As I enter my 12th year in business, I’ve received several messages wishing me best wishes but also alongside these I’ve received several enquiring as to how I ended up owning a pallet and packaging company. This has prompted me, not only to post my first ever post, but also to, ever so briefly (as briefly as I can anyway) tell my little story…
Roll back the clock to Early 2012, my role at the time was to develop a parcel/courier operation on the Isle of Man. Commuting between there, Northern Ireland and the UK my weeks were long and my time with my 2 young children (then 6 and 4) was short. Having just found out my (now ex) wife was pregnant with our third I knew it was possibly time for a change.
A chance encounter, and subsequent conversation, with an old acquaintance entered me into talks with a struggling pallet and packaging business, that could trace its origins back to 1941, on the outskirts of Oldham town centre. This mutual contact believed that my background in freight forwarding, logistics and distribution would be of benefit to the company that had fallen on harder times with failing sales and plummeting profits. The 6– to 10-minute commute from my home coupled with the opportunity to spend more time with my family seemed a win-win solution at the time, so on the 31st March 2012 I entered the completely alien world of bespoke pallets and packaging.
And I can honestly say that, and not for the first time in my life, I felt completely out of my depth. Not really knowing the difference between a 4-way entry pallet and a 2-way entry one, what was a case or a crate and knowing nothing about the legalities of packaging regulations or ISPM15 (heat treatment). With no idea with regards timber sizes, thicknesses, weight-bearing capabilities I faced a vertical learning curve. But I can honestly say I loved it and soon found myself at home and feeling more comfortable in a role than I had ever done previously.
What quickly emerged however was, despite all the best intentions the director had, the fundamental issue with the business was cashflow, or more importantly lack of it. Heavily depending upon his factoring facility, the director was struggling to purchase sufficient timber stocks to facilitate demand which in turn forced clients to consider other supply routes. Hence the haemorrhaging sales. This in turn led to my role quickly developing into a firefighting mission in an attempt to halt these falling sales.
Roll on until Christmas 2012. We closed on the Christmas Eve with a nice little year-end bonus. I’d salvaged enough clients to ensure that the weekly sales exceeded the company’s outgoings and had brought in sufficient new clients to ensure that the commencement of 2013 looked quite rosy. Behind the scenes, and unbeknown to myself or any of the team, the business had already entered into administration.
Upon on our return to work on the 2nd January 2013, I entered the director’s office to offer my best wishes only to find him with his head in his hands whereby he relayed the information that the business had indeed collapsed. Dumbstruck, and with a plethora of follow-up meetings scheduled with new clients and appointments with existing clients, I was left in awe and disbelief. Low and behold that afternoon the administrators walked in to seize any tangible assets.
Upon their arrival and during our discussions I asked if I could have 10 minutes of their time to discuss a proposal and we scheduled a meeting for the following day. Overnight, following a conversation with the then production manager, I quickly drafted a (very) rudimentary business plan, cobbled together some rudimentary financial figures and set about figuring out whether I could purchase the remnants of the business. Not really, at that point, knowing what I would, or could, do with them.
Anyway, long story short. The administrators bought into my idiotic ideas, and I agreed to purchase the remaining assets and goodwill. And thus, Precision Pallets & Cases Ltd was born. Then came the hard part. Telling my (ex) wife that I’d just ploughed all my savings into a failed business. With a 1-month-old baby at home, a house in disarray as we’d started a considerable extension, and two young children I set about trying to salvage whatever business I could. I jumped into my car (a trusty Saab 95 estate) and drove around as many clients as I could in an attempt to persuade them to give my new business a chance and utilise my services. Fortunately, out of 120 clients I visited or spoke to over the course of the next few days, 108 said that they would use me for whole or partial supply.
On the 18th January 2013 Precision Pallets & Cases Ltd commenced manufacturing. Just over 2 weeks after being formed. With just 4 employees from an original 18 and one administration lady the plan was naively ambitious.
For the next 10 months I juggled 16- to 20-hour working days, ploughed more of my own personal finances into staff wages, timber, nails and all manner of items needed to facilitate a new business. If you ask me how those first 10 months went, I honestly can’t recall. I was in a daze; it was all a blur. Spending 8-12 hours a day making pallets and cases and then, when everyone else had gone home, spending as many hours as needed sending invoices, undertaking quotations and anything else admin related.
However, by the end of 2013, Precision Pallets & Cases Ltd turned a profit. Not the biggest and certainly not enough to recoup the finances I’d ploughed into it but a profit, nonetheless.
This then set the tone for the next 11 years. And for each of those subsequent years the business has grown. Not only in turnover and profits but also in staff numbers, clients from all corners of the UK (and some beyond) but also in reputation. With a can-do mentality we pride ourselves on being able to offer a solution to every requirement.
We have become a respected name within the pallet and packaging industry and have manufactured all manner of weird and wonderful timber packaging products. We’ve manufactured bespoke pallet furniture for restaurants, manufactured packing cases for Virgin Galactic in the USA, pallets for Hewlett Packard in Puerto Rico (South America not the Canary Islands), displays for exhibitions, we’ve shipped vintage motorbikes to Japan, and we’ve even manufactured packing cases to transport the famous glitter ball for Strictly Come Dancing! We’ve even managed to pick up a few awards along the way. There’s nothing that our skilled team members can’t put their hand to and there’s nothing, so far, that we’ve not been able to produce a solution for.
Many of the clients that I saw in those first manic days are still with us today. Testament to the services we offer. In turn these clients have referred and recommended us to their suppliers, and these have referred and recommended us to their suppliers. There’s no better reference than a valued recommendation!
This is my story. There’s a lot missing and if anyone wants the full version, I’d be happy to share this over a coffee and a biscuit or two. I once said that I should write a book titled “How Not to Start a Business” or “How to Run a Business Built on Mistakes”, but as yet I have had neither the time nor inclination.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. The last 12 years have been a blast and I truly love everything that we do and every product that leaves our premises. I love and respect all my clients whether old or new and regardless of whether or not they are or are not currently utilising our services because they have allowed me to create a business that I love in an industry that is forever changing, evolving and adapting.
Here’s to the next 12 years!
