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Tony Jones has made his money by fixing things. This includes - where necessary - changing his business model to cope with a "dying" UK industrial manufacturing scene.

The West Midlands-based mechanical engineering graduate carved a lucrative niche in the 1990s with Advanced Total Services (ATS), a business that repaired the electronics on industrial machinery.

He eventually sold ATS for £4m in 1998 but was soon tempted by some former colleagues to have another crack, creating a bigger better rival to his original company.

"I was going to do something different - set up a computer support company - but we had the money, we knew the market and most importantly we had the key personnel," he recalls.

This is not to say that Mr Jones believed he had got everything right first time round. The business he created, Lektronix, would be in the same market as ATS but with the goal of expanding faster by tweaking the business model.

For instance, ATS had set up eight offices dotted across the UK to provide local people near to factories. With Lektronix, Mr Jones chose to operate from just three sites and focus on the larger manufacturers.

As a result, Lektronix generated the same volume of sales as ATS with a third of the number of customers and significantly less fixed operating costs.

With a 15,000 sq ft headquarters in Aldridge, in the West Midlands, and a large sales team, Mr Jones and his co-director Brian Stewart faced significant start-up costs getting Lektronix off the ground.

They received backing from West Midlands support agency Mustard.uk.com, and small business development grant funding, but still had to put in £300,000 of their own money to get going.

"Things were tough at the beginning but I think the investment in sales was key," Mr Jones recalls. "ATS took seven years to get to the position Lektronix has reached in three."

Lektronix faced two big challenges. Firstly, it had created its own competition in the form of the new owners of ATS. It was also dealing with a declining customer base as increasing numbers of British manufacturers either shut up shop or moved operations abroad.

"Industrial manufacturing in the UK is dying," Mr Jones says. "We had a choice between slowly going bust or to head off for foreign shores quickly."

Overseas expansion was attractive, not least because in many markets Lektronix could see no competition. "The sort of thing we do is relatively unique to the UK and US."

The main problem was Mr Jones's lack of experience in international expansion. The furthest he had taken Lektronix across water up until that point was to set up the Northern Ireland office.

Mr Jones sought the help of UK Trade and Invest, the government support agency for exporters, who put him in touch with employment agencies, legal firms and other organisations in his first target market, the Czech Republic. In the end, however, he found the best way to gauge the market was to get on a plane and visit potential customers.

Mr Jones initially spent three days visiting 20 companies. His first local appointment turned out to be one of his cab drivers on the trip, who had a background in sales.

The rest of the Czech team were found through a local employment agency, run by a Briton. Having the support of a compatriot helped enormously, according to Mr Jones, not least because he had only a limited knowledge of the Czech language.

The most difficult part was taking the first step, according to Mr Jones. "Once you commit to doing it, you will meet people who know people who can help."

Having successfully set up in eastern Europe, Mr Jones quickly moved to create an operation in Dubai.

This created different challenges, not least because it took him outside the EU. But once again a good initial appointment, in this case another ex-pat Briton to be managing director, proved invaluable.

One of the main problems in Dubai is finding skilled workers, but the MD's wife was Anglo Indian and had links with an employment agency in Bangalore that was able to supply the kind of staff Lektronix needed.

The cost of employing a person in the Czech Republic or Dubai are a fraction of an equivalent worker in the UK, but Mr Jones believes that his foreign expansion will still add jobs at his British sites.

"It is all about available skills and at Aldridge we have engineers with 10, 12, 15 years of experience."

In markets such as Spain, which was the third country Lektronix expanded into, it is no cheaper to get the work done locally than in the UK.

Mr Jones feels the opportunity to bring more work to the UK will increase with international expansion.

"If you increase the speed of expansion then the volume of work coming back to the UK will increase," he says.

He might not be confident about the future of British manufacturing but Mr Jones believes he can find enough work worldwide to support his West Midlands base.

