Our History

Frank Klucznik Snr. arrived in England from Poland as part of the armed forces during the Second World War, eventually settling in Leek after being a refugee at the nearby Blackshaw Moor camp. After developing his fabrication skills locally he then started his own company, IAE in 1969, producing gates and livestock equipment. He soon gained a reputation for high-quality products amongst the local farming community. As knowledge of his quality products spread "That Pole in Leek" began to sell his products nationally.

Over the next decade IAE grew steadily. Starting with only a small yard in 1969, by 1970 Frank had already rented an additional building in the same yard.

With his equalled hard working attitude Frank Klucznik’s son David joined his father at IAE aged 15.

Expansion continued with the purchase of Star Mill adding a further 2500 square feet of manufacturing space along with an increased work force of 15.

IAE almost trebled in size following the purchase of the Macclesfield Road site in Leek. With this expansion came further employment for the area, increasing the work force to 40. With an increase in factory size and manpower this allowed for advances to be made with products and services such as specialising in cattle markets.

Frank handed the reigns over to his son David, who had earned himself 17 years experience in the family business.

Additional premises were purchased to keep up with demand at IAE Milton and cattle crushes introduced to the IAE range.

More factory space was purchased at the Barnfields site in Leek and with more manufacturing capability came more products and in 1992 fencing production began at the Macclesfield Road site.

IAE Cheadle purchased and quickly in 1994 became the IAE Fencing Division, allowing all fencing products to be manufactured under one roof.

IAE Equestrian Division started and since then IAE has designed and manufactured many types of stabling and special layouts as well as being pleased to be associated with many projects at prestigious racecourses.

A 26-acre brownfield site purchased at Mossfield Road with the sole aim to get all IAE existing operations on one site including a new in house Galvanising operation.

Following in his fathers footsteps Frank Klucznik Jr joined his father at the family business. By the time the decade was out, the expansion of the company had created a further 160 jobs for the local area, totalling 200 employees.

A 25,000 square foot galvanising plant marked a pivotal moment in IAEs history, in its ability to control the quality of its products and to provide an increasingly competitive product for its customers.

Katie Klucznik joined her father at the family business in January 2004.

2007 spelled the beginning of the vision of amalgamating all existing sites at Mossfield Road when the first phase of the production division was commissioned at Mossfield Road. Subsequently, in the summer of 2007 the Milton site was relocated to Mossfield Road. This was soon followed by the Barnfields site in Leek.

To meet the storage requirements of the developing site at Mossfield Road, a second distribution yard was constructed in 2008.

A new 13,500 square foot headquarters was built to house the ever-expanding office workforce. All offices at existing sites were relocated to the new building bringing together the different departments into one community. 2009 also saw the expansion of the product range and of the Mossfield Road site with the creation of the Shelters Division.

With a new site came new possibilities and in the year of 2011, significant investment was made in an automated sheet metal facility that has propelled IAE ever further forward technologically.

Acquisition of a further 10 acres of development land at the rear of Mossfield Road site.

in 2019 we are celebrating our 50th anniversary and operate from a 36-acre purpose built environmentally conscious site near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. We remain a family run business with a turnover in excess of 50 million and employ over 500 people.

Our 50th year sees the start of our 5-year plan taking shape, with work commencing on the ten acres of land purchased in 2014. Our plans include the development of a new 200,000 square-foot learning and indoor demonstration centre, fully automated powder coating plant and an additional manufacturing facility. Constructed started in July 2019 and you can view our progress by visiting our dedicated development site.