A new purpose-built plant for machining timber frame components has been discreetly taking shape near Newport in recent months. It cost around £4m, includes treatment facilities, covers 30,000ft2 and is the latest evidence that the strategy of constant evolution at importer and distributor International Timber is alive and kicking.

“We’ve got great confidence in the timber frame market and believe that for the next few years it represents one of the most exciting growth potential for timber products,” said International Timber managing director John Bagshaw. “It’s a natural next business for us to focus on.”

The Newport plant is clearly big news for International Timber, as is recent investment in machining and cross-cutting facilities at its Grangemouth branch, which in turn followed a major spend last year on new milling and moulding capac-ity at the Trafford Park, Manchester site. But it’s also clear that Mr Bagshaw and commercial director Tony Miles see all these latest individual moves in a wider context as integral, related elements in the development of the business as a whole, and this is a process that has just clocked up 10 years.

Charting progress

To mark its first decade milestone, International Timber has drawn up a “Captain’s Log” charting its progress since 1993 when Mr Bagshaw was instrumental in the management team that oversaw the company’s formation from the merger of three Meyer Group businesses – John Ashworth, Gliksten and Waterman & Ross. The blow-by-blow account has bullet points against the last 10 years, each highlighting a key strategic move or investment. And the pages are peppered with bullet points. Few years have fewer than three; most have half a dozen.

At first glance it looks like a tough list to summarise. But according to the company there are consistent themes running through all the developments.

“The overall aim, of course, has been to become the best distributor of hardwood, softwood and allied products in the market,” said Mr Miles. “In broad terms we’ve tried to achieve that by adding value and service. We’ve tried to take cost out of our customers’ businesses by providing more further processed products and better quality, delivery and support.”

“Over the last decade, the market has steadily demanded less commodity rough sawn timber and more finished and semi-processed products which, for our customers, mean better margins and less waste,” agreed Mr Bagshaw. “Our goal is to supply them with total costed solutions they can simply plug into their company.”

Value-added investment

International Timber’s capital investment record during its first 10 years reflects its value-added direction. Not only has it spent heavily on processing equipment and treatment facilities, the decade has also seen new warehousing spring up at its sites at Parkend, Trafford Park, Grangemouth and Colchester. And value-added products are also cosseted with the latest racking systems.

A further significant step up in International Timber’s strategy of supplying customers with packaged product ‘solutions’ came in 1999, when it installed a company-wide KITE computer system from Kerridge.

“In our 10-year evolution we have retained the strengths of the individual elements that now make up International Timber – Ashworth’s in tropical timbers and high quality redwood for instance, Gliksten in African hardwoods, Waterman & Ross’s in temperate hardwoods and Sinclair Lang’s in European red and whitewood – but the computer system helped us co-ordinate the operation as a whole and provide a more effective one-stop service,” said Mr Miles.

Staff involvement

A factor that has also helped the business become greater than the sum of its parts, insists Mr Bagshaw, is an emphasis on involving staff in decision-making. “All developments are planned, brainstormed and communicated across the business. We encourage people not to be afraid to ask for help and advice and I think we’ve been quite good at creating the feeling that this is a team effort.”

“We work to five-year business plans and it’s vital to get people involved in developing them so they’re realistic and are deliverable,” added Mr Miles. “We also see training as part of the team-building exercise, including sending staff on hardwood training trips to the US.”

Another obvious thread running through International Timber’s first decade has been its strong emphasis on marketing and promotion of timber in general and the International brand in particular. It’s a topic that’s close to Mr Bagshaw’s heart: “To grow the timber sector overall, I’ve always believed we need to be less market traders and more marketeers. I became even more convinced of this after spending some time in the parallel industry of surface materials. The traditional timber trade view has been that adding value means adding to your costs. But branding allows us to get past that by presenting the product in a better light and giving it greater perceived value. We’ve always put a lot of energy and creativity into marketing and see the International logo as a tool to create brand identity across a range of products.”

A key event in the crystallisation of International Timber’s brand identity and its overall market approach was its first corporate brochure in 1998. The products are the core of this glossy A4 book, but it is designed to be more than a catalogue. It provides market analysis, trend indicators and a concise ‘timber encyclopedia’. The latest edition, published last year, has an even more ‘inspirational’ angle, with more coverage of flooring and decking and, as a style and fashion guide, more illustrations of timber products in context alongside other construction and interiors materials.

“When we first published, the catalogue was quite a departure for the trade – it was 36-pages long, but only three really focused on International Timber as such,” said John Bagshaw. “It really is intended to be a business tool for the customer and to help raise the image and profile of timber. Timber is a fashionable and accepted part of the material mix palette and our new brochure reflects this status.”

Full solutions package

Coming right up to date, International Timber says business is progressing well. Recently it introduced new shift patterns to maximise mill productivity at Trafford Park. And the company reports that the start-up phase of the Newport plant is also on schedule. The operation is being overseen by Paul Foulds, timber frame operations director who brings more than 15 years’ experience of timber frame supply from the Grangemouth operation. It includes the latest in machining expertise and will supply a “full solutions package” to timber frame kit makers in the south-east and Midlands; “from I-beams to architraves and simple noggins to pre-measured floor kits”.

“Newport complements our Grangemouth operation which has supplied the Scottish timber frame sector for 30 years,” said Mr Miles.

Evolution continues

And International’s constant evolution is set to continue. Clearly the plans are still at an early stage, but one concept being floated is a further extension of the ‘solutions’ offered to customers with additional related products. As part of the Saint-Gobain group – which acquired Meyer three years ago – International’s ‘specialist’ sister businesses include International Decorative Surfaces and the Saint-Gobain Ceramic Tiles Group. Mr Bagshaw is managing director of all three so the foundations for synergy are clearly there.

“Evolution and momentum are the cornerstones of our business success over the past decade. International Timber is a company with an awful lot of longevity – the first 10 is just the beginning!” said Mr Bagshaw.