Farming Monthly National September 2016 | Page 17

| Potatoes HK Timbers: Better value than ever.... and new products With over 40 years supplying potato boxes and now also supplying other packaging products, HK Timber products is the recognised nationally as leaders in quality, service and value in the industry. The efficient factory allows HK Timbers to produce boxes very quickly and they have the unique ability to store up to 25,000 boxes on site at any one time, allowing orders to be delivered when required. K Timbers Manging Director, Richard Bundock, said ‘Since joining the business towards the end of last year we have made some major changes in our pricing policy. Firstly it became obvious to me that HK Timbers wasn’t talking enough to its customers and as such our prices weren’t offering the right value for money that they should. While using the same high quality Swedish timber (actually from the North of Sweden – Not Russian Not German..) and manufacturing skills I have changed our cost model so that many customers are paying much less for their boxes than they did in 2015. This change has obviously been appreciated and we have seen the return of many old customers to us. As well as improving our value we are also launching new products. We have just opened a new production facility near Peterborough to manufacture Produce Trays. Its early days but already the volumes look like we will have to invest in more machinery as this side of the business looks to grow quickly and strongly. H www.farmingmonthly.co.uk 2016 has been a very exciting year so far, 2017 will take this even further…’. HK Timber boxes are predominantly made from imported timber which is proven to last much longer than home grown timber. Many of their customers still have boxes in use which are more than 15 years old (some as old as 30 years…) proving their products are a sound investment. Manufacturing Potato Boxes is, as one would expect, a very seasonal business, the busiest part of the year being April /May through to early November. There are therefore significant financial advantages for both customer and supplier should purchases be made out of season between November and March. This year we have seen early buyers saving on average £4/box against later purchases. Services offered by HK Timbers include: • Unique farm specific potato or vegetable boxes • Produce Trays • Corrugated cartons • Log boxes September 2016 | Farming Monthly | 17