. Ball is dedicated to creating the next generation of products to help flooring professionals meet ever higher customer expectations, with increasing ease and efficiency, underpinned by industry-leading customer support.
Watch our video for an overview of the company, including history, products, manufacturing processes, approaches to research and development, testing and quality control, as well as industry-leading customer service.
F. Ball’s longstanding company history
‘F. Ball & Co’ was established on 8 October when Francis Ball entered into a partnership with William Henry Cowburn, an ink manufacturer. The company occupied premises in Lower Kennington Lane, south east London, where a range of products for the shoe and leather trade were developed.
During the Second World War the business was transferred from London to Leek, in Staffordshire, and the period saw increased involvement in the commercial flooring trade.
The introduction of cement-based ‘floor levelling’ products, including Stopgap Floor Smoothing Underlayment, in the early 1960s was followed by the launch of Stycco (later Styccobond) F3 in the middle of the decade.
The mid 1960’s saw several carpet manufacturers producing needle punched carpets, which were required to be stuck to the floor surface, An adhesive was developed specifically for this purpose and was marketed as Styccobond F3 H.T.G. Flooring Adhesive.
To continue to meet increasing product demand, the decision was made to expand the Leek site through the acquisition of an adjoining administration and warehouse facility. However, even with the additional buildings, the company’s rapid expansion meant that a larger manufacturing facility was eventually needed.
The first Recommended Adhesives Guide (RAG®) was published in 1973. It remains the flooring industry’s guide to floorcovering-adhesive compatibility.
Mr Geoffrey Ball and Sir Henry Cooper pictured at the F. Ball Centenary Celebrations in 1986
In response to continually increasing demand for its products, in 1989 F. Ball moved to a new 8½-acre site in Cheddleton, which remains the location of the company today.
To further expand capacity, a new 30,000ft2 manufacturing facility was constructed at F. Ball’s Cheddleton site. It was officially opened by His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent.
The Ball Rewards scheme was introduced and now has over 4,000 members.
F. Ball opened its purpose-built state-of-the-art training centre, dubbed the ‘F. Ball Centre of Excellence’ to reflect its aim of inspiring the highest levels of professional standards across the flooring industry.
A further multi-million pound upgrade to the powder manufacturing plant was added in 2018, along with additional offsite warehousing facilities to enhance the company’s logistics and distribution capabilities.
