Author(s): Antony Simpson

Australiana

From 1853 to the early 1900s Alfred Simpson and his son Alfred Muller built a highly successful metal working business in Adelaide, South Australia.But the world was changing and was less favourable towards the third generation, Allen and Fred, whose reluctance to keep up with innovations both in management and production put the Firm at risk. Consequently, the fourth generation inherited a company that was ill-equipped to face competition and the challenges of the Second World War. Allen's two older sons, Moxon and Bob, and Fred's sons, Tom and John, faced these threats down and set about reshaping the business into a large and successful whitegoods manufacturer. The story concludes in 1986 with the sale of the business to EMAIL Pty Ltd. Several important themes wind through the book, describing the challenges faced by Australian manufacturers during the last century and the Firm's response to them: two world wars, The Great Depression, ill-conceived government policies and hostile unions. But the greatest story is of the Firm's rise to all of these challenges and its survival in family hands for 133 years spanning five generations and provided within these pages are insights into how this was achieved.