Brother Industries, Ltd. (Japanese: ブラザー工業株式会社 Hepburn: Burazā Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment company headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. Its products include printers, multifunction printers, desktop computers, sewing machines, large machine tools, label printers, typewriters, fax machines, and other computer-related electronics. Brother distributes its products both under its own name and under OEM agreements with other companies.
Brother's history began in 1908 when the Yasui Sewing Machine Co. was established in Nagoya, Japan. In 1954, Brother International Corporation (US) was established as their first overseas sales affiliate. In 1958 a European regional sales company was established in Dublin. The corporate name was finally changed to Brother Industries, Ltd. in 1962. Brother entered the printer market during its long association with Centronics.
In 1968 the company moved its UK headquarters to Audenshaw, Manchester, after acquiring the Jones Sewing Machine Company, a long established British sewing machine maker.
In December 2011, Brother diversified its offerings by acquiring Nefsis, an innovator in web-based remote collaboration and conferencing software.
In November 2012, Brother announced that it had built the last UK-made typewriter at its north Wales factory. Saying that it had made 5.9 million typewriters in its factory in Wrexham since it opened in 1985, the firm donated the last machine to London's Science Museum.
As of March 2013, Brother's annual turnover was ¥516 billion ($5.05 billion USD (at April 2014 exchange rates)).
Sewing and embroidery machines
In 2010, the sewing divisions of Brother Industries around Europe were consolidated into one larger company called "Brother Sewing Machines Europe GmbH". With a turnover in excess of €80 million, it is the 4th biggest company under the Brother Industries Ltd umbrella of organisations.
Brother Industries manufacture mechanical sewing machines in Zhuhai, China and computerised sewing & embroidery machines in Taiwan. A new sewing machine factory was opened in 2012 in Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam, which is the largest single brand sewing machine factory in the world.
In September 2012, Brother Industries manufactured their 50 millionth home sewing machine.
