Remploy-a year of surpassing expectation

Remploy’s building products division has been busy making windows – and forging ahead with a successful commercial operation

Over the last year the building products operation has surpassed all its expectations, experiencing record growth with a 61 per cent year on year increase in productivity and a 47 per cent growth in revenue. The company has done this by pushing its capabilities as an efficient, high quality manufacturer of uPVC windows and composite doors and – beyond manufacturing – as a critical supply chain partner able to play a key role in the product installation and liaison with tenants.

“It’s not just the manufacturing and shipping,” said sales and marketing manager Mark Foster, “we’re offering the full service. You’ve got a company that can deliver from start to finish.”

Manchester has provided the stage for its successful delivery of both products and service, but it was the trust and confidence of key partners that really provided it the chance to demonstrate its qualities and capabilities, as Northern Housing reported earlier in the year. Remploy Building Products has built up some strong partnerships with contractors such as Connaught, Inspace, Keir,PSID, the Lord Group, Seddons Construction and Wates, as well as recently formed RSLs Northwards Housing and Southways.

It has also won key supplier status in a number of consortia, such as Office Central Government, Northern Housing Consortium, Integrate South Wales and GM Procure. The company is also involved in Impact Manchester, the vehicle through which it has been conducting its Manchester operations on behalf of Northwards Housing. With the launch of Southway Housing this month, the company will gain a further boost to its demand for windows and services, so the run of growth success it has experienced this year is far from over.

There’s more to Remploy’s achievements than Manchester, of course. Throughout 2007, it

has worked on a diverse range of schemes throughout the UK including Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Essex, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, Greater London and South Wales.

Not only have such projects enable the company to be a commercial success, they have allowed Remploy to fulfil its primary remit – to provide sustainable employment for people with disabilities. Indeed, the Manchester operations have created 63 new jobs for local people.

“Our primary objective is the employment of disabled people and that is probably where we differ dramatically from other window fabricators,” Foster added. “We will match people on quality, service and value for money every time, but we have the trump card that we really deliver social inclusion.”

For all that, the company is quite clear that it isn’t out for the ‘sympathy vote’. Altruism is all well and good, but Remploy Building Products is interested in real work, not an altruistically inspired favour. That is another reason why the company is proud of its achievements and indeed its partners – because it is operating the bottom line and proving its ability to measure up to all-comers that it can deliver, no favours asked.

As you’d expect with any agency involved in the refurbishment of social housing, the Oldham operations are geared up to achieving tenant and client satisfaction, with the former naturally being regarded as prime focus. So, as you’d expect, a commitment to quality, value for money and continuous improvement is a given. So too is flexibility, to enable to work to the convenience of the tenants. Part of this is the understanding that not every tenants can meet the normal nine to five Monday to Friday business schedule, so it offers ‘out of hours’ working and also individualised product design. The latter aspect features accessibility equipment as part of the bespoke package to ensure that tenants can gain the most out of the products.

The company’s experience has led it to the view that the key to the successful delivery of partnering programmes is the strength of the relationship between the contractors and its supply chain. To that end, it has invested in the development of an experience contract management scheme, centred on the delivery of customer service. It has also formulated its own ‘customer’ charter to reinforce the culture of delivering the maximum tenant satisfaction.

With a strong commitment to training its workforce, and also a dedication to providing employment opportunities to people in the communities where it works, Remploy Building Products maintains a strong ‘people base’ for the delivery of its services. This is another strong plank that has supported the achievements of the last 12 months, and which will play an important factor in bolstering its future successes.

While it may not be able to remain completely unaffected by the choppy waters churning its sister divisions elsewhere in Remploy, Build Products itself remains a healthy ship well on course for a strong 2008.

Foster added: “We are delivering and we will continue to deliver,”

“With the support of our construction partners and all the rest, building products will be a sustainable business going forward. We’ve got a job to do – and I feel that the job we’re doing puts us in a strong position in terms of the future.”