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History of T&J - timeline

T&J Installations was founded in 1984 by drinks dispense engineers, Derek Jones and co-founder Ken Taylor - as a technical services provider for the drinks industry.

Drinks dispense engineer, Derek created the company, having been made redundant from his job as a brewery technician at Scottish & Newcastle Brewery, when it closed the department he worked in. Co-founder, Ken Taylor, had been a friend and colleague of his at the brewery. With the Jones family today dominating the company’s management team, many ask where the ‘T’ in the company name comes from – the answer is, it comes from Ken.

T&J’s beginnings were very different from where the company now finds itself, as a national employer of 100 staff, but we’re proud of the journey and never fail to remember where we came from.

West Bromich High Street

West Bromwich High Steet in the 1980s. Image credit, Express & Star.

1984 - 1994

The company starts in co-founder Ken Taylor’s garage in West Bromwich, with a team of just two – Derek and Ken. T&J’s first clients were Bass Brewers and Wolverhampton & Dudley Brewery – now known as Marstons, who remain a client to this day.

From there, Derek and Ken decided to move the company to a more professional setting, taking a small industrial unit at Bacon’s End Island, Birmingham. These units were designed for small, start-up businesses and it was from there that T&J slowly started to develop and grow.

In its first decade, T&J developed its core service through its work for Bass Brewery, Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery, and Allied Brewery. Throughout this period, T&J was providing a regional service, focused almost exclusively on the Midlands.

1995 - 1999

In the mid-90s, T&J began to use service providers for some of its work for Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery, having been asked to manage small independents. This developed more so towards the end of the decade – through to the present day – with service providers mainly fulfilling obligations in the southern coastal areas of the country.

2000

As the company grew, T&J needed to move into larger accommodation, taking space at Elmdon Trading Estate, close to Birmingham Airport.

Coinciding with this move, T&J purchased its first fleet of vans. The 16, T&J-branded, Citroen Berlingos helped to increase the company’s reach and its ability to provide a responsive service to all client requirements.

Along with new clients Cobra Beers and Kingfisher Lager, T&J branched out at this time into soft drinks dispense, which included new contracts with Coca Cola and Britvic – Britvic and T&J continue to have a working relationship to this day.

2002

T&J relocated to larger industrial premises, comprising 6,000 sq ft of warehouse facilities at Mackadown Lane, again close to Birmingham Airport. This facilitated a transition to the Kanban approach to supply chain services, a system which has since become an integral part of T&J’s operations and services.

2003

As T&J developed into a nationally operating company, with high demand for its services, it began taking space regionally – providing depots to strengthen service levels in key parts of the country. In this year, the Leicester depot was established, as the first of T&J’s regional depots.

2005

With the rapid growth of the business and its customer base now being exponential, T&J expanded to take the neighbouring industrial unit bringing the HQ to a total of 9,000 sq ft.

2007 - 2009

Depots in Wales and Manchester were established.

T&J HQ - timeline

2011

To both expand T&J’s headquarters and consolidate the operations of the Leicester depot, T&J moved into its current home at Riverside Industrial Estate, a central location in Fazeley in the West Midlands, providing 18,000 sq ft of warehouse and logistics space – a far cry from the garage T&J was started in 27 years earlier. The new base allows T&J to provide more logistics and supply chain services – increasingly in demand from T&J’s larger clients.

2015

North East depot established in Durham.

Today

"T&J has invested in IT systems that deliver increased support for our staff and clients. We embraced this technology ahead of time to bring new efficiencies and futureproof our ways of working.

"With products such as FastPour, tank beer and mobile bars, we have remained at the forefront of the technological innovations within the industry, which bring our clients increased efficiency in their operations and raise the quality of their products at the point of service."

Ian Jones, Managing Director

Units A&B, Riverside Industrial Estate, Atherstone Street, Fazeley, Tamworth B78 3RW
T: 0121 783 8925