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There’s been a lot going on in the two and half years since Central RPL joined the BoingBoing Group, and there’s a lot more to come. In this post group chairman Gary Morton highlights some of the things we’ve already done, and some that are left to do.
We’ve been working hard to energise the business throughout. We’ve aligned our internal operations, customer service and brand, and made a lot of updates to our product line, including many upgrades on hardware and a complete PVCu system move to Profile 22. Really it’s all been about identifying and manufacturing products for our customers, rather than finding customers for our products.
I’m also a firm believer in ‘people buy from people’, so we’ve been investing internally to get the right people, who will look after our customers now and in the future.
We’ve also been growing the group with the addition of our aluminium division Central ASL, and our new dedicated colour unit Central Inspired. The idea is that we now offer our customers a full product suite and service; a complete solution. We like to call it ’Everything Central’ (look out for the hashtag!).
For us it’s all about service, products and people – great people offering great products with great service. We also ensure that we invest in the continuous improvement we strive for through our lean manufacturing approach.
We put a lot of effort into identifying trends that will help our customers differentiate themselves from their competition, including added value sales such as aluminium, colour and business development tools to assist our customers. For some time now installers have had to adapt to the changing market, with homeowners demanding more choice and better products day by day. As a fabricator, we have to adapt with you. It’s not easy to stay ahead of this fast pace of change, but it helps to have a team of experienced people that truly understand the market and our customers’ installation businesses. This is what gives us an edge, allowing us to supply the complete solution our installers need.
Every member of the team is dedicated to giving the customer the best possible experience and all staff members—from the Board to the factory floor—are encouraged to put forward ideas for improvement. A key philosophy for us all is to future proof customers alongside providing what they need in the current market.
We’re putting a lot of emphasis on added value products, such as flush casements, vertical sliders, patios, bi-folds, composite doors, colour and—through Central ASL—all aluminium products installers require. That’s because our customers have asked us to—these are the products that help sell more profitable projects.
Of course, white PVCu windows are still a significant part of our business and will continue to be treated as such. Our customers work in both residential and commercial markets so it’s imperative that we make a comprehensive range of products.
That’s why we moved our products over to the Optima range. It is a premium product and comes with additional services offered by Profile 22, such as the commercial support programme and marketing support with the Excellence as Standard programme – all of which are designed to help our customers win more and more profitable jobs.
I can’t give too much away yet, but there’s a lot coming up this year and beyond. Central ASL is established as our aluminium manufacturing arm, and our involvement in Kolorseal Midlands has lead to the launch of Central Inspired—our in-house colour service. Expect to see both of them really take off this year.
We’ve just installed a new CNC machining centre in Central RPL, which is already making us more faster and more efficient, while increasing our capacity. We invested more than half a million pounds across the group in the last 18 months, but there’s more investment in plant and machinery to come.
We also have some new products in the pipeline, which will be launched through the course of the year. One of them in particular I’m really quite excited about! But I can’t tell you anything else at the moment.
Oh, and there’s a lot going on at GM Fundraising this year as well, so watch this space for more info.
