Special Report


Is expansion a risk in today’s market?


Patrick Murray speaks to Kevin Peat, commercial director, Linstol UK Limited about the company’s latest developments in the UK


currently dealing with. We see that the key focus for airlines will be to concentrate on what they do best in serving their flying customers and outsourcing other aspects of the business including the management of their supplier base and reducing the number of suppliers that they deal with.


OBH : What made you move your UK office? KP: We felt that to take advantage of the opportunities available to us in the European and Middle East markets we needed to be in a more commercial business environment, where we had the ability to increase the size and capability of the office without having to move again. With the growth we anticipate we can upgrade our office space at short notice and with the minimum of logistics requirements.


What do you see as the key opportunities for the UK business? The rolling out of the additional product range that our parent company Linstol USA has been so successful in over the past three years. This incorporates amenity kits, plastic cutlery, paper and plastic cups, cotton towels, moist towelettes, gift items and aircraft models, in addition to the core Linstol product of headsets. We are following the business model that airlines in North and South America have responded to so well.


What other measures have you taken to maximise growth opportunities in your region? We have recruited Roland Standaert as sales manager to strengthen our European and Middle East sales and support team. Roland brings eight


Linstol’s new UK office, below: new double layer hot paper cup and napkins developed for Virgin


years of airline industry experience together with his fluency in French, Dutch and German. He understands the importance of offering airlines customised and environmentally friendly low-cost solutions which have been the key to our success.


What product strengths does Roland bring to the Linstol team? Roland has an extensive experience and knowledge of linens, blankets and amenity kits. With his strong and varied background in manufacturing, sourcing and sales, we are in an excellent position to offer airlines customised low-cost solutions in the product areas of textiles and amenity kits. His contribution and knowledge of fabrics will allow us to expand our portfolio and product range in line with our planned growth objectives.


So what will you now be concentrating on from a commercial aspect?


On the commercial, strategic and logistics aspects of a number of tenders we are now seeing where airlines are looking to consolidate the products they buy and to reduce the supplier base that they are


Do you see the potential consolidation of products as an opportunity or threat to Linstol ? We definitely see this as an opportunity for Linstol even though we are not the size of LSG, Gate Gourmet or Servair. We see that we could work either directly for the airlines or could work as a sub-supplier to one of the caterers mentioned or any other company that was to be appointed by an airline. Our key focus will still be our product offering and to ensure that we provide the airline industry with best quality/price combination for cabin-related passenger products. This will be through our own in-house sourcing organisation in Asia with our extensive network of low-cost manufacturing facilities and low-cost Linstol company structure. Our low cost structure allows us to operate at lower margins than our competitors resulting in a highly competitive unit cost for the airlines. Centaur House, Ancells Business Park, Ancells Road, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 2UJ www.linstol.com


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