Winning a trade award which is voted for by your peers is recognition that your company can match or beat the standards of its competitors. To achieve that recognition from scratch in just four years, in a very mature sector of the timber trade, is impressive indeed.

Owen McGuigan and Martin Simpson are the names that front M&S (Softwood) Ltd but, as they will tell you, it takes a far wider range of talents to carry off 2002 TTJ Small Timber Business Award.

M&S is the result of the aspirations of Scandinavian shippers and UK traders, who were all seeking the same aim; to provide a machined softwood service to the UK, specialising in higher quality products.

Messrs McGuigan and Simpson both have extensive experience in the softwood industry. “I was a graduate trainee with Price and Pierce in the late 70s,” said Mr McGuigan. “This gave me a tremendous opportunity to travel extensively in Scandinavia, with a long stint in Finland, working in the forests and sawmills, as well as in Helsinki. I eventually became sales director of Price Hallam Foyes, leaving in 1992 to join Hunter Timber as its group timber buyer. Trying to source the requirements for such a diverse group was interesting, to say the least, and I gained a tremendous amount of further market knowledge.”

Martin Simpson’s career started at Pattrick & Thompsons, in King’s Lynn, which also involved time working in Sweden at every level of the industry, before returning to the UK and working up to the role of sales manager. This was followed by two years at International Timber, before joining JT Stanton & Co, latterly part of the Hunter Timber group, where he worked for 18 years.

“Like Owen, I have been fortunate to work in a variety of well-run businesses, all linked to supplying softwoods into the UK, and distributing them to a wide range of customers,” Mr Simpson explained. “This gives us a tremendous advantage over many companies, as we feel we understand each of these steps and can provide what the customer wants.”

Consistent supply

However, consistent supply of high quality softwoods, machined in Scandinavia, is all about establishing the right shippers that can provide the volumes and mix of product that the UK requires. This is no easy task and finding people in the UK to market this formula is also tricky so it was only a matter of time before the two sides of the coin came together.

During the latter part of the 1990s there was a significant shift towards the merging of timber importers, forming larger groups and this reduced the number of routes to market for many shippers from Finland and Sweden.

Discussions began with Mellanskog and Norlida to create an importing company in the UK. The concept was to take the mix of high quality sawn material from Mellanskog for machining to sections, alongside the machined softwood and flooring products from Norlida.

As Owen McGuigan explained: “This seemed to be an ideal fit for all parties, giving Martin and me the range we wanted, while creating a route to market in the UK for a high grade machined softwood producer. The only thing that caused a slight delay was that the two companies ended up merging and so we now have one shipper/investor instead of two.

“One of the other key factors has been that Mellanskog accepts that it is up to us, here in the UK to get on with running the business, so it’s our baby; we have to stand on our own abilities.”

Mellanskog is a substantial group in its own right, with extensive timber sourcing operations and modern sawmilling and machining facilities, which was already well versed in producing for the UK, with one cubic metre packs as a speciality. This back-up, combined with its financial strength as a shareholder in M&S, has ensured that the company started off and has continued in a planned, controlled manner.

A great deal of planning began long before the company commenced trading, to arrange a site and agree the core stock range of machined softwoods. “We knew the King’s Lynn area well from our previous backgrounds,” said Mr Simpson, “so it was a case of hunting down the right site for our needs, at the right sort of cost. We eventually came to terms with Associated British Ports and purchased our premises here on the dockside, with a separate off dock entry and high quality buildings.”

Ideal location

The site is well-suited for the task, giving a 5,000m2 warehouse and outside storage that links straight through to King’s Lynn docks, with access to the main bypass for easy dispatch. Today, the offices, yard and sheds are a hive of activity, but as Mr Simpson explained, the start was very different. “We have taken a very careful approach to this, investing as we’ve gone along and concentrating on quality of product and service. At the start there was a very small team and we all worked together, so this nucleus, which is still here, knows exactly what we want and expect, while in turn we know what is realistic.”

Product knowledge and experience are crucial to timber companies and M&S recruited many people with previous experience at the old Stanton’s site.

Since the start in 1998, regular monthly shipments have been scheduled from Västerås and Iggesund in Sweden, straight through to King’s Lynn, thereby eliminating inland haulage costs. Initially, virtually every item was machined in Sweden, but the flexi-

bility needed to provide specific customer sections has always required some machining in the UK and this has rapidly expanded.

“We have created a strong relationship with many customers and, as time has gone on, they’ve continued to request a widening range from us,” said Mr McGuigan. “This has meant that we’ve needed to expand our UK machining capacity to meet this demand. We currently have arrangements with three excellent machining centres and between them they can provide the range and flexibility we need for our customers. Broadly speaking, items that are produced in batches under 12m3 are dealt with here, leaving the mass production lines in Sweden to do what they’re best at – producing high quality sections, efficiently.”

Customer requirements

This arrangement has given M&S the ability to offer bespoke sections, cross-cutting, special lengths for architraves, door framing and many other options, while still being able to provide a rapid service on all of the main sections that its customers require.

The M&S range is based on Scandinavian unsorted or fifths for virtually the entire range of sections, while also offering competitive grades on products such as flooring. There is a high emphasis on consistent grading, using boards wherever possible, instead of producing from battens, which can create higher quality variance.

That grading is consistent has been one of the key ingredients for M&S’s success, as Mr Simpson explained. “We know through experience what our customers are looking for and this focus on quality is what has got us through from the start.”

The office-based sales team, run by Charlotte Gibbs and Sarah Richardson, works closely with their representatives out in the field. Both Owen McGuigan and Martin Simpson have defined areas of their own, with Richard Brookes (London and Essex), Dick Griffiths (south-west and Wales) and Kevin Mummery (east coast, through to Oxfordshire and the Home Counties), working alongside them to continue building the customer base.

Specialised softwood flooring, at a moisture content below 10%, is a product that will have an increasing impact on the flooring market and through its links with Norlida, M&S is well placed to take advantage. “We have been working with wood. for good on this for a long time, which has given us a good insight into how this market is developing and recent exposure for our product on one edition of Changing Rooms has sparked a lot of interest,” said Mr McGuigan.