4 | JUNE 2020
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
A SUCCESSFUL AND SAFE
RETURN FOR MADE FOR TRADE
Made for Trade, like most other businesses in our industry is carefully managing the way back into
operation from the shut-down forced by COVID-19. It’s a fact that all of us have been adversely
affected in the short term and although we predict a challenging path to get back to where
we were, only time will tell what shape the future of fenestration manufacturing will take.
During the lockdown and
subsequent downturn in product
interest we were forced to
furlough a large percentage of
our workforce. A small team
remained working, primarily to
keep a close eye on our incoming
enquiry activity, but also to
plan and risk assess the changes
which needed to be made in
the workplace to safeguard staff
when the time came to bring
people back into work. When the
supply chain began to come back
online, we were in good shape to
get enough staff back in to start
tackling the backlog and fulfilling
all the orders affected by the
shut-down.
Once we got back on top of
that we started letting the industry
know we were beginning to
quote on all our products and
recommencing fabrication, albeit
at a lower capacity as space constraints
and individuals circumstances
need to be considered.
To our surprise we have been
absolutely inundated with quotation
requests from our current
clients and also a great deal of
businesses seeking new suppliers
in a changed market landscape.
The initial flurry was driven by
projects that had been paused
or delayed, but it does seem that
time spent at home, fantastic
weather and possibly little use for
the holiday savings means that
many homeowners have been
thinking about home extensions
and developments.
The ongoing restrictions of
social distancing and process
controls do create challenges and
our usual lead times are, as a
result, still compromised as physically
the business cannot have
sufficient staff working together
to deliver the numbers we usually
produce. Although not yet at
100%, our recent move to a much
larger premises has really helped
with or ability to keep people
apart and we do intend to develop
strategies with seating and
shift patterns to ensure these lead
times come back in line to our
normal service, whilst of course
doing all we can to protect our
employees.
Clients and customers on the
whole are being very understanding
and appreciate that we are
delivering as soon as we possibly
can under the current restrictions.
Product development is one
area of the business which has
continued “as usual” and our continued
investment in engineering
and innovation within the industry
will keep MFT delivering the
best products, with the best service,
at the best prices - despite
the market challenges we face.
www.madefortrade.co