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 Logo since 1982 | |
 Brother Industries headquarters | |
Native name | ブラザー工業株式会社 |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Burazā Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha |
| Company type | Public |
| TYO:6448 | |
| Industry | Printers,machinery |
| Founded | 1908; 117 years ago (1908) (as Yasui Sewing Machine Co.) |
| Founder | Kanekichi Yasui |
| Headquarters | Nagoya,Aichi,Japan |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Toshikazu Koike [jp] (Chairman) Ichiro Sasaki [jp] (President) |
| Products | Computer printers Multi-function printers Desktop computers Fax machines Industrial sewing machines Typewriters Knitting machines Domestic appliances Machine tools |
| Revenue |  ¥876.56 billion (2024)[1] |
| ¥69.89 billion (2024)[1] | |
| ¥54.79 billion (2024)[1] | |
| Total assets | ¥932.65 billion (2024)[1] |
| Total equity | ¥691.47 billion (2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 42,801 (2024)[1] |
| Website | global |
Brother Industries, Ltd.(stylized in lowercase) (Japanese:ブラザー工業株式会社,Hepburn:Burazā KōgyōKabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanesemultinationalelectronics and electrical equipment company headquartered inNagoya,Japan. Its products includeprinters,multifunction printers,desktop computers, consumer and industrialsewing machines, largemachine tools,label printers,typewriters,fax machines, and other computer-related electronics.[2] Brother distributes its products both under its own name and underOEM agreements with other companies.
Brother's history began in 1908 when it was originally called Yasui Sewing Machine Co inNagoya, Japan.[3] The company name derives from an early sewing machine model, the Brother, which itself was named for the Yasui brothers, Masayoshi and Jitsuichi.[4] In 1954 it entered the home and studioknitting machine market.[5] In 1955, Brother International Corporation (US) was established as their first overseas sales affiliate. In 1958 a European regional sales company was established inDublin. The corporate name was changed to Brother Industries, Ltd. in 1962. Brother entered the printer market during its long association withCentronics.[6]
In 1968, the company moved its UK headquarters toAudenshaw,Manchester, after acquiring theJones Sewing Machine Company, a long-established British sewing machine maker.[7]
In March 2005, "Brother Communication Space" (now theBrother Museum), a corporate museum that also serves as a public relations facility, opened in Nagoya.
In December 2011, Brother diversified its offerings by acquiringNefsis, an innovator in web-based remote collaboration and conferencing software.[8]
Brother competed heavily in the worldwide typewriter market, initially with its personal manual typewriters from its Nagoya factory and later with its own factories abroad (e.g., UK, USA), competing with brands that had dominated the international typewriter market—including with Japan'sSilver Seiko Ltd. and others. In the 1960s and 1970s, Brother, along with Japanese companies Silver Seiko and Nakajima, were frequent targets ofantidumping campaigns in the United States and Europe—for their low-priced manual typewriters.[9] In November 2012, Brother announced that it had built the last UK-made typewriter at its north Wales factory. It had made 5.9 million typewriters in its Wrexham factory since it opened in 1985. Brother donated the last machine to London's Science Museum.[10]
In September 2022, Brother celebrated a production milestone of 70 million home sewing machines made since mass production started in 1932.[11]
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 fourth-largest company under the Brother Industries Ltd umbrella of organisations.
Brother Industries manufactures mechanical sewing machines inZhuhai,China and computerised sewing and embroidery machines inTaiwan. A new sewingmachine factory was opened in 2012 inĐồng Nai province, Vietnam, which is the largest single-brand sewing machine factory in the world.[12]
In September 2012, Brother Industries manufactured their 50 millionth home sewing machine.[3][13]
In May 2017, Brother Industries manufactured their 60 millionth home sewing machine.
In 1908, Kanekichi Yasui establishedYasui Sewing and Co. that provided repair services and parts for sewing machines. Meanwhile, Masayoshi Yasui inherited his company and renamed it toYasui Brothers' Sewing Machine Co.[14]
In 1928, the company's first product was a chain stitch sewing machine capable of producing straw hats. The machine was popular for its durability compared toGerman machines at the time.
They introduced and began mass production of home sewing machines in 1932, when Jitsuichi Yasui, Masayoshi's younger brother and co-founder of their company, succeeded in developing shuttle hooks.
In 1934, they were renamedNippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Co. which they subsequently manufacture industrial sewing machines in 1936.
Their 200 HA-1 domestic straight stitching sewing machines were exported toShanghai, being requested by theJapanese government.
In 1979, they introduced and manufactured their first computerised sewing machine called ZZ3-B820 "Opus 8".[15]
They started making commercial/multi needle sewing machines in 2003 with the introduction of thePR-600. 2010 marked their introduction of PC design and editingsoftware on their sewing/embroidery machines (Innov-is I) called PE-Design.
In 2013, they introduced a home cutting machine named theCM550DX.
For the Japanese market, Brother introduced a sewing andembroidery combination machine calledParie in 2017.[16]
On 7 August 2018, Brother officially revealed their new 2019 sewing machine product lineup[17] at their Back To Business Dealer Conference held annually in Orlando, Florida to commemorate Brother's 100th anniversary since its inception in 1908. The newest top-of-the-line Brother sewing/embroidery/quilting machine is the Luminaire Innov-ìs XP-1. It features StitchVision technology, which uses light projections to virtually preview a stitch accurately and precisely, as well as a 10.6" by 16" maximum embroidery area.[18]
Brother diversified into manufacturing printers,label printers, MFCs, garment printers,music sequencers, manufacturing/machine tools, Joysound karaokes in the 1960s andcalculators[19] in the 1970s.
By 2025, Brother produced some of the best (as determined byConsumer Reports)inkjet andlaser printers on the market.[20]
Brother Industries, for an unknown period of time, produced many differentword processor machines,[21] but there is hardly any information backed up online regarding these products.[citation needed]
Brother sponsoredManchester City Football Club from 1987 until 1999, which is one of the longest unbroken sponsorship deals of any English football club.[3]
Brother launched their first integrated, pan-European advertising campaign in Autumn 2010 for their A3 printer range. Titled'141%', referring to the ratio between paper sizes A3 and A4.
In 2019 Brother's UK subsidiary became co-sponsor of theVitus Pro Cycling Team, with the team's name officially becoming "Vitus Pro Cycling Team, Powered By Brother UK".[22]
In 2019, Brother announced their co-sponsorship of the Japan Pavilion at theExpo 2020 inUAE.[23]
In 2024, Brother sponsored WorldSkills Lyon 2024.[24]
Overseas headquarters are located in the following countries.
In 2017, Brother donated US$50,000 to theAmerican Red Cross in response to damage caused byHurricane Harvey.[25]
In 2018, Brother donated ¥100 million towards relief efforts following the2018 Indonesia earthquake.
In 2021, Brother Industries donated €110,000 to theGerman Red Cross and other organisations in response to damage caused by the2021 European floods, while Brother International (Belgium) donated €10,000 to theBelgian Red Cross.[26]
In 2022, Brother donated €500,000 toUNHCR to support its humanitarian relief efforts inUkraine and neighboring countries.[27] Later that year, Brother donated ¥2,000,000 to the non-profit organisation Japan Platform in response to the2022 Pakistan Floods.[28]
In 2023, Brother donated ¥2 million to the non-profit corporationDoctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to support people affected by the2023 Afghanistan earthquake.[29]
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