Since opening its doors in 1998, Trade Fabrication Systems (TFS) has been providing value added solutions for clients’ timber substrates. Helping to streamline the manufacturing process through offsite pre-finishing, TFS aligns itself closely with business-to-business partners to enhance efficiencies and improve overall quality for its clients.
In the last two years specifically, TFS has made significant investments to expand its offering, enhance internal operations, and support business-to-business innovation. Having joined the company in 2009, Howard Morris, who was appointed managing director in 2018, has made strides over the years to rejuvenate the business. By working with the supply chain to form and enhance customer relationships, he helped to improve the business’ profitability overall.
He identified that significant changes needed to be made to process, personnel and equipment to secure TFS’ future. As a result, with the support of long-standing team member and business development manager, Adam Morris, a plan was agreed with major shareholders to enact the changes and put the foundations in place for the long term future of the business.
“A core part of our ethos as a business is partnerships,” said Howard Morris. “Working closely with our clients we identified an opportunity to support further on the logistical side of offsite processing to become a one-stop-shop for timber requirements.
We have always been able to add foil and coatings to substrates but our ultimate objective has always been to complete the full circle. Investing in both machinery and a wider choice of finishes, including fire retardant coating, is supporting us to become an all-encompassing processor for timber substrates.
“As offsite processing has risen to the forefront of construction, we took advantage of this step-change in the market to invest in our future as a business,” he continued.
“Recognising that speed of construction can have a negative impact on its quality, we wanted to set a new benchmark. We are demonstrating to the industry that speed and quality can be simultaneous, providing it’s done correctly. A primary driver behind our investment in processes has been to ensure we can help partners to achieve efficiency, whilst maintaining quality of construction.”
The recent unprecedented challenges facing the industry and lack of clarity initially caused a lot of confusion for all members of the supply chain.
“At first, like many other sectors, the construction industry faced a period of unknowns but following the release of clear government guidance, we welcomed this as an opportunity to maintain business continuity,” said Mr Morris. “The construction industry and members of the supply chain were confirmed as essential, and by working collaboratively with partners on the completion of designated key projects, we have been able to remain operational and keep the supply chain moving.
“With a team of skeleton staff, reduced shifts, and social distancing measures in place, at TFS we have made firm business decisions to ensure we operate as close to business as usual as possible. Our investments in machinery and people have allowed us to act as a one-stop-shop for timber processing and we can limit the number of people on a construction site at any given time by completing many onsite processes, offsite.”
Another element of its investment strategy is the appointment of three key members of staff, including systems support co-ordinator, Dave Watts, to manage TFS’ quality processes and ISO 9001:2015 assurances. Having held ISO 9001 for a decade, TFS has found this to be a key driver in being appointed by major manufacturing partners globally.
“ISO 9001:2015 is a guaranteed statement for the quality of the service a business provides,” said Mr Morris. “Offsite processing means that we provide key components to the industry that are ready for installation, which ultimately means, clients trust what we apply to the substrates. As we respond to clients’ needs to scale and the intensity of the ISO 9001 certification programme increases, we appointed a person to manage what we feel is a necessary business requirement.”
Having successfully piloted TFS’ most recent BS EN ISO 9001:2015 quality assurance audit Mr Watts and the management team at TFS rebuilt the entire system to streamline and improve the overall process for the company’s clients.
Further than ISO 9001:2015, TFS has a list of memberships, accreditations and certifications to its name, including BBA, WPA and most recently, BWF membership.
“Quality is what makes a business stand out among its competition and at TFS we are proud of our reputation and make sure that everything that leaves our factory is ‘right first time’. Our investment in machinery allows us to take carpentry and paint jobs that are traditionally done onsite, offsite – guaranteeing that the space cut for locks and hinges are clean and paintwork is consistent.
“This investment has also paved the way for our enhanced service offering for doors, including cutting space for seals in the processing of fire doors. Joining the BWF was another opportunity for us to reiterate our dedication to delivering quality solutions, whilst giving an independent stamp of approval within the supply chain as a trusted partner.”
