Don Whitley Scientific Limited develops, manufactures and sells instrumentation and associated products for microbiological and other scientific applications, and provides microbiological contract services in its GLP-compliant laboratories. Based in Shipley, West Yorkshire in the UK, Don Whitley Scientific is an independent, family owned business. It was founded by Don Whitley in 1976 and has rapidly grown to be a leading supplier of innovative equipment and a leading microbiology contract house. The company sells to both public and private sectors internationally.

The company enjoys a wealth of experience in microbiology, design, engineering and marketing, skills amply demonstrated by Don Whitley Scientific's ability to design and manufacture a range of high quality and often ingenious equipment specified by scientists throughout the world. In recognition of these achievements the company received Millennium Product status for two products - the Whitley range of anaerobic and variable atmosphere workstations, and the WASP spiral plater. Millennium Products were the UK national initiative to identify and promote innovation through new products and services created in Britain for the millennium. Millennium Products were selected because they were forward-thinking, challenging, creative and innovative.

A key factor in Don Whitley Scientific's success has been a consummate pride in offering customers a professional and efficient service. This awareness of customers and their needs prompted investment in improved service back-up and the construction of a suite of microbiology laboratories, enabling the company to work even more closely with the microbiology industry.

The company currently sells a range of microbiology products to customers in more than 40 countries. These products range from simple reagents through automated instrumentation for the detection and enumeration of micro-organisms, to a high quality microbiology contract service. Customers of Don Whitley Scientific include quality assurance personnel, food producers, public sector microbiologists, clinical microbiologists and research and development personnel. The company has developed a leading position in its selected markets by producing quality products fully supported by excellent service and support. In the UK, Australia and Germany products are sold directly by Don Whitley Scientific. In other parts of the world, our products are sold through exclusive agreements with carefully selected distributors.

The contract microbiology services are all handled directly from the Shipley laboratories. The contract research studies embrace all aspects of antimicrobial development programmes including efficacy, safety and clinical trial studies with an increasing emphasis on antimicrobial resistance work.

The laboratories also have extensive experience in working within the animal feed industry as well as with the medical device, textile and chemical industries. Due to the increasing demand for microbiology consultancy services a sister company, MB Consult Limited, has been formed to handle this aspect of the business.

Research and development

The company's research and development activities are focused on the enhancement of existing technologies and the development of novel microbiological products and services.

In-house design and development skills are complemented by the use of external design expertise. In 1992 the company won a UK Department of Trade and Industry competitive SMART award for the development of a truly rapid microbiological sensor for use in on-line monitoring.

A further SMART award was won during 1993 to continue this project. In addition a UK Government grant was awarded by the Support for Products Under Research (SPUR) scheme in 1992 to develop impedance applications. A further SPUR award was received in 1995 to partially fund an extensive R & D initiative targeted at increasing our understanding of anaerobic organisms.

This programme resulted in the development of the Whitley Workstation product range and, as a result of the successful commercial exploitation of this research, the company won a prestigious SMART winners award in 1999. A further SMART grant looking at resuscitation of micro-organisms from mixed ecosystems has just been completed. Research and Development funding is currently equivalent to approximately 10% of turnover.

The contract research business is also supported by a strong internal R & D programme which has focused on the development of in vitro model test systems relevant to the study of antimicrobial residues. This was extended to include an antimicrobial resistance development programme. Strong links have been and continue to be developed with public, private sector and university laboratories.

Company structure

Whilst the company can be divided into the listed functions of Sales, Production, Service, Laboratory, Product Development, Warehousing, Accounts and Administration each part makes up the whole and it is this team effort which provides quality products and service to our customers. The company is committed to Total Quality Management and places a great deal of emphasis on training. The company achieved the quality standard ISO9001:2000 in 1995 and was granted Investors in People recognition in 1998. Manufacture of Don Whitley Scientific products takes place at the company headquarters in Shipley, UK.

 Click here to download a copy of our ISO9001:2000 certificate.

The Shipley site totals 3000m² and includes dedicated microbiology laboratories, service support suite and new product development facilities thus concentrating all technical expertise on one site alongside production, sales and administration functions.

Products and services

Innovative products for microbiology:

Anaerobic Workstations, Electrical Microbiological Detection Systems, Automated Counting Systems, Image Analysis Readers, Gravimetric Diluters, Media Preparation Systems, Automated Laboratory Monitoring Systems, Spiral Platers, and Variable Atmosphere Workstations.

Service solutions:

-  Contract microbiological services with GLP-compliant laboratories
-  Expertise in microbiology ensuring excellent product support and servicing
-  UKAS accreditation and validation

Don Whitley Scientific Limited. Registered office: 14 Otley Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD17 7SE, UK. Registered in England No 1342672.