Made in Yorkshire members, Victor Manufacturing held a best practice event on the 13th of February 2020. During the three and a half hour event, members gathered to learn more about the company's manufacturing capabilities, what their best practice methods are and how they supply some of the biggest household names in the country.
Bradford based Victor Manufacturing is one of the UK's leading companies within the catering equipment manufacturer and had its beginnings back in 1944. Back then, they were a manufacturer of steel paint cans and tea towel dryers, before moving into their current business market of the hospitality industry in the 1960s with the creation of hot cupboard and other serving equipment.
The last 10-years has seen significant growth for the 70-plus-year-old company who since 2012/13 has seen turnover increase by over 51% and a workforce increase of 15%, bringing their total workforce to 120 employees. Fast-foward to 2020 and the company supplies a range of partners including household UK names Greggs and Costa Coffee. Abroad, you'll see their work at the Emirates lounge, and the Hilton Hotel in Dubai, the Marriott Bay resort in Fiji and the Abu Dhabi future schools project.
The breakfast morning took place at the company's facility in Gibson Street, Bradford, where over 24 members began arriving at 8:00 am. Networking and breakfast took place in the company's meeting room before members were treated to a tour of the factory.
After an introduction by Made in Yorkshire's Jonathan Taylor, Steven McGarvie, the General Manager of Victor Manufacturing Limited, spoke about the companies recent success and shared their best practice tips.
Steven said, "Every unit we produce is fully tested on-site, with the idea being both supplying customer confidence in our products and keeping the cost of service down." Something that was reinforced when Steven explained how a Victor product is designed to last you 40 years.
As a company, in 2017, it was explained to guests how they were able to expand to two new sites - with one being located 200-feet down the road, and another that was on the other side of Bradford. It's here where Victor Manufacturing was able to explain another Best Practice tip.
Speaking, Steven said, "What's quite unusual for our industry is that we can get items out within three days to customers. With our storage, we have stock of around 99 products that are sitting there ready to go."
At this point, Phil Williams, the owner of Victor Manufacturing said that "Those numbers don't include the £300,000 to £400,000 - per company - worth of stock we keep ready to go for both Greggs and Costa Coffee."
After the presentation, networking and refreshments, members were then invited on a tour of the company's workforce.
Members firstly saw a computerised office where employees were working on creating digital models, that would later be sent for printing. After this, members were shown the main floor where a range of machines are used to create the final products and several rooms where testing is done on products before being shipped out to the customers.
If you were unable to attend the event, you are able to watch the full video of the event here. While if you're a member, and would like to view a list of upcoming events, you can see a complete list of forthcoming Made in Yorkshire events, here.