Brother UK at your side at 50

Terry Koike (TK): A bit of both. We are fortunate to be successful and always invite good fortune, but we also try to remain true to our founders’ three main goals: to build a business, originally sewing machines, from importing and exporting; to recruit people who want to work hard for the business; and to create an enjoyable atmosphere in our factories. The people we refer to as our founders were two brothers who started manufacturing sewing machines in 1932. It was their father who started the company in 1908 to service and repair imported sewing machines. Japanese housewives would use these to make clothes and earn a little money on the side, which is why we call them home sewing machines, even though they were used for business purposes. It took 24 years for Brother to go from making spare parts to manufacturing the sewing machines themselves. Brother sewing machines were a very important product during the war, when they were used to make uniforms. After the war people couldn’t afford them, so we started a lease programme. Every month, we would collect a small sum from the customer until they had saved enough for a sewing machine, knitting machine, washing machine or other appliance. At the same time, we created a network of academies across Japan, as many as about 700, where we would teach people how to use our products. We probably had 15,000 to 20,000 people collecting cash for us or promoting our products in this way. About 20 years after the war, Japanese households had become richer and merchants would come to the big towns to sell their products at a discounted price. The business model for our cash collection programme gradually stopped working and business declined in some areas. In response, we started selling typewriters and daisy wheel printers mainly overseas, but also in the domestic Japanese market. We had a lot of success in the typewriter business and made inroads into the printer business with our daisy wheel printer, which we sold in the US through a distribution agreement with an American company. NT: From what you say, it’s clear that diversification isn’t a new concept for Brother, but more a case of business as usual. Even so, the advent of desktop PCs and then the laser printer must have been a big challenge to your typewriter and impact printer business. TK: It was. To start with HP laser printers cost in the region of $600 or $700, so in pricing terms we had breathing room up to the end of the ‘80s, but not in other respects – impact printers were noisy and slow, whereas lasers were quiet, quick and high quality. I was based in the US from 1981 to 2005 and in 1988/89 we kept pushing Japan to come up with inkjet and laser technologies. Eventually, we ordered in a print engine from a third party and attached a controller with software, fonts and hardware, but we Neil Trim (NT): Brother was established in 1908 as a sewing machine repair company. Today, it is a diversified business operating in more than 40 countries and regions. Is this transformation down to good fortune or good planning? Brother and the typewriter The JP1-111 was Brother’s first typewriter. This competitively priced, high quality typewriter with self-developed type acquired an excellent reputation, opening the path for the company’s entry into the business equipment field. Brother UK – Celebrating 50 years in business 5