Clearview National January 2018 - Issue 194 | Page 42

DOORS&WINDOWS
Door company
in charge of its
own destiny
» » IT WAS EARLY DAYS WHEN
DOORCO managing director Dan Sullivan
spotted the potential of importing GRP doors
into the UK. His skill at predicting what
customers want led to his company building
its own GRP composite door factory in South
Korea – not to mention doubling turnover
this year to over £18million.
DOORCO is the manufacturer of the
DOORCO composite door which is designed
exclusively for the UK market. The unique
designs and construction have made it a door
of choice within the retail, new build and
replacement housing construction sectors.
It’s not hard to see why DOORCO
is a force to be reckoned with when you
meet MD Dan Sullivan. His story is about
determination, refusal to compromise and a
talent for spotting opportunities. This year
has been a monumental year for his company.
It marks his journey from being a distributor
of the hugely popular Capstone door to
building a new manufacturing facility and
producing his own GRP composite door.
During our visit to the company’s UK
headquarters in Macclesfield, Dan led guests
on a tour of his 36,000 sq ft factory and
40,000 sq ft warehouse. Overall investments
of £758,000 have led to the business
achieving some of the fastest lead times in
the industry – not just on basic services like
next day delivery for slabs, but on painted
doors too.
The company has put in a second edge
bander and new beam saw which has allowed
it to increase volumes (up to 800 doors a
week) and reduce lead times for prepped door
customers. There is also a state of the art paint
plant. Senior production manager Matthew
Le Masurier explained: “Two years ago about
18% of our total sales were painted doors.
Today, that’s risen to well over 50% and the
product mix is likely to continue in favour of
painted doors.
“The overall investment in the production
line means we can concentrate on new
products while our ‘bread and butter’ products
are being managed at the same time.”
42 » JAN 2018 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
This year, most of the company’s growth
has come from acquiring new customers. MD
Dan said: “We have also introduced two new
door models as well as the expansion in the
production line, and have 28,000 to 30,000
door blanks at any one time. You might say
we are not the size of some other companies
but everything we have is all paid for – and
we don’t have a cast of thousands in terms of
shareholders. We have that control, and are in
charge of our own destiny. That gives us the
ability to change the business rapidly if we
need to.”
BUILDING THE BUSINESS
Originally from a retail background,
Dan was working for a door company in
Macclesfield when he saw the potential for
GRP doors in the UK. He recalled: “We had
managed to get sales up to a certain level but
our Achilles heel was external doors. Then
we discovered there was a GRP door that was
taking our business, and there was only one
brand saturating the UK market. At the time,
there was also a fall-off in timber and PVCu
panels.
“I was travelling extensively bringing in
timber doors and then happened to find a
GRP door supplier in Thailand. I bought a
container full of GRP doors and sold it to a
company in Leeds.”
Dan went on to persuade the massive
US manufacturer Capstone that there were
opportunities for GRP doors in the UK. He
said: “They were exporting a million blanks
(unworked door panels) into the USA and
weren’t interested in the UK market. It took
me 12 months to persuade them. Initially, UK
fabricators also weren’t interested but then IG
Doors were the first to say ‘go and get these
doors’ and the first order came from them.”
Dan ultimately decided to set up his own
factory in Korea in partnership with Tony
Cha and build ‘a decent size business’ in the
UK. The aim was to get into a position of
100% control, operating all three arms of the
business – supplying door blanks, shipping in
containers and manufacturing.
Dan Sullivan
He wanted to go further, continually growing
the business and eventually innovating. He
explained: “We built the business organically.
It was slow but no-one could dictate what
we were doing, and we didn’t owe anyone
anything. Our problem initially was that we
were always out of stock.”
The UK competition was rising but Dan
was already moving on in terms of innovation,
looking at composite doors with a non-
woodgrain, etched GRP skin that replicated
an aluminium profile. He said: “We wanted
something different. We were asking the
customers what they needed, not telling them.
We were much more open to the customers’
needs. If they wanted a door delivered with a
bow on it, then that’s what they got.”
CUSTOMER CARE
DoorCo’s strategy is to focus on customer
care despite its rapid growth. Its Project
Diamond scheme is about managing growth
to maintain, streamline and future-proof
high service levels without sacrifice. Handling
an unlimited number of prep options and
configurations, results show the system is
already saving customers’ time and giving
them greater flexi