| The
70's |
|
|
Where
were you in 1978 when….?
James Callaghan is Prime Minister, the pop charts include Bob Marley,
Def Leppard and Elton John, the first cellular mobile phone system
is set up, and Bjorn Borg is winning at Wimbledon.
And
it was April 12th 1978 that Vincent and Paul McKenna established
McKenna Brothers.
Our
 aims
were to provide the Passenger Transport Industry with a quality
Destination and Route Number Blind service that was second to none,
and build a reputation for quality of product and reliability of
service. |
| |
The
80's |
Margaret
Thatcher rules as the Iron Lady, compact fax machines become available,
the first version of windows is released, space shuttle Columbia
is launched and Live Aid’s London and Boston performance is
broadcast to 1.8 billion people world wide.
By
the early eighties we had kept pace with technology installed our
first fax machine enabling us to receive our first export orders.
We saw the deregulation of Public Transport in 1986 and this brought
an upsurge in business. Contracts secured at this time resulted
in regular orders. In the late eighties with the introduction of
computer technology we revolutionised the process used to manufacture
Destination  Blinds.
This process improved quality and reduced production and delivery
times. Another major step forward for the company was the expansion
of our product base to include Legal Lettering and Self-Adhesive
vehicle markings. It was at the end of this decade that we introduce
the first fluorescent Destination Blind that is so widely used today.
|
| The
90's |
|
John
Major makes way for Tony Blair after 17 years of Tory rule, the Channel
Tunnel is opened, The Spice Girls take Britain by storm, Nelson Mandella
is freed, and the Internet is fully opened to commercial traffic.
In April 1990 we moved to a larger production facility, our current
premises in Middleton; McKenna House. Business steadily increased
in the early years and by the mid nineties we needed to increase the
size of our factory by building an extension. At that time we researched
and developed a new coating for Destination Blind material that extended
the life of the fluorescent colour and called it McKennaglo. It was
an instant success. In 1996 we exhibited our products for the first
time at a major Bus & Coach show. With our continued commitment
for embracing change, we joined the  superhighway
and by 1997 had launched our own web site and received our first email
orders.
As the business continued to develop we recognised that there were
occasions when an electronic display was preferred to the traditional
printed blind. With this in mind McKenna Brothers formed an association
with a Swedish company Mobitec, a world leader in Passenger Information
Systems. |
| 
|
The
Millennium |
Tony
Blair enters his seventh year as PM, Gladiator gets an Oscar, Will
beats Gareth to become a Pop Idol , Steve Redgrave wins his fifth
consecutive Olympic Gold, and in Cornwall the Eden Project gets underway.
The relationship with Mobitec enabled us to offer quality electronic
sign systems that are used in over 20 countries world-wide. These
include our popular Dot-Matrix signs and our very latest LED Displays
that are receiving great acclaim from customers. On board information
systems including voice announcement compliment the range.
Service,
quality, cost and flexibility along with continuous investment have
been key factors in our success. The company has a very exciting future
and with continued investment will continue to grow. Our sales have
increased year on year and it is our intention to maintain this trend
by developing our product base and investing in the future.
 We
are the oldest company in the U.K. producing Printed Destination
Blinds and the only company that can offer a choice of Dot-Matrix,
LED and Printed displays to the bus industry.
We
base our company strategy on the very simple concepts of Quality
and Service, which has been our policy from the beginning. We understand
that the customer needs to be able to rely on a supplier that offers
a quick response when called upon and that they care. McKenna Brothers
have always been a company that offers Quality and Service and is
known as The Company that cares. |
|
