Clearview North October 2013 - Issue 143 | Page 32

CLEARVIEW EXCLUSIVE

DOORSEXTRA

THE SMALL COMPANY MENTALITY
MAKING A BIG COMPANY IMPACT
Despite its relatively high profile and solid reputation, Capstone
rarely advertises, relying instead on word-of-mouth and being close
to its customers to promote its products and services.
In fact, it’s almost hard to
believe that the second largest
composite door company
in the UK has achieved its
considerable industry presence
in just six years. This year
however, marked a change in
approach for the company when
it successfully exhibited at the
FIT Show in April.

‘These customers
need more choice
and our new
facilities allow us to
offer more options’
Capstone’s Managing Director,
Dan Sullivan, remains very hands
on and makes a point of getting
out to meet Capstone’s valued
customers on a regular basis.
Clearview caught up with him en
route to one particular meeting to
find out what makes the company
tick and what’s next in its recent
and rapid development…

‘It became apparent
that we were
great at attracting
the high volume
customers’
FIGHTING FIT

“The FIT Show was the first
step in raising Capstone’s profile,”
explains Dan. “Previously we
have relied on good products
and levels of service but the
company has grown to a size
where we need to reinforce our
presence in the industry by giving
it a voice. “We were very pleased

32

OCT 2013

with how the FIT Show was
organized and it provided us with
a great opportunity to showcase
our new products. We were so
impressed, in fact, that we signed
up for FIT 2014 right there and
then, even so far as taking the
same stand and position. This
represents significant investment
for Capstone and its important
now for us to continue the
momentum.”
BEHIND THE SCENES

“Essentially we are a small,
hardworking, independent
business,” says Dan. “Our
customers can really relate to this
so it’s important that we maintain
the same mentality as we grow.”
It was while working at timber
door company, JCI Ltd, with
now business partner, John
Collins, where Dan saw a gap in
the market for composite doors.
He went on to source supplier,
Capstone South Korea, and set
up Capstone UK as the exclusive
supplier for the UK and Europe.
The relationship between the two
separate companies remains very
strong, while JCI Ltd continues
to sell timber door systems via
several brands to end users and
retailers.
Capstone quickly gathered its
own momentum and has come
a long way since then, although
Dan says it feels like the company
is just at the beginning, “The
period of time that has passed was

all about putting the foundations
in place to really start making a
difference and add value to what
we do for our customers.”

We can now
offer any colour
finish from our
high specification
paint line, this
has attracted a
brand new type
of customer’

high risk investment but we had
the confidence that we could
sell to this sector of the market
by giving them more choice and
making it easier to deal with us.”
Capstone’s new capabilities has
meant its workforce has doubled
and the company has recorded
a profit every year, experiencing
30-40% growth year-on-year, no
mean feat given the state of the
economy during this period.
INNOVATIVE STOCK

BLOCK BY BLOCK

Dan continues, “It became
apparent that we were great
at attracting the high volume
customers involved in social
housing and new build contracts,
but we weren’t appealing to
smaller accounts. So in January
of this year we made a £300,000
investment into facilities that
will allow us to do prepping and
painting for our customers that
don’t have a CNC paint line and
cassette system.
“These customers need more
choice and our new facilities
allow us to offer more options.
For example, we can now offer
any colour finish from our high
specification paint line, this has
attracted a brand new type of
customer that was previously
untapped by Capstone. It was a

So what’s next? Capstone is on
the cusp of an innovative product
launch that is set to revolutionise
the business by streamlining
and simplifying the ordering
and stocking process. “We have
redesigned our 6 Panel model so
that 7 styles can be made from
just 1 blank, this dramatically
reduces inventory and has a direct
implication on how much stock
a customer needs to have on the
shelf at any one time.

‘Revolutionise
the business by
streamlining and
simplyfying’
“This new innovation has come
as a result of being a distributor
ourselves and understanding the
inventory issues that a distributor
can face. This has all been done
by making one small change
to our product design but the
implications and direct benefits
are vast.”
For more information
contact Capstone
on 01625 428955.

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