Birchwood Price Tools An Ambitious Company with a Family Ethos
Report by Peter Brett
Some disagree, but I believe in the expression that ‘first impressions count’. During the few minutes I had to wait to meet my contact at Birch Park, Head Office of Birchwood Price Tools (BPT), the three people who passed me in the foyer each asked me if I had been attended to and what they could do to help. This is not a usual experience for me – many is the time when I have been actively ignored as I have waited, and it can sometimes feel like you are invisible. I don’t think it is a coincidence that on the wall, displayed prominently, was the
Investors in People Gold Certification for BPT – and clearly it was not just there as a decoration. And on the opposite wall was a photograph of an old and ramshackle corrugated iron industrial unit with a hand-painted sign that said “Birchwood Products.” Humble beginnings indeed and a stark contrast to the current light and modern Head Office building! But the contrast did make me wonder what it was and why it was that Birchwood Price Tools is now such a significant company. A quick summary of
BPT’s history seems in order here. The company was started in the 1970s and was called Birchwood Products. It had a reputation for developing innovative products for the trade sector. It grew rapidly and soon had some well-known brands to its name. Defender Power & Lighting products were launched in 1997 followed by Van Vault in 1998. The Scruffs workwear brand was launched in 2003. A big leap forward took
place in 2008 when Birchwood Products was acquired by The BSS Group Ltd, and then merged with power tool wholesaler, Price Tools, to become Birchwood Price Tools. My main purpose in visiting Birchwood Price Tools (BPT) was to be shown
around the new Blue Room – a purpose built set of rooms, in fact, designed to showcase the BPT brands supplied to the UK and internationally. The guides for my visit were, dare I say it, all young and ambitious - but they
were also friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable with a clear purpose and in- depth appreciation of their roles. They were Reena Mistry, Marketing Manager, assisted by Anna Townsend, Marketing Assistant and Tim Trollope, an Assistant Buyer. We started by having a much closer look at the stylish displays in the Blue
Room. They weren’t meant to be a comprehensive view of every BPT product group, but rather to capture the essence of the brands and products and to enable visitors to get hands-on with them if they wanted to. Scruffs Workwear showcased the new range of waterproof outer jackets,
some worker trousers and new designs of Gore-Tex footwear range. To give you some idea of the standards that BPT sets when developing new
products there is probably no better example than the footwear. Scruffs Gore-Tex footwear is built for demanding users – to keep feet dry it is tested to over
300,000 foot ‘flexes’ for 80 hours in ankle deep water. The actual EN standard for ‘waterproof’ in fact specifies only 1000 ‘flexes’ – which in practice means only about 15 minutes of dry feet. Gore-Tex also keeps feet dry and cool by being breathable in hot weather – so although these boots are not cheap, they are designed to last and continue to do a good job. It is quite heartening to note that these work shoes and boots would actually keep your feet dry – I hate working with wet feet! I did a quick count of BPT’s range of footwear and it came to over twenty
styles in varying price brackets – even a DIYer could probably justify the cost of the safety and comfort of some Scruffs footwear for occasional use at weekends. With over 60 pages of the Scruffs catalogue devoted to workwear, you can see that all the angles are covered – including some workwear specifically designed for women. And there are loads of designs for hoodies, sweatshirts, gilets and fully waterproof jackets to help keep out the British weather – some of which I covet, if only because I have to work outside quite a lot some weeks and you sure come to appreciate a good set of clothes. One of the discussions I
had with Reena, Tim and Anna revolved around the way in which BPT goes about developing new products. Tim and Reena were keen to emphasise that they used a combination of expertise within BPT and the wider Travis Perkins group, combined with original thinking, both to improve and develop established products
as well as developing new ones. While many ideas can come from consulting with end users, Reena reckons that the best ideas and developments come from a combination of insights from the BPT and wider teams, end-user input and, of course, years of manufacturing experience. Although there are a number of well-established brands in BPT there is still a
huge appetite to develop new ideas, experiment and innovate. However, the team was keen to point out that this work was not a free ride at the expense of the wider group. BPT has to justify its work and in Reena’s words “has to deliver”. Being part of the Travis Perkins Group does not guarantee success. As I have suggested at the top of this article, I was intrigued by the Investors in
People Gold Award that has been bestowed on BPT. One hears so many stories of zero-hour contracts and of insecure and badly treated workers I made a point of asking Reena, Tim and Anna about their feelings on the matter. I don’t think I was prepared for the flood of examples that they gave me to show that working at BPT was generally a happy experience. Hard work is still essential, but working in a team that supports each member, is on friendly terms with everyone, including the managers (who do sometimes get their hands dirty) and who get well rewarded in terms of career prospects, praise and support, has led to a virtuous circle in the company.
14 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE
www.toolbusiness.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
