In the news recently was the sad demise of a local firm, (I live in Worcestershire) not connected with the Composite Door Slab, Door Panel or Window industry in any way. They have been driven out of business as a direct result of the Japanese Tsunami and it’s after effects.
Proppa, who went through the BBC’s Dragons Den and won investment, supplied aftermarket accessories to the motor industry, specifically the Japanese 4×4 truck sector. Following the devastation of that country’s industry and infrastructure, manufacturing and exports have ground to a halt. This has meant that the customers here no longer had access to the vehicles so in turn, did not buy the stock and the rest as they say is history.
There are many advantages to purchasing goods and services from abroad – mainly financial along with others such as quality, expertise, speed of supply amongst others. However the knock on effect of problems in the supply chain can ripple through with unknown consequences, especially when those problems are unforeseen and unplanned for.
The vast majority of the UK’s supply of 44mm GRP Composite Door Slabs is currently supplied from just 2 factories, one in Korea and the other in Taiwan – both half a world away. This has lead me to think that this is a good time to come to market with an alternative supply. It is no longer sound business practice to have all of your eggs in one basket and multi sourcing product has to make sense, particularly given that modern technology and methods have created markets which require instant gratification and which will not wait.
Even though the Doorway Products One Size Fits All composite door slab is manufactured in the Far East it does offer the industry an alternative in time of need, reducing reliance on one source of supply.
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