Along with Dave Watts, TFS also appointed UK head of manufacturing, Terence Wells and UK sales manager, James Bishop to its management team.
“With large growth ambitions and our investment strategy ongoing, we needed the right people in place who can grow with us and support our aims,” said Mr Morris. “Terry supports overall quality control standards from staff efficiencies to enhancing service provisions. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt individual, Terry has the skills and expertise to help us identify ways in which we can streamline our processes for both internal and commercial benefit.
“Training and professional development are incredibly important to us, which is why we encouraged Terry to fulfil his personal Six Sigma ambitions, whilst also becoming more efficient and effective as we expand as a business.
“Also, expanding our service offering ultimately means that we can support more aspects of the supply chain, and this is where James comes in. James has a wealth of experience working within panel manufacturing and has an immense knowledge of the supply chain and what manufacturers need. Helping to educate our partners on the benefits of offsite processing, particularly for builders’ merchants and housebuilders, will be James’ focus.”
Timber has always been an important raw material for use within construction, and TFS can process virtually any timber substrate for both builders’ merchants and manufacturing partners. Working independently in the supply chain, Mr Morris explained what TFS’ solutions for OSB, MDF and plywood mean for the industry.
“Much of what we do is driven in collaboration with our partners,” he said.
“Providing priming, coatings and lacquers for client purchased substrates means that they retain the procurement power while we add value. That said, the clients need to have confidence in our techniques, otherwise they run the risk of losses through wasted inventory. That’s why our factory applied performance and decorative coatings have become an integral part of the supply chain for many major panel manufacturers – we’re a trusted partner that operates to the highest quality standards with virtually no wastage.”
Collaboration and partnership are fundamental pillars in TFS’ business model, and its B2B stance has resulted in innovative, cutting-edge solutions for the industry.
TFS regularly works on the research and development of new and unique processing solutions that benefit the industry as a whole. One example is its own Euroclass B compliant fire retardant coating, ProStructFR.
“Fire protection and timber go hand-in-hand in construction, but the two main FR solutions for timber panels, impregnation treatment and fire retardant paint, have their own pros and cons,” said Mr Morris.
“Working collaboratively from research and development stage, we supported the development of ProStructFR. This is a fire retardant coating that has been independently tested as Euroclass B compliant, without impacting on a substrate’s structural integrity.
Coated at our facility to exact specification, we can guarantee its performance, adding value and confidence for installers.
“Understanding the potential of this coating and the safeguarding qualities of it being processed to exact standard, we recently acquired the brand to ensure we can take it to market widely. Being able to offer this service as standard ultimately increases processing choice for our clients whilst ensuring compliance.”
Another key business-to-business partnership for TFS is with BSW Timber on the launch of the IRO Timber range.
BSW Timber identified an opportunity to manufacture a revolutionary range of decorative cladding and decking products that used heat enhancing technology and that could be made scalable for mainstream manufacture.
Transforming this vision into a reality would have meant significant investment for BSW Timber to establish an in-house resource. Recognising this as an opportunity to embrace offsite processing, collaborating with TFS allowed BSW Timber to bring the product to market much quicker, without the need for major capital expenditure.
“For BSW, its core competency and focuses are in timber,” said Mr Morris. “By sending us a profiled and heat enhanced substrate, which we then coat at our facility, before routing back into their own supply chain, BSW Timber brought the IRO Timber range to market quickly and easily. This has resulted in the introduction of a sustainable and durable timber substrate for the decking and cladding market.”
Although a silent partner in the supply chain for many multi-million pound and international businesses, TFS’ role extends further than a processor. It also supports the supply chain to streamline efficiencies by working hand-in-hand as a logistics partner.
“Experience working within the construction industry has shown us that there are sometimes unexpected challenges that arise and impact timescales,” said Mr Morris.
“At TFS, to avoid stock damage we operate a JIT method with our processing and will hold finished stock for the ease of our partners.
We are also able to act as a hub for the distribution of products to the next step in the supply chain, whether that be direct to site, to builders’ merchants or back to the client, we’re geared up to streamline the logistics process and support efficiency.”
