The £3m-turnover Kirkby-based company, which primarily supplies the fitted kitchen and bedroom sector, has been operating from three premises in the area, two factories and a warehouse. The whole operation is now being moved to the new premises, an ex-PVCu factory in Bootle acquired from administrators. The switch will be phased to minimise disruption, with the two processing units relocating first, followed by the warehousing over the next Christmas holidays.
"We’ll close for the break, and reopen on the new site on January 14," said managing director Terry Stephens. "In theory it will be seamless."
The 48,000ft2 of buildings and 20,000ft2 of outdoor storage at Bootle gives Mersey Timber about 35% more space.
"We’d reached the point where we really needed to move to grow," said Mr Stephens. "Operating on just one site will also significantly improve efficiency. We’d learned to work from three, but having everything under one roof will save us £10,000 a year on inter-site transport costs alone. "Previously, products were going from warehouse to machine, to warehouse to rack. Now we’ll be able to go straight from machine to rack.
"It’s also a much newer building, brighter and more sustainable."
Mersey Timber, grew out of a timber and sheet materials merchanting business, but has increasingly focused on panel products and adding value. It has four beam saws and four edgebanders, and further processed products now account for 60-70% of sales.
"We couldn’t compete with the big players just selling panel products in bulk so we developed our own niche, supplying everything from cut and edged MFC, through to plywood, veneered MDF, veneers and replacement doors," said Mr Stephens. "We’ve also started making furniture for local authorities and selling made-to-measure MFC shelving online – a businesses which is now selling nationally and doing around 10 deliveries daily."
The relocation and installation of biomass heating equipment in the new premises will cost around £500,000, with Mersey Timber securing a £370,000 loan from Yorkshire Bank.
Following the move, the company also expects to increase its 33-strong workforce.
