In 1961 Welwyn licensed Rosenthal to manufacture oxide film resistors, so the flow of technology with Germany became two-way. To improve the metal to ceramic terminal seals generally, work was carried out on metal/ceramic bonds, but this was passed to Royal Worcester Industrial Ceramics in 1962, as it fitted their profile better.

Welwyn resistors in bandolier for automatic
processing - courtesy Welwyn Electric

In 1963 AEI took a financial interest in Welwyn, having been interested in getting closer to a components supplier. Co-operation resulted in significant progress being made with chip semiconductors, thick and thin film hybrid circuits, also assisted by the National Research and Development Corporation. However, when GEC took over AEI in 1967, GEC sold back their holding to Royal Worcester. However, Lord Nelson was for a time Chairman of Royal Worcester as well as GEC. In the Royal Worcester Annual Report for 1967, it was reported that Ceramics made up 42% of turnover and 35% of profit, while for Electronics and Engineering it was 58% and 65%, respectively, indicating how valuable these subsidiaries had become.

Process improvements were striking. In 1967 the time to fire the enamel was up to 16 hours, and by 1969 it was reduced to 5 minutes! Over 1 million oxide resistors were being produced each week in 1968 and the workforce reached 2200.

An example of the interchange of staff occurred in 1971 when Bob Steven, who was Welwyn’s Commercial Director, became the Managing Director of Royal Worcester, and in 1975 when John Herrin, a Director of Royal Worcester, became Chairman and MD of Welwyn.

Surface mounted components on ceramic and
polymer printed circuit boards
- courtesy Welwyn Electric

Further product improvement followed: for example, high voltage television potentiometers using the thick film process, and an increased growth in hybrid circuits and printed circuit board assemblies. Continual upgrading of production machinery improved productivity. New special resistors for DC power transmission were developed in 1980, initially for applications in Sweden, and later used on the England/France cross-channel DC link. Welwyn had become so diverse in its product range, and of comparable size to the industrial porcelain production, that the Royal Worcester Board decided to form a holding company, Welwyn Electronics Ltd, controlling all the electronics-based subsidiaries. In the Microelectronics Division, Digital to Analogue converters became a standard product as the complexity of hybrid circuits continued to increase, and development of chip components for surface mounting continued.

In 1982 it was agreed to set up a Royal Worcester shop on the Welwyn site selling a wide range of decorative pottery.

However, during the summer of 1983, Crystalate Holdings, a publicly quoted and entrepreneurial electronics company, which specialised in telecommunications, acquired a shareholding in Royal Worcester. They had previously raised merger discussions with Royal Worcester, and also offered to buy Welwyn, but the Royal Worcester Board turned this down. Later that year Crystalate made a hostile bid for Royal Worcester, and won control in December 1983. Crystallite then sold the china and industrial ceramics businesses to London International and Coors, respectively, and the formal link between the arts and science products was broken.