Fresh from celebrating its 20th anniversary last year, which gave Rutland the opportunity to look back at all it’s achieved over the past two decades, the fire door closer specialist is now looking firmly to the future having recently moved into a new head office in Chesterfield and added a much larger warehouse in Scunthorpe to its armoury.
“All our previous office and warehousing activities were conducted under one roof in Chesterfield,” explains Kelvin Hughes, Specification and Training Manager. “We now have a new 15,000 sq ft office in Chesterfield that includes our R&D facilities, along with all our customer services, sales, finance, marketing and operations activities.”
Any move to new premises has its logistical challenges attached but, having overcome these teething issues, Rutland is looking to maximise the additional space it has to hand. “We brought Stephen Green onboard as operations manager, and he did a great job project managing the entire move,” adds Kelvin. “We now have much more capacity to play with, allowing us to really push the business forward, particularly from a training perspective.
“Winding the clock back slightly, historically we focused on designing, developing and manufacturing products for our core distribution channels, whether it was for a national distributor like Screwfix, a door manufacturer, architectural ironmonger, or a locksmith. However, we’ve now taken a step back and looked at the whole customer journey, with the mission to enhance compliance and performance at every door.
“By taking a more holistic approach, we’ve been able to improve specification and provide the right products for the client, whether they’re an architect, a council, a housing association or a contractor. It’s all about adding value and providing even greater support throughout the entire process, from the initial design through to installation, as well as any repairs and maintenance that are required moving forward.”
The increased premises has also given Rutland the capacity to hire more people, which will be vital achieving its growth plans for the next five years.
“From a product and service offering perspective, we now have even greater capabilities for research and development with our in-house labs for initial testing, an in-house CAD team, and 3D printers,” says Kelvin. “We’re now able to innovate and bring products to market much faster.
“In terms of the increased warehouse facilities, this allows us to hold more stock, as we now have six times more space than we had previously. This is not only better for our customers, but also helps our own suppliers, as they’re not having to get products to us as often, as we have a bigger buffer to mitigate any issues.”
The expansion of Rutland’s facilities and its determination to continually add value for its customers is indicative of the company’s forward-thinking approach over the past 20-plus years.
“Ultimately our overall strategy and vision has been focused on enhancing compliance and performance at every door. This has always been our passion. We’re now keen to increase the number of people we’re training, so we can keep up with the huge demand we’re seeing, and share our knowledge throughout the industry.”
With two decades of operation under its belt, it’s clear that Rutland has had the courage of its convictions to make a real difference, in the process becoming one of the leading door closer manufacturing companies in the UK. It is now in a prime position to utilise its newly enhanced facilities to enable it to move to the next stage in its development.