Stanley Security Solutions

The History of Stanley Security Solutions- Europe

You do not need to delve deep into our history to find that Stanley Security Solutions-Europe (previously Blick®) has always been a forward-looking organisation. From the company's formation to the present day, we have succeeded in competitive marketplaces by introducing the latest advances ahead of our competitors.

Our clear strategic vision is one of continuous improvement developing and improving our product range; bringing new products to market in the shortest possible time, and supporting our customers with the highest standards of service.

In spite of its unusual name, Blick was founded in 1922 in the UK. Its name is from the Blickensderfer typewriter after its inventor who produced these machines towards the end of the 19th century in Pennsylvania, USA and sold in the UK by the Blick Typewriter Co Ltd. A later association with National Time Recorders Ltd led to the establishment of Blick National selling time recorders which was the start of our time and attendance products in the UK.

Innovation and customer focus...the foundations are laid

As far back as 1932 the directors of Blick were working with large influential customers to develop new and innovative time recording equipment. King George V is pictured ‘clocking on' using one of our early time recorders

Over the next twenty years the company grew to become the largest time recorder company in the United Kingdom.

The Amano® Partnership

In 1969 Blick was appointed the United Kingdom distributor for the Amano Corporation of Japan. Amano's products were technologically superior to equivalent machines being sold in the United Kingdom at that time. This was a significant landmark in Blick's history, as from that point on the company was able to phase out the old time and attendance products and replace them with more modern and reliable time recorders.

Overseas operations

In 1994 the Blick Group had acquired a small company in France, called Databip, selling radio paging and nurse call products and to this day continues to trade in these sectors as Blick France. Then in November 1993 Blick seized the opportunity of expanding business into another continent by acquiring TRS (Pty) Ltd in South Africa, a company which had become well known to Blick as a result of the major Mercury Time and Security acquisition.

Today it is called Blick South Africa (Pty) Ltd specialists in supplying time management and security products to many blue chip companies in South Africa.

Growth continues

Blick plc acquired by The Stanley Works

In January 2004 Blick plc was acquired by The Stanley Works, an S&P 500 company and  worldwide supplier of tools , hardware and security solutions. With annual revenue of $3 billion, our Group has extensive strengths and resources, operating in 131 locations worldwide, with nearly 1500 employees and 50,000 products.

We are part of an integrated team of specialised businesses that make up the Stanley Security Solutions Group with more than 100,000 customers, 3,000 employees and 50 divisional offices. 

With its Swindon association now over 30 years old, the company continues to concentrate its efforts on the core product areas of security and access control, on site communications systems and of course time and attendance, with sophisticated, computerised HR and payroll-linked machines that bear little resemblance to the time clocks of yesteryear.

Under our new name Stanley Security Solutions we will continue to bring new technologies to the market place, offering innovative solutions to the day-to-day business problems of managing people in their working environment.

In closing, we would like to pass on its thanks; both to its current staff and to those who helped make the company what it is today. Throughout our history the core values of the Group have remained very much the same: quality, customer service and innovation.