News

Investing in our future

In the late 1990s, when the last of the furniture trade started to leave east London, we decided to sell our site in Shoreditch and redevelop our West Norwood site including a tank farm for the safe handling of solvents, and in October 2007 we completed the building of our new warehouse.

We knew that having a more efficient warehouse facility was the key to the future of our business.

Manufacturing and distributing such a wide range of products was becoming increasingly difficult in old buildings where forklift access was poor. Now, our purpose built warehouse, which has over 350 pallet bays and many low level picking shelves, has revolutionized our distribution, allowing us to pick products efficiently. Located right next door to our manufacturing and colour matching facilities, we can now load our vehicles in the evenings for prompt delivery, and with improved access, national carriers can collect pallets or parcels for next day delivery all over the UK (except Scottish Highlands).

The ultimate colour match

Once we matched all colours using experienced colour matchers, matching by eye. While this is still the best way to check an approved colour, advances in technology mean we can now use a spectro-photometer which, combined with our new ‘colour master’ software package, has considerably speeded up our colour matching service. However, nothing beats experience, and we’re proud our colour technicians alone have 120 years of colour matching experience between them.

Long pot life transforms performance

Technological improvements in acid catalyst lacquers have made a huge difference to our fast dry Acid Catalyst system. We have improved both drying time and the ‘through cure’ of the product as it dries.

This allows you to paper the product faster than before. Manufacturers normally suggest leaving the product up to an hour before denibbing for subsequent coats; however, in practice, this is often inconvenient.

Our new version allows you to start denibbing much faster than previously. We have increased the solids of this standard material to 48% and the long pot life will now give you up to 36 hours of working material, dependent on temperature and working conditions.

The product can be diluted with freshly made material and used up if the product has started to thicken. It’s available in all sheens and is well worth a try.Universal 280 Lacquers, High Solids

In addition to our very fast drying and popular 2000 range pre-cat, we have also developed the Universal 280 High Solids pre-cat. While having the same solids content as the 2000, this higher viscosity product is very popular with traditional English furniture manufacturers as you can pull over the product for at least 72 hours after the last coat has been applied. The 280 figure refers to 28% in solids, and it’s available in all sheens.

New packaging for big containers helps factories with waste

Our new 20 and 25 litre product packaging delivers the following improvements

1 lift off lid for easy stirring, with a band and quick latch.

2 lids fitted with ‘pull out’ spout for easy pouring and suction rod entry

3 pails stack inside each other, so no need for crushing or bulky empty containers – even our Dual Thinners are packed this way!