A visit to Blum's manufacturing base in Austria has been described as 'breath-taking' by one of the three people who made the trip.
The description comes from Chris Essex, our Nationwide Sales Manager, who travelled to Blum's headquarters in Höchst along with Purchasing Manager, Gary Kinder, and Michelle Topping, our Area Sales Manager for Greater Manchester.
"Blum make all their own machines to manufacture their own products, so the investment that goes into those products, which come with a lifetime guarantee, is amazing. To see the scale of the manufacturing is breath-taking, it blew me away," says Chris. "I've sold Blum for years, and never fully appreciated what goes into those products."
Since our inception more than 30 years ago we've become one of the UK's leading suppliers of Blum's high-quality kitchen and bedroom drawers, furniture fittings, and accessories. The latest visit, which follows a trip to Blum's UK base by our Marketing and Business Development Director Dan Mounsey and Sales Director Gareth Evans, cements our elevated status as a Blum brand partner - one of only four in the UK.
Chris adds: "A trip like this strengthens our belief in the brand. There is always something cheaper in the marketplace, but this just confirmed why we sell Blum. The reason it is the best is because of the investment that goes into the manufacturing and also the future development of their products - we saw lots of new products coming through, such as a new door system and a new lift-up system, which will eventually come to the UK."
One of the new product categories coming onto the UK market introduced to Chris, Gary and Michelle was the REVEGO pocket door system that allows living areas to be opened up when needed and concealed again when not in use.
Chris says: "We didn't visit every plant, we concentrated on the products we sell and those we will be selling, such as the REVEGO, which we'll all be getting training on in due course at Blum UK."
Blum, which has operations worldwide and delivers to more than 120 markets, was started by farrier Julius Blum in 1952, making horse shoe studs that prevented the animals from slipping.
The firm opened the first of its fours plants four years later and developed its first furniture hinge in 1958, the year it took on its first apprentice.
This eventually led to the launch of its own vocational training scheme with its own apprentice workshops in 1970 - creating an ethos of developing its own workforce now embedded in the culture of the company, and prompting Chris to say: "Everyone is totally bought in to what they are doing. One thing I've brought away is the scale of the apprenticeships, and the need to develop young people, which we're already doing, into the future of HPP."
Marketing and Business Development Director Dan Mounsey: "There are a lot of synergies between Blum and us. We are both family-owned; we share similar attitudes towards business, innovation, service, quality, continuous improvement and trust, as well as how we treat and value our people. Visits like this consolidate what is already a successful partnership."