Next Meeting
Friday January 25th, 7.30am-9.30am
BROTHER UK with Phil Jones MBE, Managing Director.
Brother was founded in 1908 in Japan by two siblings in the industrial region of Nagoya (home of Toyota). It all started with sewing: the brothers had figured out a way to automate the production of hats for workers in the paddy fields.
60 years later, Brother UK was founded in Manchester, taking over the Jones Sewing Machine foundry on the same Audenshaw site where they’re based today. That’s one of 17 production sites and more than 50 sales sites in 44 countries across the world, a $5bn plus business.
The UK operation concentrates on its sewing and printing, with printers being Phil Jones’ main focus as managing director of Brother UK. They are the No 1 vendor for business printing, bigger than Hewlett Packard; most of their sales are B2B.
So what happened to the paperless world we were promised? The printer at my side as I type this is a Brother. I’d like to know more.
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Future Dates
Thurs Feb 14th: Mark Atherton, Senior Trading Standards Officer on Derbyshire Trusted Traders. It’s 10 years since the Trusted Traders scheme started in our county; it lists over 1,000 business members from accountants to wedding cars and gets 200 responses a week – in the last three years 41,000 feedback comments have come from the public. How does it work, and what happens when something goes wrong?
Friday March 22nd: Jez Unsworth of Jeremy Unsworth Funeral Services. We will all need them, sooner or later, yet we seldom think about the business environment in which undertakers operate – fewer cemeteries, more regulation, more concern about dignity in dying. The sector is mainly composed of small family-run businesses. So how do they adapt?
Thurs April 18th: speaker from UKFast. You do understand about cloud computing.. or do you? Tech business UKFast, Manchester based cloud computing firm founded in 1999 by the legendary Lawrence and Gail Jones, is lining up an IPO which will see it valued at £350m on the stock market. Cloud cuckoo land? No longer…
Friday May 17th: Andrew Gadd, Finance Manager of Creamline. Since BBC TV’s Blue Planet II, public taste has swung away from plastic. Even the BBC uses milk bottles now. That gives traditional milkmen the edge. Creamline Dairies, who have been delivering dairy produce and groceries to Manchester and Cheshire for over 70 years, are busier than ever. Come and hear more.
Friday June 14th: The Renaissance of The Co-op. In an intensely competitive grocery world, the venerable Co-op has been investing in its corner shops and seen a substantial turnaround. How are they doing it? Tina Mitchell, Divisional Managing Director, Co-op Food, will tell us more.