Welcome to the Negri Bossi UK July newsletter. This month’s issue is aimed at highlighting our company’s long history and stability as a prominent and reliable partner and supplier to our customer base and to recognise our loyal customers and employees. |
Negri Bossi was founded in the U.K. in 1955, has become one of the foremost suppliers of injection moulding machines and is renowned for outstanding service and spares support. The key to our success is a first class product backed by experienced and friendly staff. Located in a modern building in Warwick, at the centre of the UK motorway network, we have developed first class showroom and training facilities.
Our mission at Negri Bossi is to establish ourselves as the leading supplier of injection moulding machines in the UK and an ultra-reliable partner capable of satisfying all our customers' needs.
Negri Bossi is committed to the provision of a high level of service in all parts of the company's operation. We operate by the principles of customer service, quality and reliability. Above all, we are dedicated to providing all our customers with an efficient and cost-effective service.
Negri Bossi honours it's oldest surviving UK customer |
 As part of this story of the history of Negri Bossi UK Ltd we could not pass the opportunity to trace our oldest surviving UK customer.
We are, therefore, tremendously proud to name Boddingtons Technical Plastics (formerly WH Boddington) as that customer.
The relationship with "Bodds", as we at NB UK affectionately refer to them, started with the purchase of an NB R3FA machine way back in 1962.
Boddingtons Technical Plastics can trace its roots back to the 1930’s when, sometime around 1936, Henry Boddington lent £100 to a friend who was going to start up a plastics moulding business. Two years later when the money was due to be paid back, it was not available and so, in lieu of the money, Henry Boddington took over two moulding machines, and entered the world of plastic injection moulding. He moved from his premises in the Edgware Road to larger premises in Homerton High Street in London’s East End, and, in 1951, W H Boddington & Co Ltd was born.
In 1956 the business needed space to expand, and W H Boddington moved to Horsmonden. The company shared the premises with the buses of Maidstone and District Motor Services Limited at an annual rent of £250.
In 1978 W H Boddington was sold to John James plc, which in turn, in 1979, was acquired by Wolseley-Hughes. In 2000 the company was sold to Rubicon Partners Industries, and in 2005 with their backing W H Boddington & Co Ltd along with their tool room moved to the modern 67,000 square foot building in nearby Marden, also at this time becoming known as Boddingtons Technical Plastics.
 Over this period Boddingtons has purchased many new Negri Bossi machines and the new facility houses 18 Negri Bossi machines ranging from 40 tonnes up to a recent 850 tonnes Vector model. The majority of the machines are specified with a spare PVC quick change unit giving Boddingtons the ability to process rigid PVC across the range of sizes when required. Each machine is equipped with a three-axis robot, and material is supplied from a state of the art central feeding system which was installed when they moved into the new factory.
Boddingtons are accredited to ISO 9001-2000 and IIP. It is planned to achieve ISO14001 this year and ISO 13485 in 2011 to meet the need of their growing medical customers.
Boddingtons recognise that their success has been rooted in many factors, not least the reliability and productivity of their Negri Bossi machines over the years and the special relationship that has been forged between supplier and customer, which is always key in a major success story.
They say that people are judged by the company they keep. We think you can judge a company by the people it keeps and Negri Bossi is certainly successful at doing that with over half of the employees having over 10 years of service.
 Andy Bridgestock's long connection with the John Brown Group began back in 1963, training as an engineer working on machine tool design then at Bone Cravens involved in extruder development and project management..
Following the group’s takeover of Negri Bossi he moved into Sales Administration. "I never thought I’d still be around 47 years later, but the time just seems to have flown by," says Andy. "I think that’s because I've always enjoyed coming to work and am never bored. I ‘ve made a lot of friends in the industry over the years, and have many treasured memories to take into my retirement in a couple of years time."
Ron Colton's 34 Years with Negri Bossi!
 Ron joined the company in 1976, at which time he was employed in the building and testing of Bone Cravens and Daniels machines before transferring to the service department and finally to specialising on the Negri Bossi range of machines.
Ron’s years of service have made him a familiar face with most Negri Bossi customers as well as a highly respected member of the service department.
Although based in Sheffield,Ron’s specialist mechanical engineering skills mean that he travels all over the country whenever that particular expertise is required. In fact, Ron has represented the company in over 18 countries around the world.
Ron says "I have always received great satisfaction from my job and take particular pleasure in meeting and working with our many customers. Negri Bossi has been a terrific company to work for."
