History of the 600 Group

George Cohen Sons and Co. was established in 1834.

The Group takes its name from the early head office address at 600 Commercial Road in East London.  It grew over the years into one of the UK's leading metal recovery and engineering businesses and became a public company in 1947.

The 600 Group formed its first machine tool company in 1932 and became the UK's leading lathe manufacturer through the acquisition of Colchester Lathes in 1954 and TS Harrison in 1971.

In the 1980's, the Group established a strong market presence in the USA through the acquisition of Clausing Industrial, and largely disposed of its original UK metal and general engineering businesses. Over the same period a new division was developed specialising in industrial laser marking systems.

Further acquisitions throughout Europe increased the Group's presence in key European markets, adding to the worldwide distributor network and offering some of the best machine tools, workholding accessories and laser marking systems available in the market today.