How things are growing
A lot can change in a year. Since last September, there have been a number of exciting changes here at Perform Panel. We’ve expanded our distribution operations into England with the opening of two new distribution centres in less than a year. Along with our Aberdeen site, it means that we’re well placed to deliver to stockists and suppliers across the UK.
It's something we’re incredibly proud of – especially as the team at our newest site in Barnsley are already making their mark. Not too bad when you consider that the site only opened a couple of months ago.
On the Barnsley site, they have hit the ground running and are working really well together – in one month alone they are already sending out two vans a day, working to efficient, well-planned routes which cover all key points along the M62 corridor and beyond. Customer feedback has been great, with the quick, reliable delivery times and excellent service from our drivers getting the thumbs up from a rapidly growing customer base. In some cases, the team have even been able to carry out same-day deliveries through their increased productivity which has really added value and enhanced the customer experience.
And that’s not all, they are continually increasing the designs in stock on site (and where there are still out of stock designs, the Birmingham team have been able to send items over to fill the gaps – helping Barnsley meet customer demand as they build up to offering all 48 designs).
Thanks to things getting off to such a great start at our South Yorkshire location, we’re recruiting an additional member of depot staff to further strengthen the team and keep things growing at the new site.
The opening of the Barnsley site has also helped enable us to attract new stockists in the area and we’re delighted to welcome Wolseley to our family of customers. We’re also seeing a lot of independents opening accounts or making enquiries about our products. As a result, in September, the new distribution centre didn’t just meet, but comfortably beat their expected sales figures and it looks like they’ll be on course to do so again going forward, as several customers have started to place bigger and bigger orders, safe in the knowledge that a local depot means that they can be sure of timely deliveries.
Barnsley is our second distribution centre in England, operating alongside our Solihull site near Birmingham which opened in September 2021. The Birmingham site puts locations from Sheffield in the north and Andover in the south within easy reach, making it a logical place for our first English operation. The team at the 6,000 square metre Solihull site are already growing and customers across the Midlands – and surrounding areas – are benefiting from our increased ability to meet demand.
The two new English distribution centres are just the start of the story. In order to keep improving our offering to customers by expanding and developing our distribution network, we have plans in place to open further sites in both 2023 and 2024.
Our panels are all made to the highest standard at our Aberdeen based manufacturing site, which has been in operation for over 70 years. Recent modernisation of the site has enabled us to better meet customer demands – and create an improved working environment for our skilled and experienced workforce.
These three sites may be far apart geographically, but they work closely together, collaborating and supporting each other so that we can provide the best service and products possible to our customers.