SUPPLIER FOCUS
We never stopped talking to our customers and we never stopped listening to them.
and NBG Partners, and keeping them open. “We kept communicating with our customers and we didn’t stop communicating all the way through,” he says.
2008. “It was the first time we had actually stopped dead in terms of manufacturing; we came back gradually, of course because you can’t just switch these factories on like that, they need time to build back up again.” Unfortunately that didn’t really help to alleviate stock issues. “To this day, because we have been so busy, we still haven’t really built up our buffer stocks to the level we would like. We actually started off like a lot of other people supplying products to go into the Nightingale Hospitals. Some of the materials we were getting for some of our customers just went straight out to the Nightingale sites.” Moving forward, Gillman says the new brand is now out there in the marketplace and sales are still extremely strong across all the products. “In a normal year, we would go into slow- mode the minute the calendar hit December, however, this year, we have simply carried on selling and shipping. I’m very fortunate that I have some excellent manufacturing behind me, with excellent people running it all. The continuing demand at this time of year is really good, obviously, and a positive indication that we’re doing right by our customers.” One notable thing about this industry though
January 2021
“When you pick up a product award as a Supplier, you think OK that’s lovely, we have delivered a good product at a market friendly rate and our merchants have enjoyed the benefits of selling that to their customers. It hasn’t let them down; it’s not caused them any problems, and we have delivered when we said we would. With the Lockdown Hero Award it’s a bit different and I’ve been asked since what we did to win it.
is its resilience, he says. “We’ve had personnel shortages, material shortages, industry shortages. So many different challenges but we still seem to come out of it. Every time, construction seems to be the industry that pulls the country out of difficulties. Yes, we have had some bumps, and we are in for a further bumpy ride as we get through COVID-19 and into the Brexit issues, but I’m confident that together we can weather it.”
The key, Gillman says, was the communication channels between Mannok
“I have to say, it was about the communication. We had Teams meetings, Zoom meetings, sales calls, all the time. When I asked the guys back at the plant in Ireland to start things up again as early as I did, many of them probably thought I was mad. However, because I’d had all the conversations with the Partners, I knew the business would be there. “As long as we could get the materials to the Partners, the Partners could sell it. Communication is always important, it’s something that our partnership with NBG has been founded on, but it’s never been more important than when outside factors like this pandemic threaten to derail the partnership and everything we’ve worked for together. We talked more, we listened more and together we’re getting through it. I’m immensely proud of what we achieved with NBG and the award was just the icing on the cake.”
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