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

Báo chí toàn cầu chất lượng cao đòi hỏi đầu tư. Xin vui lòng chia sẻ bài này với người khác bằng cách sử dụng liên kết dưới đây, không cắt và dán bài viết. Xem Ts & Cs và chính sách bản quyền của chúng tôi để biết thêm chi tiết. Gửi email [e-mail] để mua thêm quyền. http://www.ft.com/CMS/s/0/9029af56-299e-11db-9dcc-0000779e2340.html#ixzz3wXLDe1XeTony Jones đã làm cho tiền của mình bằng cách sửa chữa những điều. Điều này bao gồm - trường hợp cần thiết - thay đổi mô hình kinh doanh của mình để đối phó với một "chết" UK công nghiệp sản xuất cảnh.Sinh viên tốt nghiệp kỹ sư cơ khí dựa trên West Midlands khắc một thích hợp sinh lợi trong thập niên 1990 với nâng cao tất cả dịch vụ (ATS), một doanh nghiệp sửa chữa điện tử trên máy móc công nghiệp.Ông cuối cùng được bán ATS cho £4m vào năm 1998 nhưng sớm bị cám dỗ bởi một số đồng nghiệp cũ để có một vết nứt, tạo ra một đối thủ lớn hơn tốt hơn để công ty ban đầu của ông."Tôi sẽ làm một cái gì đó khác nhau - thiết lập một công ty hỗ trợ máy tính - nhưng chúng tôi có tiền, chúng tôi biết thị trường và quan trọng nhất chúng tôi có các nhân viên chủ chốt," ông nhớ lại.Điều này là không phải để nói rằng ông Jones tin rằng ông đã có tất cả mọi thứ ngay lần đầu tiên vòng. Kinh doanh ông đã tạo ra, Lektronix, sẽ trong cùng một thị trường như ATS nhưng với mục đích mở rộng nhanh hơn bằng cách tinh chỉnh mô hình kinh doanh.Ví dụ, ATS đã thiết lập văn phòng tám rải rác trên toàn Vương Quốc Anh để cung cấp cho người dân địa phương gần nhà máy. Với Lektronix, ông Jones đã chọn để hoạt động từ các trang web chỉ là ba và tập trung vào các nhà sản xuất lớn hơn.As a result, Lektronix generated the same volume of sales as ATS with a third of the number of customers and significantly less fixed operating costs.With a 15,000 sq ft headquarters in Aldridge, in the West Midlands, and a large sales team, Mr Jones and his co-director Brian Stewart faced significant start-up costs getting Lektronix off the ground.They received backing from West Midlands support agency Mustard.uk.com, and small business development grant funding, but still had to put in £300,000 of their own money to get going."Things were tough at the beginning but I think the investment in sales was key," Mr Jones recalls. "ATS took seven years to get to the position Lektronix has reached in three."Lektronix faced two big challenges. Firstly, it had created its own competition in the form of the new owners of ATS. It was also dealing with a declining customer base as increasing numbers of British manufacturers either shut up shop or moved operations abroad."Industrial manufacturing in the UK is dying," Mr Jones says. "We had a choice between slowly going bust or to head off for foreign shores quickly."Overseas expansion was attractive, not least because in many markets Lektronix could see no competition. "The sort of thing we do is relatively unique to the UK and US."The main problem was Mr Jones's lack of experience in international expansion. The furthest he had taken Lektronix across water up until that point was to set up the Northern Ireland office.Mr Jones sought the help of UK Trade and Invest, the government support agency for exporters, who put him in touch with employment agencies, legal firms and other organisations in his first target market, the Czech Republic. In the end, however, he found the best way to gauge the market was to get on a plane and visit potential customers.Mr Jones initially spent three days visiting 20 companies. His first local appointment turned out to be one of his cab drivers on the trip, who had a background in sales.The rest of the Czech team were found through a local employment agency, run by a Briton. Having the support of a compatriot helped enormously, according to Mr Jones, not least because he had only a limited knowledge of the Czech language.The most difficult part was taking the first step, according to Mr Jones. "Once you commit to doing it, you will meet people who know people who can help."Having successfully set up in eastern Europe, Mr Jones quickly moved to create an operation in Dubai.This created different challenges, not least because it took him outside the EU. But once again a good initial appointment, in this case another ex-pat Briton to be managing director, proved invaluable.One of the main problems in Dubai is finding skilled workers, but the MD's wife was Anglo Indian and had links with an employment agency in Bangalore that was able to supply the kind of staff Lektronix needed.The cost of employing a person in the Czech Republic or Dubai are a fraction of an equivalent worker in the UK, but Mr Jones believes that his foreign expansion will still add jobs at his British sites."It is all about available skills and at Aldridge we have engineers with 10, 12, 15 years of experience."In markets such as Spain, which was the third country Lektronix expanded into, it is no cheaper to get the work done locally than in the UK.Mr Jones feels the opportunity to bring more work to the UK will increase with international expansion."If you increase the speed of expansion then the volume of work coming back to the UK will increase," he says.He might not be confident about the future of British manufacturing but Mr Jones believes he can find enough work worldwide to support his West Midlands base.