Pro Installer April 2022 - Issue 109 | Page 17

News
Read online at www . proinstaller . co . uk
APRIL 2022 | 17

News

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MADE

At the end of 2021 , Pro Installer travelled to Made For Trade ’ s head office at Wynyard , Billingham as a trip to the ‘ new ’ Wellington House was long overdue . Having moved there just before the very first lockdown in 2020 , while production had been up-and-running for almost two years ; social distancing and Government guidelines meant that visitors had been kept to a minimum . Eager as we were to travel up for a personal tour back in November , from Ian Bousfield , Marketing Manager , when the official invite came through for a Press Day in mid-February , would there be enough for us to see that we hadn ’ t already experienced three months earlier ? There certainly was …
The vast and airy foyer seemed just as spacious full of delegates as it did when we first visited as a party of two . The sheer size of the space perhaps even more evident when it was packed with press , MFT customers and team members . The visitors – from all over the UK – were split into two groups , again testament to the attendance levels ; and travelling to the North East for an overnight event , with severe weather warnings in place ( Storm Dennis was about to go full throttle ) is not an easy sell at the best of times .
Pro Installer was in the group that began with a presentation . As we had already been around the site ( covered in our December issue if you wish to revisit virtually , yourself ), this meant the day started off completely differently ; with a Powerpoint presentation from Chris Wann – Operations Director – on the ups and well , ups that has seen Made For Trade – nee Aanco – make significant growth .
2016 marked the year that business really started to accelerate . Domestic sales and installations were closed down to concentrate on B2B . Three product streams - Global Roof , Smarts Visofold and in Q4 Korniche Lantern – were launched and a third manufacturing site opened . Turnover was £ 8.3M and there were 73 staff on the books . This was followed by the ‘ Year of the Lantern ’, with Korniche gaining significant market share , due to its innovation-packed specification and engineering excellence , explained Chris . Turnover was £ 12.4M and employment had grown to 93 .
By the end of 2018 , recruitment of specialist staff in customer service and engineering ( you can ’ t
be the ‘ Engineers of Fenestration ’ without them ) and the beginnings of a bi-fold , meant that the current site was becoming too small . With the team now bulging to 122 , and turnover more than £ 19M , it was time to start looking for new digs .
And so , at the end of 2019 , the lease on Wellington House had been secured . Designs for a completely bespoke factory and office space were underway . To complement these grand designs , they
started the challenge of integrating an ERP system to document all business processes , and Jason Couse was appointed as Quality Manager . As office staff and bifold production transferred into the new purpose-fit premises ; the lantern line remained across the other sites , again for space and capacity . Turnover hit £ 26M and staff levels grew to 164 .
One word took up the first line of the 2020 slide : Covid . Despite a tough year , however and the
‘ mothballing ’ of the Global Roof System ( subsequently replaced by the Visoglide Plus ); turnover and team members continued to grow , albeit more modestly . And by 2021 , they were at £ 36M and 240 respectively , with forecasts for the end of this year predicted at £ 45M-50M turnover and 275- 300 staff .
Self-proclaimed ‘ Engineers of Fenestration ’ not only demonstrate technical expertise in their products , but in their processes – both on the shopfloor and in the offices . In Pro Installer ’ s review of our first trip , we reported how the working environment – from test room to showroom , canteen to gym , reading nooks to office spaces – had been perfectly designed to foster a productive and pleasant working practice . This is clearly paying off when you see the numbers in black and white . Re-investment , a continuous push to improve , a Korniche rebrand and some top-secret products on the horizon ( which meant the afore-mentioned test room was completely empty during the tour ) mean there is a never a dull day in Billingham , and is also why we would never hesitate to go back again and again .
www . madefortrade . co