About Dyson
Dyson Limited, trading as Dyson, is a multinational technology company with its registered office in the United Kingdom and its operational headquarters in Singapore. Founded in 1991 by James Dyson in Malmesbury, England, the company designs and manufactures household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, hand dryers, bladeless fans, heaters, hair dryers, and lights. As of 2022, Dyson has more than 14,000 employees worldwide.
In 2019, Dyson announced that the company would be moving its operational headquarters from Malmesbury to the St James Power Station building in Singapore. The new headquarters opened in 2022 and is a hub for Dyson's research and engineering teams, as well as its commercial, advanced manufacturing and supply chain operations. The Malmesbury campus remains home to the company's global Research, Design and Development centre and many of its advanced engineering teams.
In January 2019, it was announced that Dyson intended to design and manufacture an electric vehicle (EV). However, the termination of the EV programme was announced later that year on 10 October 2019, saying that it was not "commercially viable". Nevertheless, a prototype of the EV, known as the N526, was unveiled in 2020 and it is now showcased within their headquarters.
Founding
Dual cyclone
Using the income from the Japanese licence, James Dyson set up Dyson Appliances Limited in 1991, although it was registered as Barleta Limited. The first dual-cyclone vacuum built under the Dyson name, the DA 001, was produced by American company Phillips Plastics in a facility in Wrexham, Wales, beginning in January 1993 and sold for about £200. Vacuum assembly took place in the unused half of the plastic factory. Due to quality control concerns and Phillips's desire to renegotiate the terms of their contract to build the vacuum cleaner, Dyson severed the agreement in May 1993. Within two months he set up a new supply chain and opened a new production facility in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England; the first vacuum built at the new facility was completed 1 July 1993. The DA 001 was soon replaced by an almost identical cleaner, the DC01.
Dyson licensed the technology in North America from 1986 to 2001 to Fantom Technologies, after which Dyson entered the market directly.
Transparent container
Even though market research showed that people would not be happy with a transparent container for the dust, Dyson and his team decided to make a transparent container anyway and this turned out to be a popular and enduring feature which has been heavily copied. The DC01 became the biggest selling vacuum cleaner in the UK in just 18 months. By 2001, the DC01 made up 47% of the upright vacuum cleaner market.
Cylinder machine
The company introduced a cylinder machine, the DC02, and produced a number of special editions and revised models (DC02 Absolute, DC02 De Stijl, DC05, DC04, DC06, DC04 Zorbster). On 2 January 2001 the company name was shortened from Dyson Appliances Ltd. to Dyson Ltd. In April of that year the DC07, a new upright vacuum cleaner using "Root Cyclone" technology with seven cyclone funnels instead of the original dual-cyclone design, was launched. By 2009 Dyson began creating other technologies: the Airblade hand dryer, the Air Multiplier "bladeless" fan and Dyson Hot, the "bladeless" fan heater. In October 2019, Dyson released the Pure Cryptomic, available in a fan version and a heater + fan version. The device is able to remove formaldehyde from the air; this flammable and colourless gas can irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and throat.