The distributor Mayflex has a milestone this year; its 100th anniversary. The company was founded on March 17, 1917 as Mayall & Co, as a distributor of Swan kettles by John William Mayall and stayed in the family for three generations.
The Mayflex brand name was introduced in 1985 and became the name of the company shortly after. Around this time the company entered the communication cables market launching a range of coax, voice and RS232 cables. This new venture went into the developing network cabling; copper twisted pair and fibre optic cables.
In January 1997, Mayflex introduced the Excel brand, for the structured cabling and rack market. Since its launch Excel has grown to be sold in over 70 countries and holds the number one position in the UK, based on the volume sold. Mayflex has forged relationships industry vendors across the networking, infrastructure and security markets.
In April 2015 Mayflex was acquired by Sonepar, an independent family-owned company in B-to-B distribution of electrical products and related services. Sonepar has 20.2 billion euros of revenue and is represented by 245 entities operating in 44 countries on five continents.
Andrew Percival, Managing Director at Mayflex, pictured, says: “This important and exciting anniversary marks the longevity of our business and demonstrates our adaptability as market conditions and technology have evolved. Mayflex now employs 300 plus associates, from staff that have been in the business for 15, 20 even 30 years, along with newer recruits, bringing a great dynamic to the business. We are active across EMEA and will extend our reach further in the coming months. A huge thank you goes out to the teams across the business that strive day in day out to provide the best service possible to our customers.
“Our business continues to develop, our key financial measures are improving, customer numbers are growing and we are expanding our geographical reach and entering new vertical and technology markets. We continue to expand our Converged IP Solution, adding new vendors together with new products to the Excel range.
“Of course we could not have reached this milestone without the support of our loyal customer base, many of whom have worked with us for 20 plus years. As we’ve evolved our converged and cabling product offering, we hope that we’ve also helped our partners to develop their businesses too. I’m pleased to say that many of our customers have become great friends , we value these relationships far more than a simple thank you can express, We are extremely grateful for the support, loyalty and ongoing business given to us. We will continue to work hard to earn this in the future.
“Looking ahead we will maintain our investment in people, systems and technology. We have lots of ideas, growth and improvement opportunities. Times have certainly changed through our 100 years of trading, but there is one constant within Mayflex, ambition, this is alive and kicking within our business and will underpin our development over the years to come – we have enjoyed the past, but are excited about the future.”
For staff and customer events at intervals in 2017 marking the 100 years, look out for #Mayflex100years in social media. Visit www.mayflex.com.
