Managing Directors

Mike Danby – lead director for production, IT and sales.

Like many of the senior people at Advanced, Mike has spent his working life in the British clothing industry. He began in the business 27 years ago with a traditional apprenticeship, spending 10 years with the Burton Group and Damart, specialising in laboratory and quality management. Realising that garment production in the UK. was an industry in decline, Mike took the opportunity to accept the position of production manager with one of the UK’s first garment processors and was headhunted three successful years later to run Brentray Services Ltd (BSL) in 1992.

The facilities available at the firm’s premises in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, were basic but Mike still grew the business until it had reached its limits without further serious investment. The owners at the time felt unable to provide the funds and so Mike and partner Glyn Rogan, who had joined the business in 1995, organised a management buyout. The pair became joint managing directors and major shareholders of the renamed Advanced Processing and oversaw the company’s big move to much larger premises at Water Lane in Halifax.

Advanced has enjoyed rapid growth since the move, thus proving Mike’s strategic vision of the industry to be sound. His areas of competence within the company have seen Advanced differentiate itself from the competition by investing heavily in its processing facilities and in information technology. Advanced is now one of the most efficient and cost-effective processors in the UK and is an industry leader in IT and customer communications.

Glyn Rogan – lead director for finance, administration and transport

The one person in the upper echelons of Advanced not to come from a clothing industry background, Glyn’s strength in general managerial disciplines has enabled Advanced to grow rapidly while maintaining profitability. He began his career working in management with the Tetley Group but made a career switch in 1989 into transport as a contracts manager for TNT. Glyn moved to Comet’s Retail Spares Division in 1992 to run their warehousing operation and his grasp of detail was rewarded 12 months later when he was promoted to the role of National Distribution Manager (spares and repairs) for the electrical retailer.

A desire for more autonomy saw him make the switch to the small enterprise sector, joining BSL as finance director in 1995 before becoming joint managing director and major shareholder alongside Mike Danby two years later in their management buyout. Glyn’s financial acumen was much in evidence during Advanced’s early years, as efficient lending had to be coupled with tight cost control to ensure that the company generated sufficient returns for further investment.

Success on this front enabled Advanced to make a £2 million investment in setting up their state-of-the-art processing and warehousing facility at the Holmfield site in 2002. Glyn’s background in transport proved a huge advantage in the same year when Advanced entered the logistics business. This division has proved a great success, growing year on year to the point where it now accounts for 28 per cent of Advanced’s revenues.