Poisedale's Blog

Bespoke furniture

poisedale — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:16:13 +0000

Bespoke furniture is not as expensive as people think. Sure some of the stuff we make is well outside the reach of most people but the vast majority simply is not. In fact I would argue that bespoke furniture compares quite favourably with ready made stuff. Ok you cannot have a bespoke bookcase for the same price as something in Ikea but have a look in John Lewis or similar stores and you will find ready made furniture at or approaching the prices of bespoke items. What’s more there is no compromise with bespoke furniture; it’s exactly what you want in all senses.

It’s also more environmentally friendly as its made here and helps keep the manufacturing in the UK. In fact cabinet making is one of the things us British are really good at (we export British designed and manufactured bespoke furniture all round the world). So before you rush out and buy something ready made check with a cabinet maker like ourselves to see what an equivalent bespoke item might cost. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Workshop Assistant

poisedale — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:52:15 +0000

It’s probably a reflection of the times but a recent advertisement we posted for a Workshop Assistant has generated a huge response. What’s also impressive is the general quality of those who have applied. Sadly there is only one job.

Marketing

poisedale — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:50:39 +0000

As I mentioned earlier Poisedale grew well in 2010. However, we have ambitious growth targets and the only way of achieving this is to really focus on our marketing efforts. So for ambitious growth targets we need ambitious and wide ranging marketing plans. Part of this is increasing our advertising spend, part of it about revision of our website and literature but mostly its about trying to improve the customer experience at all contact points for the business. Its about a consistent and professional approach. We make very high quality furniture; we need to make sure everything else the customer experiences reflects that quality. On a personal note I need to get in front of more architects, interior designers and main contractors this year. It’s ultimately a numbers game; the more we contact, the more I get to see, the more we quote for and eventually the more we actually sell to.

We sell a fantastic product; we are experts at what we do. Selling that is relatively easy, our marketing just needs to increase the people we reach with that message.

2010

poisedale — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:30:06 +0000

Although the final figures are not yet in 2010 looks like a good year for Poisedale with sales up more than 50%. Achieving this in this economy is excellent and testament to the hard work of the guys in the business. We are looking for similar levels of growth this year and next. It won’t be easy as there continues to be difficulty in our industry as some firms look to buy work in to keep themselves afloat but by focussing on what we do well in our core market I am confident we will have another great year in 2011. The only sadness as we enter 2011 is that we have lost one of our longest standing cabinet makers. He has left to pursue different opportunities and we wish him well.

What a difference a year makes

poisedale — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 22:33:38 +0000

I have started thinking about how to develop Poisedale in the next year. Part of that process is deciding what is a realistic turnover and profit target and then working backwards to think about how we can achieve it. Cabinet making is effectively selling skilled time. Sure there are materials etc. but the biggest cost and the biggest value add is the skilled resources we can deploy. So, knowing what I want to turnover next year I have to work out how many cabinet makers that equates to. Of course we can always outsource some work or sub-contract some labour but the key is deciding what your base manufacturing capacity needs to be.

Last year I got the mix wrong and had far too much capacity for the work level. Since the first quarter this year we have had far too little capacity for the work we’ve had coming in. So we’ve been recruiting and from looking at what we want to do next year I think we will be looking to recruit some more before the year is out…

The pursuit of quality

poisedale — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:17:38 +0000

Poisedale produces very high quality bespoke furniture. We make stuff for famous people and famous companies. But true quality is not just the end product but how you get there.

For me the whole interaction with a company determines the experience of quality not just the product. We are great at the product but I think sometimes there is too much variation in the intangibles the customer receives from us. So in the next few months we are going to look at the whole end to end process and see what we can do to improve it. I think this is one of those win win situations. If we can get our processes right and consistent we will improve the customer experience and reduce our costs.

The first quarter

poisedale — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:42:47 +0000

As I said in the last post we have made some changes to the business to reduce our fixed costs and these will really become evident in the next quarter but so far things are looking up.

