KEYLINE


may not have it yet,” he says. “Rather than pick a load of different  project said that they wanted to deal with one merchant who could deliver it all on FORS Gold accredited vehicles and who could manage the logistics and the delivery of all the different materials at the right time for them. That’s where the value that the merchant can add becomes more and more important.


“The easiest, most economical way to deliver pipes from the factory  way for them to be received by the customer on site. Bigger suppliers might think that they could pick up the contract direct but if we can offer a better way for the contractors to manage their logistics more easily then we will pick up that business. Because of the value we can add. It also means that we are working on projects much earlier and are picking up business that way.”


Rail focus


The company is also working with the rail networks and the utility companies Beaman says. “Part of our plan moving forward is for growth to come more from these specialist areas such as utilities, highways, rail and geotextiles. These are the areas where


BMJ January 2018


The last three or four years have seen the brand moving towards being that specialist supplier, whilst transferring some branches and business over to the more mainstream general merchant division.”


“


we are looking to grow the business.”  of Honiton in Devon has been set up to focus on the bigger projects like the  three years in advance.


“The customer is at the forefront of everything we do and that will continue going forward,” he says. “A lot of our discussions with suppliers are not about how little can we buy and what the price is but what the deal is if we buy a lot more of it. How do we work together to get the best value for the customer, save the supplier having to do loads of smaller deliveries, get FORS Gold


and add value for ourselves and the suppliers? Those are the questions we are asking. And, of course, when we are dealing with these huge contracts, it helps that we have the might of the TP group behind us, supporting us and investing in all the things like diversity and safety that these bigger contractors are demanding to see evidence of.”


Investment benefits


Beaman continues: “If we can deliver  to site then we have added value for the customer. That’s where we come in with our knowledge and expertise and investment in logistics and delivery systems. We will never say that we are perfect or that we won’t ever get things wrong. But we know what we are trying to achieve and we know where we want to be. From our perspective 2017 was a record year and we’re expecting to continue that performance into this year. “We are always asking the question: how can we add the most value to the external client, to our suppliers and to ourselves? It is very much our focus over the next few years to continue that specialisation and become a really, really slick distributor of our products to the market.”


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