McKenna Brothers News

Posted on 29th April 2025

McKenna Brothers Celebrate a Remarkable Year

Middleton based McKenna Brothers, a leading supplier of onboard audio visual announcement systems, vehicle wrapping, onboard vinyls and printed destination blinds are celebrating an amazing year which has seen the company’s turnover double. This remarkable milestone reflects the dedication, hard work, and innovation of the entire McKenna Brothers team.

Despite the challenging economic landscape, McKenna Brothers has demonstrated unprecedented growth and success in the UK market. The company’s commitment to excellence, customer satisfaction, and product quality have been key factors in driving this exceptional performance.

“We are incredibly proud to have achieved this significant milestone of doubling our turnover in the UK. It is a testament to the hard work, planning and dedication of our team, as well as the loyalty and support of our valued customers” said Derek Dawson, Managing Director at McKenna Brothers.

McKenna Brothers attributes this remarkable success to its strategic business approach, innovative products, and unwavering focus on customer satisfaction. By staying agile and responsive to market trends, McKenna Brothers has been able to capitalise on new opportunities and expand its market share in the UK. The last 18 months have been huge for the company, with the success created following the multi million-pound contract award for the roll out of their audio and visual announcement passenger information systems and onboard and exterior vinyl’s supply and fi t for Transport for Greater Manchester and the Bee Network. The confirmation of McKenna Brothers being awarded this contract for Manchester’s franchised Bee Network buses is the biggest order it has received in its 46 year history. McKenna Brothers are confident the success and support they provided with this contract can be replicated across other pending nationwide franchised networks with their scalability and committed team at hand to deal with any challenges that come their way.

Another factor to the recent growth for the business is the introduction of the Department for Transport accessibility regulation that requires all bus service vehicles having next stop audio and visual announcement systems to be installed and compliant by 2030. This activity is being staggered dependent on the age profile of the buses with work commencing last year and is forecast to run until all buses are compliant. Operators requesting McKenna Brothers services and support in line with this regulation have ranged from the smaller sized operators to the Groups and the orders continue to come in almost daily at the moment in order to meet these deadline dates.

London is also still a huge part of continued growth, Transport for London (TfL) Bus Action Plan 2022 encourages operators to specify the new high-resolution LED destination and onboard next stop TFT system as part of the enhanced specification albeit against a very strong, stable and extremely busy printed blinds section of McKenna Brothers. Sales numbers now reflect this now high demand for a fully integrated system solution with key operators namely Metroline, Stagecoach, Arriva

and RATP specifying McKenna Brothers as their preferred supplier via the bus manufacturers.

The companies staffing levels have increased by 25% to manage with the increased demand from the TFGM contract award and the requests from the groups and all other operators.

McKenna Brothers are able to provide a ‘one stop solution’ for all passenger information needs with customers having the choice of either TFT or LED screens for passenger information, both meet requirements of the new passenger information regulation. McKenna Brothers continues to innovate, with one of the most high-profile new offerings being its integration with ticket machine systems. McKenna Brothers believe that more operators will be having displays that show departures and ETAs for bus, train and other onward transport services. Additionally, its technology supplier, Luminator Technology Group also continue to grow and innovate their product range in preparation for the next generation of products to the UK and global market. McKenna Brothers’ relationship with digital display manufacturer, Mobitec, began in 2000. When Mobitec was acquired by the American based Luminator Technology Group, this was continued and strengthened with McKenna appointed as their agents for the UK and Ireland. A global player headquartered at Plano in Texas, Luminator traces its origins back to 1928. It has five manufacturing plants in four countries on three continents as well as engineering and development centres in 15 locations worldwide. European plants are located in Ulm, Germany and Gdansk, Poland. The company boasts customers in 85 countries with over 100,000 installations in transport applications.

Working with Luminator, McKenna’s not only supply equipment, they also provide technical support, on-site training, remote service support, service contracts and a spare parts service that can include impress stock.

The company still continues to embark on their multi-stage technology roadmap with the aim of offering full real-time integration of its systems and the information they provide for passengers and operators. The process began with the integration of the systems with ticketing equipment, as requested by a number of operators. This enables a countdown provision to be displayed in the bus and on external displays, indicating how many minutes until departure, with the last minute shown in seconds. An estimated time of arrival feature can also be provided (based on the vehicle’s current location). The vehicle’s next stop display can show not only that the bus is stopping but also two lines of next stop information.

A big advantage of integration with a ticketing system is that the control centre handles the information input, thus preventing the need for driver interaction. In most cases the on-board controller can be removed altogether which saves money.

It has been a busy two years for McKenna Brothers and there is plenty to do to keep the team equally busy in the future. Though they are keeping their feet on the ground, their reaction to the industry requirements and support has been inspirational with a continued growing list of customers embarking with them on this journey of organic growth.

Being a family run business since 1978 the company still pride themselves with innovation, quality and customer satisfaction.

As McKenna Brothers celebrates this milestone, the company remains committed to its core values of excellence, integrity, and innovation. With a clear vision for the future and a strong foundation of success, McKenna Brothers is poised for continued growth in the UK market.

McKenna Brothers Successfully Completes Three Phases of Vehicle Graphics Project with Transport for Greater Manchester

The amazing fitting team from McKenna Brothers completed the final phase for TFGM vinyl fitment through the night, concluding on Sunday, January 5, 2025, as scheduled and is now ready for operation.

The project involved removing existing branding from all vehicles, internally and externally, and rebranding them to the Bee Network livery. Despite the tight deadlines, McKenna Brothers utilised their expertise and worked closely with TFGM to efficiently organise the branding of all 329 vehicles in phase three. This collaborative effort enabled work to be carried out during evenings and weekends across multiple depots, minimising disruption to vehicles in service during daytime hours. McKenna Brothers are proud to have contributed to this significant project and looks forward to continuing to support Transport for Greater Manchester in their initiative.