Managing Director, Carl Futcher says "Without the commitment of people like Andy and Ron we couldn't achieve the consistent success that we have. Other members of the team that have been with us for over 10 years include: Service Manager; Ian Thorpe, Regional Sales Manager; Mark Swan, Spares Administrator; Andy Neale, Service Engineers; Simon Smith and Chris Lines."
"It's good to applaud at the end of a performance, but perhaps even better to express our gratitude while the performance is still going on. I am also proud to be completing my 10th year with Negri Bossi this year and look forward to working with this experienced team for many years to come." |
Stable partners are hard to find
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 As well as long serving employees, long term and stable relationships with partners is equally important to a company's success.
Richard Briggs of GB Asset Finance Ltd has been providing finance facilities to Negri Bossi customers for 10 years, even prior to that Richard was a partner to Negri Bossi when he worked for a well known finance company.
Richard, along with Greg Hopping, established GB Asset Finance Ltd as an independent finance brokerage to focus on the manufacturing sector and in particular develop further the relationship with Negri Bossi Ltd.
As an independent finance brokerage Richard is able to provide finance facilities to a variety of our customers from new starts to established businesses, this is welcome news as past experience had shown that funders would tend to "cherry pick" customers that met their criteria and not assist others. Obviously at Negri Bossi we want to assist all our customers and as such Richard's experience and assistance in this area is very much valued.
During our association GB Asset Finance Ltd have assisted in funding well over 200 Negri Bossi machines and as a result Richard is well known to many of our customers. The finance facilities GB Asset Finance Ltd provide include Hire Purchase, Finance Lease and Operating Lease and as well as a competitive price a flexible approach is very much recognised by our customers who have used GB Asset Finance Ltd.
Another important area for our customers to consider using GB Asset Finance Ltd is refinance of existing machinery.
Richard advises that this has seen real growth in recent years bought on by the banks reluctance to lend together with customers experiencing their existing bank facilities being reduced, refinance of machinery via a Sale and Hire Purchase Back is therefore a good way to assist companies cash flow requirements.
For more information on GB Asset Finance Ltd please call Richard on 07800 583153 or visit their website at www.gbassetfinance.com |
Playing a round with Negri Bossi |
What better way to start the day than play a round of golf? That is exactly what 35 Negri Bossi customers thought when they swapped their briefcases for golf trolleys at the 26th Negri Bossi Golf Day.
The company's annual golf day has been running since 1984 when the competition was first held at Stroud in Gloucestershire and was won by the late Mick Fountain. The event has run every year since and has become yet another long standing feature of Negri Bossi UK's business profile.
This years event was held in July at Staverton Park Golf Club - a mature, championship golf course set in 140 acres of beautiful Northamptonshire countryside. The day kicked off with coffee and bacon rolls and then, in perfect summer conditions, the enthusiastic teams competed in the 18-hole competition with a line-up of Negri Bossi customers and staff putting their golf skills to the test. With 4 small lakes and 64 American-style sand traps, the course provided a sober challenge to all the players regardless of handicap.
 After four hours on the course, it was FloPlast's Malcolm Gibson (pictured right) who stole the honours - winning first prize for individual score with an outstanding 40 stableford points.
Bob Alloway, of Javelin, was another of the players showing off his golf talents - taking second place leaving Conrad Thrower of DHM Plastics to hold off fierce competition for third place. Andrew Adderley of GAP Plastics and Lee Mowle of Stewart Plastics took 4th and 5th spots respectively. Ben Lewis from K. Lewis Engineering won the nearest the pin award and Mike Parker won the staff prize with 37 points.
Delighted with winning, Malcolm Gibson said "It was a fantastic day - I enjoy playing a bit of golf in my spare time, so it was great to play on such a good course. The course played well, the greens were terrific and the food was enjoyed by all. The weather was glorious for the event and it was a great social day as well as a valuable networking opportunity."
Competitors enjoyed pre-dinner drinks in the bar followed by a three course dinner in the club dining room. "The day was a resounding success for Negri Bossi, with our customers most complimentary", said Negri Bossi Managing Director, Carl Futcher.
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 Negri Bossi’s history goes back to 1947 when Pietro NEGRI and Walter BOSSI were the first in Europe to sense the potential of the plastic material moulding market and founded the Company with the opening of its first small workshop in Milan.
Today Negri Bossi is the leading Italian supplier of injection moulding machines with an international calling demonstrated by its strong presence on the world market.
Besides the current production site in Cologno Monzese (Milan), Negri Bossi has developed a widespread and efficient distribution network made up of branches in Great Britain, France, Spain, North & South America with more than 40 agencies that represent the Company worldwide.
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