Bigneat

Major products:

• Chemical Storage

• Fume Cabinets

• Automation Enclosures

About Bigneat

Bigneat is firmly established as a world-class manufacturer and leading global provider of clean air, hazard containment and safety systems to scientific laboratories and industry.

Applications for Bigneat products cover operator and process/sample protection during laboratory procedures, batch and on-line production processes.

Bigneat’s business strength is based on a capability and expertise built up over many years designing and manufacturing high performance air movement and air conditioning systems utilising Carbon and HEPA filtration technology for capture and removal of airborne hazards both fume and particulate.

Clients include biological, chemical, electronics, food, government, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical, photonics, universities, schools and in industry, for QA/research laboratories and sterile production areas.

As an original laboratory safety equipment manufacturer Bigneat also develops and manufactures equipment that is distributed by third party companies.

Bigneat employs 50 people across company in Waterlooville and in the North America Sales & Services office which was opened in 2013 to support new projects and existing installations in Canada and the USA.

Bigneat History

Bigneat Ltd was formed in 1972 as a new start up,  the applied product arm of an engineering and fabrication company founded in 1908.

In its early years Bigneat manufactured a ‘standard’ specification range of ductless fume cabinets, powder weighing cabinets and laminar flow cabinets.  In 1988 Bigneat added ‘bespoke manufacture’, designing and manufacturing a range of custom designed enclosures for special applications.  Over the next ten years, Bigneat continued to expand, from ductless fume cabinets (technology: carbon filtration) to Laminar Flow cabinets (technology: HEPA filtration).

By the early 1990’s, the laboratory automation sector began a period of dramatic growth, supplying drug discovery sciences within the R&D sector. In 1995, Bigneat was approached by a leading liquid handling company and asked to develop a range of enclosures to provide containment and process protection for their robotic systems.  Bigneat now manufacturers laboratory automation and robotics enclosures – bespoke designed and built enclosures, with sizes ranging from a few square metres to large 7 x 4m, as well as enclosures for operator protection, process protection or performance to Class II levels of biological protection with or without a controlled environment.  Bigneat is now:

“The world’s No 1 manufacturer of enclosures for laboratory automation”.

In 2021, Bigneat was acquired by Caron Products, a leading provider of laboratory equipment used in small and large molecule drug development and manufacturing, cell and gene therapy, and academic research. Backed by SFW, a leading specialized private equity firm that invests in leading Information, Software, Industrial and Healthcare Technology companies, the combined companies are positioned to become a market-leading provider oflaboratory equipment used in research, development, production and quality control processes in the global life sciences sector.