Brosna is Established as a Family Business
Brosna Furniture Components started trading in 1990 in Kirkdale, Liverpool by the current owner and was effectively a one man business. The company began selling high quality furniture components to small manufacturers in the local area and soon became renowned as THE trade counter Liverpool. Initially the company focused on selling hinges and drawer systems by the top quality Austrian manufacturer Blum and soon after became the sole distributor Blum components in the Liverpool area. The company grew in the first year by employing family members to assist in the ever increasing workload and was soon able to start supplying much larger manufacturers in the area.
In the first 3 years of trading Brosna was seeing increasing demand from its customers to start supplying more products to complement the existing range of components. Responding to this demand the company developed strong links with suppliers and was able to start selling a small range of made to measure vinyl foil kitchen and bedroom doors.
This new range of products was later extended to include finishing trims such as plinths, cornices and pelmets all to the high quality standards and competitive pricing that Brosna customers had come to expect.
The Brosna customer base was also widening and now included small retailers and DIY enthusiasts who were working on their own homes.
Through the continual expansion of the product range and services offered by the business soon grew too large for their premises in Taud Street, Kirkdale and it was time to move. Wanting to keep the business in roughly the same area the owners were delighted when a 10,000 sq ft manufacturing and office unit became vacant just 100 yards from the original office.
The new premises came just at the right time as the company was now extending its product lines even further and the extra space allowed Brosna start holding large stocks of doors and cutting edge melamine board. This meant that Brosna could now start to supply kitchen and bedroom manufacturers with made to measure and off the shelf products for delivery or collection in much quicker lead times.
With the new premises came the requirement for more staff and the company soon recruited a warehouseman growing the Brosna team to three full time staff.
Brosna had always grown by providing the products and services that it customers were asking for and in 1998 the demand was for a showroom that housed a large range of kitchen and bedroom displays. The company responded by creating its first purpose built showroom finished to a very high specification and including appliances, hinges, drawer systems and finishes that the now offered.
12 displays were initially created and the units and components were and still are updated on a regular basis to show new ranges and changing trends. The showroom always displays a cross section of classic, modern, traditional and solid wood finishes in various combinations.
Around the turn of the century saw the company purchase its first vehicle and recruit a dedicated driver. This allowed Brosna to provide a more complete service to its customers and deliver the products directly to the point of installation.
The range expanded once again and the company began to sell various ranges of sinks by Astracast. These award winning and innovative sinks became very popular and the management made plans to extend the ranges and supply from more manufacturers.
1999 saw Brosna Furniture Components become a limited company as part of their medium term strategy.
The longer term goal for the business at this time was to become a "One Stop Shop" for all furniture, appliances and accessories for kitchens and bedrooms. As part of this strategy the company began selling its first range of appliances.
The group began sourcing and supplying the range of high quality appliances by the Italian manufacturer Nardi. This range of appliances was chosen because of their sleek innovative design coupled with their cost effectiveness making them ideal trade appliances.
Sales of appliances took off immediately and the Nardi range were a big hit with customers.
2003 was a big year for Brosna as they started to distribute made to measure cabinets allowing customers to now purchase complete kitchen and bedroom furniture sets.
In the same year the company recruited an experienced surveyor into the business allowing the company to offer an accurate measuring up survey at the customers home. This allowed Brosna to provide help and advice on the design of the kitchen, provide an accurate parts list and manufacture the furniture to the usual Brosna high standards. This new surveyor took the Brosna workforce up to seven with plans for further recruitment in the near future.
This year also saw the creation of first Brosna brochure offering the new Kildare Collection – a large range of kitchen and bedroom furniture unique to the company.
The same busy year for the company saw the launch of the first Brosna website. A modest site by today's standards but a huge success nonetheless.
As the growth in the business continued the customer base expanded and with it came more demand. One of these demands was to offer a 3D visualisation of the kitchen and bedroom designs.
Brosna had the ideal foundation for this with their free on site professional measuring and survey service and to extend this the company invested in high end 3D Visualisation Software including new hardware and extensive training.
This new service was a major breakthrough for the company as it allowed customers to play a bigger part in the design of the new kitchen or bedroom and once again the company extended the "One Stop Shop" concept offering a complete end to end service for its customers.
The new services on offer to the growing customer base placed huge demands on the manufacturing side of the business and in 2006 saw huge investment in both equipment and infrastructure.
The factory space was reorganised and a new mezzanine floor was constructed to separate warehousing from manufacturing and instantly created 75% increase in floor space. This extra space allowed the company to invest in new manufacturing machinery such as a large high capacity edge bander and a precision panel saw both providing a level of finish of the highest quality available in the industry.
With the expansion of the factory unit and equipment the company also recruited three new staff members to join the skilled craftsmen in the workforce.
The new manufacturing capacity led by greater customer demand then put pressure on the delivery team and with a single vehicle there simply were not enough hours in the day to meet all of the customers delivery times.
Brosna then invested in a second vehicle in order to double the delivery capacity, reduce deliver times and exceed customer expectations. Another member of staff was recruited as a driver/warehouseman extending the workforce to 11 full time staff.
