A radical shake up of the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) is under way.
A number of new initiatives have been introduced along with a new version of the BMF’s logo under the direction of chairman Kevin Cubbage.
He said: “The BMF had lost a number of members over the past few years and had got to the stage where it knew it had to try and reinvent itself.
“The management board was reduced from about 26 to six and it was decided to bring in a non-executive chairman from outside who didn’t run a builders merchants and wasn’t a supplier but would be able to give some strategic drive.”
Mr Cubbage was appointed to that role in May and spent the first few months identifying the BMF’s strengths and how things could be improved.
He said: “That led to the development of the new strategy which starts off on the basis that we want to run the BMF very much as a business which will deliver value for money to members in return for subscriptions.”
Mr Cubbage has created new BMF Product Support Groups, bringing together manufacturers and merchant members to produce fact sheets and other materials to help staff advise customers on issues such as Building Regulations and Codes of Practice. The first group will cover timber and timber products.
The BMF will also provide ‘gold standard’ training, management and business support, a new scheme dealing with employment matters and developments on the training front.
