INSIGHT
Delivering consistency
Harrison & Clough Ltd, a leading supplier of fasteners, fixings, hand and power tools, as well as industrial components, has set itself a goal of delivering consistency throughout the company.Will Lowry visited the Keighley headquarters to find out the reality of such a task.
H
arrison & Clough (H&C) was established in 1899 and has over 100 years experience in the industry. It has a core
of staff that can simply be described as ‘fastener and fixing people’, with over 35 employees having 20+ years experience, and six staff set to reach 25 years service this year alone. Whilst there is this heavy dose of
history and tradition that runs throughout the company, it is overlaid with modern technology as well as a companywide determination to constantly improve the service. “We are currently four years into
a company strategy that came about through the recession of 2008/09,” explains Mark Hutchinson, managing director at Harrison & Clough. “At the time the recession seemed like the worst thing that could have happened. However, in hindsight it was the best thing to happen, as it forced us to look at ourselves and what we could further do to benefit the customer.” The first step was to define the core
activities of the company. “There was a danger that customers would no longer view us as a serious fastener and fixing business because of the rapid growth of our hand tool trade,” mentions Mark Dorrington, procurement and marketing manager. “Whilst we are dedicated to our tool section, and tool customers, we needed to re-establish ourselves as the source for fasteners and fixings.” As well as re-establishing itself as a
fastener and fixing company, the senior management team at Harrison & Clough decided there was a need to develop the company ethos of building long term relationships with customers and making it easier to deal with the company. “We recognised that in the past we weren’t always making it easy for
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customers to deal with us,” says Mark Dorrington. “We decided that the key to progressing forward and making life easier for the customer was creating a more dependable and consistent service, from making initial contact with us through to delivery of the order.” Achieving this consistency involved
implementing a host of changes at the company including new technology to improve the speed of which telephone enquiries were answered; uniformity in pricing; higher levels of dependability in order fulfilment and delivery; evenness in resolving any customer issues; as well as investment to ensure improvement in supply reliability. H&C’s senior management team
decided that these changes needed to be implemented if the company was to get across to the market that no matter what the economy is doing, no matter what the competitors are doing, H&C will always be dependable and consistent. After introducing these changes H&C
had to work on putting them into practice so that the consistency now manifests itself through every facet of the business, with each staff member understanding their part in the customer service process, from the Goods-In department right through to the delivery man. As well as developing a consistent
service through each department the senior management team decided it was also important to concentrate on developing more long term sustainable relations with customers. “Our customer base is 99%
owner managed/independent businesses and a lot of customers have dealt with us for years,” explains Mark Dorrington. “We cannot, for a second, take
this business for granted and therefore we want to build long term customer relationships, going beyond simply satisfying todays order.” Mark continues: “Whether the
customer buys a packet or a pallet we want to make sure they are offered the best service. We want to understand their business so that we are able to tailor the best service offering.” As well as having over 52,000 supported
stock lines covering fasteners, fixings, hand and power tools, and industrial components, H&C also runs its own fleet of 45 green vans, ensuring delivery next day, often before 12 noon. H&C’s no minimum order policy is designed to make ordering simple and low cost. Previously H&C concentrated on
promoting its next day delivery and no minimum order service. However, the senior management team realised that a key focus should also be on H&C’s wide range of high quality, brand names/ products. These brand names include
MasonMate® - fixings for work in all types
of masonry, stone and brick; TimberMate® - screws for all timber related applications; MetalMate®
- fasteners
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