Forest Garden is gearing up for a promising year, despite the recession.
Orders for March are about 10% higher than forecast and an additional rota has been introduced at its Hartlebury facility to boost output of its core fencing products – a move which created around 20 jobs.
“We’re not being over optimistic but, relative to the start of the year, March has shown an improvement,” sales and marketing director John Gomersall told TTJ.
January and February were very tough, he said, as the freezing weather conditions stopped demand and customers were reluctant to build stock. However, this month’s warmer weather had encouraged orders and the market was “coming alive”.
Mr Gomersall expects sales of the company’s core fencing products to be among the strongest this year as consumers replace fencing rather than trade up.
Last year Forest Garden closed its Eardisley site and centralised its manufacturing operations at its Hartlebury facility where it invested more than £2.5m in additional manufacturing and storage space. More than two-thirds of the Eardisley workforce transferred to Hartlebury.
“The new facility puts us in an excellent position to continue the progress we have made,” said Mr Gomersall. “The additional capacity and second shift will allow us to flex our manufacturing facilities, ramping up production as and when required. It also gives us a flexible operating model.”