This year also saw the creation and launch of the second Brosna brochure and catalogue which included a larger more extensive range of finishes, trims, accessories and appliances with professionally shot showroom visuals.
Brosna has always been driven by customer service and customer demand and with the growth in the business due improved services, more effective marketing and a unique business model the company experienced unprecedented sales.
In order to improve lead times for customers the company made one of its biggest investments to date by purchasing a high end CNC Machining Centre from Biesse the world leader in the industry.
This state of the art equipment not only increased manufacturing efficiency but also provided extreme accuracy and the flexibility to create more complex designs and work with a greater variety of materials. These improvements led to a reduction in customer lead times and a more competitive pricing model due to reduced waste.
Again, with the new machinery came new staff and the company recruited two more full time experienced manufacturing staff.
Now that the company had its CNC machine centre up and running the manufacturing process was much more efficient but it was now time to integrate it with the front of house CAD software.
The software that was currently being used to create the plans and visualisations for the customer was improved to allow fulbrosna_kitchens_and_bedrooms_liverpool_autocad_02l integration with the CNC machine, this ultimately led to a more efficient and more accurate programming process.
The new software suite allows the operators to translate the customer designs into highly accurate machining templates that can be viewed and modified. These templates are then sent to the CNC machine ready for manufacture. This same year saw the purchase of a new professional wrapping machine that can wrap any size products including fully built cabinets. Brosna can reassure customers that their new furniture can be delivered or collected safely wrapped for transit.
In an effort to stay ahead of the competition in relation to build and finish quality the company upgraded the Edge Bander machine. The major upgrades including a pre-milling feature which provides industry leading clean edge quality that finishes the product to an exceptional standard.
The upgraded Edge Bander also allowed the company to offer the thicker 2mm edging which is another industry leading feature that resulted in the creation of a completely new range of cabinet doors and office furniture.
This year saw the company improve its operations infrastructure to support the sales and manufacturing arms of the business. A completely new IT infrastructure was invested in that brought the computer hardware and software up to date. This was backed up by dedicated IT support to identify and repair issues quickly to maintain the smooth operation of the company as a whole.
Brosna Furniture Components has never been shy to invest in new technologies and innovations over the years and 2011 saw the company invest in a new, feature rich website, virtual tour and trade counter news system.
The new website brought the company's web presence up to date and in line with the corporate branding whilst providing a wealth of new features such as an online product catalogue, a news and blog system and an amazing modern design.
A state of the art virtual tour was commissioned to provide a fully immersive 360° visual experience that allows website visitors to view the trade counter, factory and showrooms as if they were there for real. The virtual tour offers a unique experience to users with an easy to use navigation system including thumbnail icons and integrated hotspots resulting in an intuitive and exciting view of the company and its facilities.
A large widescreen monitor was later installed in the trade counter and a bespoke software application was developed that utilised visuals from the virtual tour and a news ticker system to provide an interesting viewing experience to customers who visit the company.
2012 has been a big year for Brosna with massive investment in the premises, expanding into new marketing technologies and launching the new brochure.
During the summer the trade counter was given a complete redesign and refurbishment and the new layout is dramatically improved. From the front door right through the trade counter and up to the showrooms is completely new and is designed to accommodate all of our customers and make their visit more enjoyable and rewarding.
New features and facilities include larger trade counter with new displays of accessories, automatic doors and a stairlift that can take our less mobile customers up to the showrooms.
In march 2012 Brosna comissioned a new virtual tour that was shot by Google. As part of the Google Business Photos service the virtual tour, which uses Streetview Technology, is displayed right in the Google listings and has proved to be a great marketing tool.
As if 2012 hadn't been a busy enough year Brosna also launched the new 2013/2014 Kildare brochure which is the biggest yet. It includes new ranges of Franke sinks, new ranges of Bosch appliances, new kitchen designs and finishes and much more.
2016 saw the development and launch of the a new customer porta at Brosna. This new service will allows customers to login to their own account, view the status of their orders and the individual items, print invoices and quotations and send messages to the Brosna team all from a simple online interface.
The portal allows users to configure both email and text message alerts to acknowledge new orders and alert you when they are allocated and ready for collection/delivery. Once again Brosna is breaking new ground in the industry by improving communication and customer service through this unique online customer portal.
In addition to the new portal, further investment was seen in the showroom in Kirkdale with 2 new displays that help to ensure it stays in keeping with trends in kitchens designs and colours and with customers needs.
2017 saw more investment in machinery Brosna with the purchase of a new machine for the factory, a Homag KTD 720 Optimat, that is used for the gluing of straight edges and irregularly shaped cabinets.
This state of the art machine was purchased to allow Brosna to cater for the ever-increasing shaped cabinet trends that we now manufacture. It offers an efficient and accurate method to edge cabinets with complex shapes ensuring a quality finish for all designs.
At the time of going to press the website is being extended to offer and online catalogue of products to accompany the traditional printed catalogue. Watch this space for more information!
Back in 2008 Brosna invested in a (then) state of the art, high end CNC Machining Centre from Biesse, the world leader in the industry. This allowed the company to offer increased manufacturing throughput, greater accuracy and the ability to create more complex designs and work with a wider variety of materials.