Pro Installer December 2015 - Issue 33 | Page 11

11 PRO INSTALLER DECEMBER 2015 PRO NEWS @proinstaller1 Hardware specialist invests £250,000 for new warehouse expansion Hardware specialist VBH is investing £250,000 in an expansion of its warehouse in Kent. The new facility, to be in place next spring, will allow VBH to hold an additional 800 pallets of fast moving stock at the company’s head office and main warehouse in Gillingham. A change to the warehouse layout will also speed up goods inwards and outwards processes and improve picking accuracy. VBH’s specialist Architectural Aluminium division, currently in Birmingham will also be relocated to the site at Gillingham. VBH (GB) Managing Director Peter Rowlands said: “The Gillingham expansion gives us huge benefits in capacity and efficiency. Our aluminium division sends orders to customers throughout the UK, and with the added space in Gillingham it makes it possible to house all the stock under one roof instead of two. “There will be no detrimental effect on deliveries to customers served by Birmingham. VBH (GB) currently delivers 98.6% for catalogue items on-time and in full.” Unfortunately, relocating the Aluminium Division to Kent has brought about the need to make eight positions redundant. The decision had not been taken lightly, but restructuring is vital for VBH to offer customers in the UK even better service now and in the future. The Birmingham sales office will close at the end of 2015 and the warehouse operations will follow on next summer after the Gillingham expansion is complete. www.VBH.com Trade Counter Experience National Plastics is the UK’s largest independent trade counter network and when you visit one of the stores it’s easy to see why. Quite simply, the overall experience is second to none. Giving customers what they want is something that’s central to Managing Director Geoff Foster’s vision for the company, which is why the customer experience is so important to him. “Our customers are busy people and our aim is to make their lives easier. To do that, two things are vital: stock availability and staff knowledge.” When it comes to stock, National Plastics is renowned for its range, which includes fascia boards, soffits, trims, internal and external cladding, guttering, drainage systems, carports and canopies, windows, doors, conservatories, EPDM rubber roofing and much more. What’s perhaps less well known is how much of that stock is always available. “We aim to keep 99% of our stocked items readily avai