Investment pays off for SAM

The broad £7m investment from the Antrim-based company has enabled it to develop in five core areas:

• A new prime finish product, ensuring the profiles have a superior and robust finish
• Expanding stock range, with an increase of 57% (from 135 profiles to 212), to meet peak demands
• Increasing stock hold, doubling the stock hold capacity with a new 45,000ft2 warehouse
• Delivery of products to customers in the fastest way possible, through an enhanced transport and logistics strategy
• Development of a new catalogue, representing the ‘home of MDF mouldings’, it will become the “go to” for the merchant network, bringing together all they need to know from availability, range of profiles and pack sizes

The company says its mission is to ensure its merchant customers have the right product, in the right quantity, in the right place, and at the right time. Some £2m of the total investment is into ongoing annual costs to ensure this remains a reality for the merchant network. After announcing how half (£1m) of this segment of the investment was for a new, improved paint finish which launched to market in January, the business is now investing and spending the second half – a further £1m per year – into distribution, to ensure the delivery of the widest product offering in the marketplace within the fastest time.

The wider £5m investment is into a new 45,000ft2 warehouse in Antrim, for which groundworks have already started. SAM says this will enable it to fulfil its delivery, stock hold, and stock range goals, but it also embeds it deeper into the local business community by continuing to provide opportunities for local people.

“Our customers and merchants have had three really challenging years with industry price increases, supply issues and delayed work with the pandemic,” said Gerard Wilson, sales director at SAM.

“During this time, we’ve worked incredibly hard to maintain good communications with suppliers and scale up our level of sales and marketing support for our customers to make their lives easier and be a trusted and reliable partner. People and relationships are at the heart of what SAM is about, in addition to having the right product, in the right quantity, at the right place, and at the right time for our merchant customers. Even when other suppliers were struggling, we ensured we had stock so that we remained consistent and reliable. Our investment has empowered us to achieve more in this area, and provide an even better supplier experience than before - the benefits of our investment are already felt throughout our whole customer base.”

SAM consistency and reliability of delivery and support for suppliers, was reflected in its recent win of ‘Overall Supplier of the Year’ in the annual Jewson awards at the end of 2022.