Around half of everything we mould at BEC is filter-related. That proportion has grown steadily since the early 1980s, when we produced our first tumble dryer filters for Philips.
Today, we design, tool, and manufacture bespoke plastic-encapsulated filters for clients in automotive, marine, transport, beverage, biomedical, and FMCG industries across the globe.
Our filters range from the size of a pen lid to over a metre in length. Each one starts with a conversation about what it needs to do, where it operates, and what it needs to withstand.
Read on for more on the types of filters we produce and how we do it so well.
Automotive Filters
Automotive filtration accounts for a significant share of our output.
BEC manufacture bespoke filters for fuel systems, oil circuits, and air intake assemblies – including a diesel emissions filter that reduces harmful UREA by 70%, currently produced at 25,000 units per month for the US automotive industry.
Unlike an off-the-shelf air filter for a car or a standard fuel filter, our automotive filters are designed from scratch around the client’s specific application.
We work with engineering and R&D teams throughout the life cycle of a filter; to develop the filter design, build the tooling, trial the part, and scale production – all under one roof in New Milton.
Oil and Hydraulic Filters
Oil filters in industrial and marine settings demand tight mesh specifications, chemical resistance, and durability under pressure and temperature cycling.
BEC encapsulate metal and plastic meshes ranging from 10 to 2,000 microns in nylon, polypropylene, or TPE/TPU? ABS frames, depending on the operating environment.
Our hydraulic brake filters and industrial oil filtration units serve clients whose equipment depends on consistent fluid cleanliness. The tooling for these filters requires precision, any variation in mesh positioning or frame integrity compromises filtration performance.
Air and Debris Filters
Air filtration covers applications from domestic appliances to industrial dust extraction.
We’ve been manufacturing air filters for vacuum cleaners, tumble dryers, and HVAC systems since the 1980s, and our range has expanded into industrial environments where debris filtration protects sensitive equipment and processes.
These filters typically need to balance airflow with particle capture, too restrictive and the equipment works harder than it should; too open and contaminants pass through. We advise on mesh selection and frame design to achieve the right balance for each application.
Water and Beverage Filters
Water filtration spans industrial processing, domestic appliances, and the beverage sector. We manufacture filters for hot drinks machines, water purification systems, and food-grade applications where hygiene and compliance requirements are strict.
Beverage filters are among the more unusual additions to our portfolio, we’ve produced tooling for tea and coffee dispensing systems that filter and deliver different flavoured drinks through bespoke mesh and frame assemblies.
How We Design and Manufacture Filters
Every filter we produce follows the same process, whether it’s a single-cavity prototype or a multi-cavity production tool running hundreds of thousands of units per year:
- Consultation on the application, operating environment, and performance requirements
- Filter design and design for manufacture (DFM) to optimise the part for efficient, cost-effective production
- In-house toolmaking using CNC and CAM software, with tools cut from pre-hardened P20 steel
- Mesh selection and sourcing – nylon, polypropylene, polyester, or metal, depending on the application
- Injection Moulding with hourly quality checks, first-off and last-off sign-offs, and additional inspection for complex parts
- Delivery to customers across the UK, Europe, and USA
As specialist filter manufacturers, we handle every stage on site. You can visit our facility, meet the engineers working on your project, and watch your filters come off the line.
Contact our team to discuss your filtration project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Automotive, marine, transport, biomedical, beverage, FMCG, and domestic appliances. We work with clients from startups developing new products through to multinational OEMs running high-volume production.
We source and stock nylon, polypropylene, polyester, and metal meshes ranging from 10 to 2,000 microns. Mesh selection depends on what the filter needs to capture and the environment it operates in.
Yes. Many clients come to us with a space to fill and a set of performance requirements rather than a finished design. Our team helps throughout the process from initial concept through to production-ready tooling.
Yes. A DFM review identifies opportunities to reduce tooling and production costs, streamline the moulding process, and eliminate potential problems before toolmaking begins. We recommend it on every filter project.
