When Ney Ltd started in 1976 as a specialist supplier of small throughput edgebanders, it was a modest operation. “We had to start in a shed,” said managing director Gerd Ney.

Since then it has been a story of gradual expansion to service a growing order book for a widening range of woodworking and board processing machinery.

Machines now supplied by Ney include Bre.Ma in the vertical panel processing field; Egurko Ortza, with its vertical beam saws; membrane presses from Simimpianti; Bulleri CNC routers; Weber wide-belt sanders; CEHISA edgebanders; and, most recently, Marzani door and window production technology. Customers include the likes of Jeld-Wen UK and Amdega. The company is also now a leading supplier of its customers’ consumables, notably edgebanding, adhesives, foils and dowels.

Last year saw a major development for Ney with its move from four buildings at Tile Hill, Coventry, to a single 75,000ft2 site on the Middlemarch Business Park. The building gives it 25% more space and everything is now under one roof. It allows Ney to accommodate its growing workforce, expand stock and display areas, take on more machinery refurbishment and, the company maintains, “improves internal communications”.

Growth potential

Ney now employs about 80 people, including about 25 engineers and 15 area sales managers, and annual revenue is approaching £14m. Gerd Ney estimates growth potential of around 10% during 2003 and is confident the new premises will mean growth of up to 30-50% in the mid- to longer-term.

And the company’s coverage was widened further last year with the opening of Ney Ireland to service Irish customers.

The small customer has always been important to the company. With some pride, Mr Ney said: “Hundreds of companies started with us.”

And what’s more, he added, many of them are making about a 25% net profit, in contrast to some larger companies which are not making any money. His belief is that larger companies will have to change to compete or they will not stay in the market.

Technical sales manager Geoff Canning said Ney aimed to provide a service where it identifies customer needs and finds the solutions. It does not tend to service the big companies “where shopfloor decisions are taken away from the works manager”.

“We’re there to build relationships, offer solutions and work with people. That’s the way companies develop,” he said.

Training included

Training customers to use their new machines is an important part of this, with six days’ training offered to clients upgrading to CNC machinery.

Mr Ney added that it was still “a hard market”, partly, he maintained, due to some companies’ methods of marketing and selling woodworking machinery which he described as pushing products irrespective of what the customer wanted. He said it was not the company’s plan to go down this route.

While high technology machine processing solutions may be the most instantly recognisable face of the company, the supply of manufacturers’ consumable materials, such as edgings, adhesives, foils and coatings, has been the fastest-growing element of the business over the past four years during which volumes have doubled.

The move to Middlemarch has allowed consumable materials management to speed up and rationalise the flow of materials, with the extra physical space and increased use of IT playing a big part. Now, about 60% of business is on a next day delivery basis but this is likely to increase.

Stock holdings of edgebandings have risen, with more than 15 million linear metres held in stock at any one time, while up to 35,000m2 can be pre-glued per day, whether it be PVC, melamine, polyester or wood veneer.

Real time stock control

A Focus computer management system allows simulation of all stock movements in real time and promotes transparency for the sales office. This allows Ney to take orders for even the smallest quantities of products – down to a single roll of edging.

The physical size of the building has allowed Ney to split the 16,000ft2 warehouse into two – a closed box sector dedicated to unopened and palletised goods and an open stock area for unpacked materials.

In the open stock section individual items are now bar code identified allowing automation at each stage of the procedure, eliminating mis-picking of customer orders and presenting the information in real time for the benefit of all system users. Items can be individually re-labelled and stored in a dense system of racking.

A “very narrow aisle forklift” has optimised storage space in the closed box warehouse through the reduction of aisle widths to only 1.75m for shelf stacking and order picking.

There is also space for a new coagulation materials laboratory for polyester lacquers and for adhesives formulation and trialling work. Equipment includes cycle simulation ovens, refrigeration and a dedicated clean room with two water wash booths.

IT potential

Director Clemens Ney describes IT as the “brain” of the company and is enthusiastic about its future potential. He believes employees will eventually be able to work from home, using mobile phones to dial into the system. Automatic ordering and a just-in-time philosophy for material supply, whether it be hinges or edging, are earmarked as future targets.

Mr Ney sees two main things happening in the future – increased competition between Ney’s customers and the increasing importance of marketing.

He also foresees some Euro-pean production of woodworking machinery being shifted to countries with cheaper labour rates, such as eastern Europe where wages are 80% lower.

“There will be fierce compe-tition and cheap labour. The whole economy is saying that it will be more difficult than it is now. But there is a positive side; it is a challenge,” he added.

“Customers will possibly put more responsibility regarding efficiency and production over to us. There will be a deeper and deeper role with customers in the future to help them achieve efficiency. So that is also a change in the future.

“So long as we understand what the customers’ problems are tomorrow and we face them today then it is not a problem whether we are the leading company or not. We are there.”

Membrane presses

He predicts that membrane presses will become very fashionable in the coming years, especially in Northern Ireland where he says there are around 400 kitchen makers. Ney currently supplies foil for 40 presses in the UK and Ireland.

Interestingly, Mr Ney thinks the reputation and branding of machines will not matter so much in the future. He said customers increasingly want to know whether a machine works or not, irrespective of the brand name.

He partly puts this down to changing generations, with younger people in the industry now in the position of buying machinery. “The customer does not just want a machine, they want to know how to solve a production problem.”

Ney has a new website scheduled for completion by September 1, being put together by web designer and former Ney employee Gary Nicholls. The new catalogue is being compiled and is due out on October 1.