For the period Jan to Mar this year we actually turned over slightly less than we did in the previous quarter but we had our most profitable quarter yet and this was largely done with the higher cost base. This is a refection of what can be done if you focus on doing the right type of work rather than chasing every job going. So why have we reduced our workforce in the same quarter? Well it’s partly about focus; we have closed down our joinery operation as its performance was marginal at best and partly about giving ourselves more flexibility to deal with quieter periods.

So how is this quarter looking? Well the lower cost base will really kick in this quarter and that is already evident in the in month figures for April which is shaping up to be our most profitable month yet. We have work stacking up and that’s before we have really pushed on our marketing so things are looking really good. The key is to make every month profitable and we have had to take some pain to make that possible but the prospects are now looking really good.

My plan when I bought Poisedale was initially just to survive the recession and try and understand the business in the process. We have done that and restructured the business to become a leaner more profitable entity. The next step is to build on that foundation ensuring every month is profitable, the guys get a profit share every quarter and we reinvest in the business to further increase our efficiency and reduce our costs.

Changes

poisedale — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:50:41 +0000

At the end of 2009 I said that Poisedale needed to change for 2010 so what have we changed?

Firstly, we are now much more focussed on the type of work we excel at, namely contemporary bespoke fitted furniture. Sure we get other type of work too but the business is now much more focussed than it was previously. Secondly, we have restructured the business to reduce our fixed costs, bringing our break even point down considerably. This helps us not only deal with quieter periods but allows us to be more focussed on the business we want. Lastly, we are now much more active in managing productivity and understanding what influences it. This information helps improve our pricing and helps us understand what jobs we can make money on and which ones to avoid.

These changes have not been painless and it is a credit to the guys how well they have coped with this over the last three months. It will take another three months or so for the benefits of this to really show in the business but the signs for the first quarter are very encouraging.

2010 and two things we need to change

poisedale — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:26:02 +0000

Poisedale is an interesting business. As I have said before we suffer from two principal issues. The first is that we try and do too much in terms of the types of jobs we undertake. We need to stick at what we are really good at and where we make money. The second issue is productivity.

Our production methods have not changed much since it was one man and his chisel. Yes, we have more machinery to help things and yes we have some specialised areas, such as finishing and fitting. However, the bulk of the manufacturing process is unchanged; one person or a small team work from start to finish on the job before handing it to the finishing dept. That means we have expensive and highly skilled cabinet makers doing a number of low skill tasks. The advantage of this system is that it is easy to scale; you just add more highly skilled people. The bad news is that skilled people are a rare resource and the system is inherently inefficient (would you expect Doctors to undertake all the tasks in a hospital?). Now I’m not advocating some form of line production but surely we must be able to decouple some activities to focus people on what they are actually good at?

So 2010 has two big changes for Poisedale. We need to be more narrowly focussed on the work we do (even if it means doing less) and secondly become much better at actually doing it. Of course, I’d like us to sell more too but actually I’d rather be less busy and more profitable any day of the week.

Ben

The next six months

poisedale — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:16:28 +0000

I have owned Poisedale now for just over six months. Buying a manufacturing business in the midst of the worst recession for a generation was probably not the best timing possible it has to be said. However, things are now looking up from a poor first trading period.

So what I have I learned in the first six months? Well for starters we try and cater for far too many types of customers. Our speciality is contemporary bespoke furniture and our best customers are interior designers, architects and building contractors. Sure we can make pretty much anything from wood but that doesn’t mean we should. For example, we can make traditional furniture but so can many other people so why compete in what is a crowded and largely undifferentiated market?

I have also learned that we are not very efficient. This is hurting us at the moment as we are working at full pelt to get work completed before Christmas but I have a nagging feeling that we should be able to get through so much more than we do.

So what’s in store for the next six months? Well firstly a focus on the type of work and customers we work best at. Secondly, we need to seriously improve our productivity and there are already many obvious ways of doing this without the need to resort to beating the guys to work harder. I am very positive about the business in the next six months as I think we can improve so much.