______________________________________________________________________________________________ The
Perry Group
HARDWARE with heart
Celebrating its 100th year, The Perry Group credits its success to agility, family, and foresight
Established in 1925, The Perry Group is a global manufacturer of hardware, equestrian, and industrial components. Based in the heart of the West Midlands, the company proudly remains a family-owned operation. As Guy Perry, Managing Director, begins:“ This year will be our 100th anniversary, which is quite an achievement for everyone involved. The company has been in our family since it was founded, so it’ s a big part of my personal heritage. We’ re now on our fourth generation of leadership, starting with my grandfather Arther Perry, who passed The Perry Group onto my father, Cliff, and my uncle, Ernie.
“ I came into the business several years later, after Ernie’ s son-in-law, Alan Dunnaker, joined. My two sons, as well as Alan’ s son, are now working with us, and it hopefully won’ t be long before we’ re on our fifth generation. It’ s important that we maintain the family legacy- we’ ve successfully passed it down from father to son for a full century, and I’ d like to see that tradition live on.
“ Chris, my eldest son, runs our operational side of things as Operations Director, whilst my youngest, Steven, heads up our Marketing division, and Alan’ s son, Ian, leads our sales team as Commercial Director. It’ s very rewarding to see them build a career within the business and do what they do best.”
Being a family owned and operated business provides The Perry Group with a unique competitive edge, as Steven Perry, Marketing Director, discusses:“ Sometimes it can be hard to keep business and family separate, especially when we all work together. But I mostly view it as an asset. We’ re able to discuss things more openly, we’ re very familiar with one another’ s strengths, and we’ re used to operating as a team. Everyone knows how the others think, and it makes for a well-oiled machine.“ At the same time, we try not to make it personal. If there are debates or disagreements, we handle everything professionally. It’ s all about balance. Working together as a family makes us strong in a lot of ways, we try to draw on those elements, while keeping the more challenging aspects of running a business to the board room. We don’ t bring work home with us.”
“ I agree. Everyone has a part to play, it’ s not about us as individuals, the business is bigger than that. It’ s about maintaining our success, supporting the needs of the company, and working together above all else,” adds Guy. On the eve of The Perry Group’ s centennial anniversary, Guy looks back on the company’ s long legacy:“ We’ ve been in manufacturing since the very beginning. I started off as an apprentice
manufacturing-today. com 199