Numatic International

Numatic International Limited is a British manufacturer, primarily making domestic, commercial and industrial cleaning and maintenance equipment for distribution worldwide. It is one of the major producers of vacuum cleaners in the UK., and best known for its popular and iconic "Henry" domestic vacuum cleaner, and related models, which are canister designs having human names and 'smiling face' appearances.

The company was founded and as of 2015 is still solely owned, by Chris Duncan, who created the compact shape for "Henry" in 1968. It owns a manufacturing facility located in Chard, Somerset in south-west England, and wholly owned distributors in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa. The company employs over 700 people, and produces 4500 units per day, over 40% of which are for export.

Henry

One of Numatic's most popular products is a vacuum cleaner called henry. The 'Henry' name and character was conceived by Designer and Illustrator Mike Walsh, after being shown the shape of the machine through an intermediary of Chris Duncan. It is easily distinguishable by the large smiling face on the front of the canister (there's a 3D clip-on face which has eyes and a mouth, and the vacuum's hose forms its nose). A new parking bracket was added in September 2012. Since the introduction of Henry in 1981, over 7 million have been produced worldwide.