COMPANY FOCUS: WALSALL WHEELBARROW COMPANY BARROW T


ucked away on a side street in Wolverhampton is a small powerhouse of British manufacturing.


Combining the traditional Black Country “metal bashing” skills and expertise with modern robots that would not look out of place in a car plant, the Walsall Wheelbarrow Company turns out up to 3,500 barrows in an eight-hour working day.


The company has its origins in the 1940s when the Thacker family began making wheelbarrows in the garden shed under the name Thacker Barrows. The business is now the only remaining wheelbarrow manufacturer in the UK, and supplies customers across the construction, agriculture and retail sectors. “We always go the extra mile for customers because everyone here feels invested in the success of the business. People tend to stay here a


Walsall was, once upon a time, the wheelbarrow-making centre of the world. Today, only the Walsall Wheelbarrow Company is waving that manufacturing flag. BMJ talked to brothers Simon and Jonathan Thacker about the market.


long time and we all feel like a big family – that may be a cliché but in the case of Walsall Wheelbarrow, that really is true,” says director Simon Thacker


Agile control


The Thackers believe that the key to the company’s success is the agility that having total control of the whole manufacturing and logistics process gives to the management team. The company has a long standing roster of trusted suppliers – all British – and running its own nationwide transport fleet means it has total flexibility over the whole process from sourcing raw materials to delivering the product to a builders merchant yard. “Among other advantages that this gives us is the knowledge that the business is virtually Brexit proof, our entire supply chain is based in Britain so we can be assured that we will be able to maintain supply


BOYS


no matter what deal is struck, or not struck,” Thacker continues. This doesn’t mean that the company has a “Little Englander” mentality. There has been considerable investment in the business over the years. Earlier in 2019 the firm invested nearly half a million pounds in a new powder painting machinery that allowed WWC to double its production capacity. The new machinery has helped to increase capacity by 133% meaning the business can now produce 3,500 wheelbarrows a day, compared with 1,500 previously, and forecasts estimate an almost 20 per cent increase in turnover.


This follows an earlier major investment in robotic welding technology, an expansion of drop nose frame manufacture, a new press pan line, automated feed bolt assembly facilities, and a new shrink wrap tunnel.


Nearly a million wheelbarrows are purchased in the UK every year, the average life span of a wheelbarrow on a UK building site being just eight weeks. The Thackers explain that wheelbarrows commonly get driven over, cement left in them, “borrowed” from site or simply junked at the end of a project. Another common problem with barrows is tyre punctures. This is why Walsall Wheelbarrow invented Titan, a universal puncture-proof wheel that performs and handles just like a pneumatic wheel, but which cannot be punctured or damaged by everyday site use and comes with a lifetime guarantee.


Innovation


And this forward-looking mentality has also led to a number of product innovations that keep the company growing and evolving. “Sometimes people wonder what innovations there can possibly be for the humble wheelbarrow,” says Simon Thacker. “But there’s always room for improvement and innovation and we listen to our merchant stockists and their customers and they tell us what they need from a barrow.”


The latest product to join the WWC range is the Barrow in a Box. “This product will really appeal to merchants targeting the retail garden and landscape sector because it allows customers to fit a wheelbarrow in the back of an ordinary car to put together at home.” The Barrow in a Box can be assembled in just three minutes and has the same integrity, strength and quality of a fully assembled barrow. It is available in steel, galvanised or polypropylene in nine different colours. Such commitment to innvovation and investment make sense from a merchant’s point of view, according to Jamie Wyatt of merchant buying group h&b, who says: “We are always looking to further strengthen our relationships with suppliers that invest in the future and add value to the Supply Chain, where the benefits can be passed on to our members” BMJ


July 2020 www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 23


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