1853 - Established by James Denby Lee and James Crabtree at Crag Mills, Valley Road, Windhill manufacturing textile machinery.

1863 - Machine makers at Crag Mills. Iron foundry at Rhodes Lane, Shipley.

1871 - Machine makers at Otley Road. Iron foundry at Rhodes Lane, Shipley.

1875 - Purchased land and buildings covering 9,000 square yards at Wrose Brow Road, Windhill.

1887 - Machine makers and iron founders of Wrose Brow Road. The manufacture of press tools and sheet metal work machinery began when Mr. Albert Shaw joined the firm.

1921 - The partnership of William and David Crabtree ended by mutual agreement. From this time on Lee and Crabtree concentrate on the manufacture of presses, press tools and sheet metal work machinery.

1930 - William Crabtree agreed to sell his business to The Metal Box Company and became the first director of the newly constituted Lee and Crabtree Ltd.

1931-52 - The number of employees rose from 97 to 435. Sales rose from £22,000 to over £314,000 and productive floor space was more than doubled.

1939-45 - Firm fully employed making plant and tools for military equipment ranging from landmines to mess tins, and from sten gun magazines to jigs and fixtures for Beaufighters and Spitfires.

1963 - New site purchased at Dockfield Road, Shipley. 3 phases of building begin.

                                         James Crabtree                                 James Denby Lee                             William Arthur Crabtree

                   The Main Machining Department - 1940 (Wrose Brow Site)                                            The Main Machining Department - 2009

1966 - Dockfield Road site officially opened by Lord Kings Norton, the Chairman of Metal Box. One of the official guest was Chairman of Shipley Council Councillor Jack King who was also an employee of Metal Box working in the factory, one of the 600 engineers or so who were employed on the site

1970s - In the 1970s the technology for can making changed significantly with the introduction of the two-piece can that is still used today for soft drinks, beer and some high volume foods. Shipley started to produce machines for that new can.

1986 - Metal Box merged with a French company to become CarnaudMetalBox.

1986 - The business was awarded the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement for its development of technology to spin a shaped neck onto a two-piece can, a process which has been used throughout the world.

2002 - At a major engineering show in Germany CarnaudMetalBox Engineering recieved the Metpack 2002 innovation award. The award was for the Bodymaker Hydraulic Hold Down Arrangment that was being shown in a test rig for the first time.

In common with many engineering companies the number of employees has reduced, now employing 250. In the last 30 years the business has increasingly spread it wings and now deals with more locations worldwide than ever before. The firm dispatches equipment as well as sales and technical staff to customers in 400 locations spread over 50 countries. Equipment is supplied to every major can-maker on every continent - testimony to the quality of engineering is that the firm is still providing spare parts for machines produced at Shipley over 50 years ago.

The company operates in a very specialised market and remains successful through the high level of technical expertise and support it provides to customers together with innovative products. Cans remain the most trusted of packaging options, with billions of cans for beverages, food, aerosols and many other purposes being produced every year.