Networking & Collaboration blog series: Part three
Joseph Adrien Letière Petit, known to everyone by his second name Adrien (or Ian), was responsible for laying the foundations for the modern business Brandauer is known for today. Although he first started working at Brandauer in 1938 developing his tool making skills, once the Second World War was over, he chose to go to university.
Having been working as Progress Manager in 1946, he went to Nottingham to study mechanical engineering from 1948 to 1951, with a postgraduate year in production engineering at Birmingham.
He became a director of the company in 1958 and showed an obvious talent for invention, devising a simple self-adhesive clip for securing cables. The idea of a self-adhesive cable clip came to him after hitting his thumb too many times using conventional clips when installing cables and wires at home.
He established CB Cable Clips in 1972 and would collaborate with engineers at Brandauer to manufacture a range of designs. Fast-forward to 2019 and CB Cable Clips would become Brandauer’s first ever acquisition, transferring over all customers, intellectual property, stock and assets, as well as safeguarding jobs and creating new ones.
50 years of manufacturing the original self-adhesive cable clip
Cable clips are proof that great inventions last a lifetime and thanks to its family-owned status, Brandauer’s network of collaborators was never restricted to the typical partnership types you may expect a manufacturing business to build. Joseph Adrien Letière Petit wasn’t the first great inventor and collaborator associated with the business and he will not be the last.
Cable clips are now part of a much wider range of unique product offerings, including thin gauge electrical steel laminations, EloPin® Press-Fit, the manKIND Visor and several bespoke progression press tooling standards.
This is Brandauer’s 50th year of manufacturing the original self-adhesive cable clip, an invention that has benefited customers spanning domestic building, construction, and industrial applications all over the world. And an idea born from home DIY frustrations and sore thumbs that has been produced and used well over half a billion times. Since its acquisition, Brandauer has accelerated the commercialisation of the product to supply direct to consumers, bringing the product into the home where the idea was first derived all those years ago.
Cable clips and the convenience of online ordering
A choice to bring the cable clips range to consumers via online platforms such as eBay was a simple one to make. Convenient products find a natural home on convenient online buying platforms and online buying trends naturally rose during the pandemic as did the need for cable clips.
The off-the-shelf range includes Open Arm, Buckle, Hook and Ribbon clips, all developed for easy cable fixing and tidying. Simply snap, peel and stick. This user-friendly approach caught the attention of people making use of them at home and in DIY projects during the pandemic. DIY efforts increased significantly as people spent more time indoors and the product would also come in handy as they transformed living spaces into office spaces. Cable clips became a wider commercial success during this time.
From computer hardware, audio equipment and television sets, plus many other electrical equipment found at home and especially within office spaces, the cable clip has continued to become an ideal solution for keeping those loose wires and cables neat and tidy, even as the dust settles on the pandemic.
Brandauer has continued to find new ways to network and collaborate to ensure that the simple cable clip remains a go-to solution with new local distribution partners secured and conversations with large international distributors underway. The future of the cable clips range is as bright today as it was when it was established by Joseph Adrien Letière Petit in the early 1970s. As long as Brandauer continues to develop the right networks, partnerships, and collaborators, whilst utilising the best methods to market, cables clips’ first 50 years will just be the start of its exciting business story.
Collaboration is the key to growth
Whether it’s building networks across industries, leveraging association benefits and connections, developing the next generation of engineers, or expanding capability and service; collaboration is the key to getting there efficiently and effectively.
Since the pandemic, there’s been no better time to focus on collaboration. Collaboration gets things done and gets things done quicker. Collective voices, sharing resources and sharing knowledge leads to benefits everywhere and if UK manufacturers are serious about the UK becoming the epicentre of manufacturing expertise, then they’ll be serious about working together.
Thanks to great inventors like Joseph Adrien Letière Petit, Brandauer will always appreciate the importance of being close to innovative industries and minds, because the opportunity for collaboration can open all sorts of doors. In the next and final networking and collaboration blog instalment, attention will turn towards the opportunities presenting themselves thanks to networking with quality training providers and academia.
