Our History
The family led company with a proud UK heritage...1959
ROGER NEEDHAM BECOMES MAJOR DISTRIBUTOR
Roger Needham becomes the sole distributor for “Speedry Magic Markers” range. The company went from strength-to-strength and quickly grew to reach a national level.
1962
ROGER NEEDHAM & SONS LTD ESTABLISHED
Following the success of national distribution, in November 1962 Roger Needham & Sons Ltd was formally established. With its first offices based at 44 Green End, Whitchurch, Shropshire.
1971
RUBBER STAMP MANUFACTURE
In the early 1970’s, Roger Needham & Sons ventured into the rubber stamp industry, setting up a premises on Fountain Street, Manchester. Sadly, in the early 1990’s the premises was demolished and the business was moved to Salford. The Salford plant and rubber stamp manufacturing division was finally brought to a close in 2007.
1972
THE BRITINK® BRAND IS BORN
During the early 1970’s, having identified a niche in the market, The Needham Group became a fluids manufacturer in its own right and began developing the Britink range of industrial fluids. The Britink brand of industrial inks, markers and equipment expanded throughout the years. To this day, our Research and Development capabilities we continue to develop our Britink range, continuously formulating and producing innovative fluids to meet bespoke and traditional industrial applications.
1974
NEW OFFICES AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES
The company established the new company headquarters: The House of Needham, Alkington Road, Whitchurch. Closely followed by new manufacturing facilities in Prees, Shropshire. By the mid 70’s, Roger Needham & Sons Ltd and had become a well-know ink development company.
1982
INKJET & DOD MARKET
Following the company’s first foray into the inkjet market, as distributors for American brand of Drop-On-Demand (DOD) printer called “Little David”, laboratories & offices where setup in Ware, Hertfordshire to begin to research & develop new inks to support this emerging sector.
1991
DAVID NEEDHAM JOINS THE COMPANY
David Needham, Roger Needham’s son joins the company after a career as a fast-jet pilot in the Royal Air Force.
1999
ROGER NEEDHAM PASSES AWAY
Roger Needham sadly passes away. Leaving his son, David Needham, to take over the business.
2001
NEW PREMISES, WAYMILLS INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
The Alkington Road offices and Prees facility are sold and the company moves to its new (current headquarters) premises on Waymills Industrial Estate.
2001
TRADING AS “THE NEEDHAM GROUP”
The company begins to trade as “The Needham Group”. The reason behind this move was to create an overseeing body which possessed more specialist divisions so as they could individually focus on separate market sectors such as inks, coding and similar.
2004
CITRONIX CONTINUOUS INKJET PRINTERS
The Needham Group becomes the exclusive UK and Ireland distributors for Citronix. A prestigious brand of Continuous Ink Jet printer, found today in 1000’s of facilities in almost every country in the world.
2005
MACSA LASER
Having had much success and establishing a comprehensive installed base of Citronix customers, we were approached by Macsa Laser of Spain and consequently, in April 2005 were appointed UK and Ireland distributor for Macsa Laser. These laser coding systems are used throughout industry to mark everything from plastics to automotive parts.
2006
SIMPLY SPRAY
The Needham Group becomes the exclusive European distributor for Simply Spray, a revolutionary spray-able fabric paint. Developed in the USA, this unique and patented product had been successfully marketed in a number of countries, most notably the USA, Australia and in Asia, where it gained sales in excess of 2 million units per year. This seemed a natural extension to The Needham Group’s activities, having had media and TV attention, this is an area that continues to grow in tandem with public awareness.
2014
LASER MARKING SYSTEMS
Owing to the growth of laser technology, Needham Coding is appointed as exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for the Tykma Electrox range of lasers.
2014
NEEDHAM INKS LTD & NEEDHAM CODING LTD
In-line with The Needham Group’s ethos, the two primary divisions are made fully independent trading bodies. Needham Inks Limited and Needham Coding Limited are born.
2019
NEEDHAM LASER TECHNOLOGIES LTD
Utilising decades of experience within the laser technology space, Needham Laser Technologies Ltd is born and shifts its focus to manufacturing a range of British-made high quality laser marking machines.