Karmelle Ltd
A company manufacturing packaging systems has got success all bottled up.
Karmelle Ltd, based at Queen’s Mil Industrial Estate in Huddersfield, has been in the industry for more than 30 years – designing and building systems to fill, cap and label products.
Customers include companies making food and drink, chemicals, cosmetics, dairy products, tubes and oils and pharmaceuticals.
Marketing executive Ella Pearson said: “We believe we have the right mixture of outstanding customer service, successful business strategy, working practice, product development and sustained sales and business growth – with the potential for future development.”
The company has grown employee numbers from eight in 2013 to 20 today and in the past 12 months has added two state-of-the-art machines to its manufacturing facilities. It has expanded its capping machine range and doubled the size of its premises in the past year.
Karmelle has also increased the number of enquiries following a drive to develop its PR and marketing efforts and redesign its website.
Investment in manufacturing equipment has created three extra jobs and helped the firm to increase productivity, reduce lead times and increase its control over quality of materials – all leading to an improved service for its customers and growth in turnover.
Managing director Peter Krawczuk said: “Our customers are at the forefront of our business. We have existing for over 25 years without any marketing, PR or an army of sales reps, purely on customer recommendation.”
The Pink Link
It’s been a massive year for Oakes-based logistics business The Pink Link.
The family-owned company, originally known as SBH Express Services, is celebrating 25 years in business. The firm, which employs 45 people, marked the occasion with a family fun day at its Crosland Road headquarters.
The Pink Link attributes its success to providing its customers with “an unrivalled degree of personalised service”.
Its drive to put service excellence at the heart of its business became a reality in 1996 when The Pink Link became part of the Palletways (UK) Ltd national distribution network.
The firm has also attained ISO9000 and achieved Platinum Status within Palletways over the past seven years in recognition of a consistently excellent performance, compliance and commitment across a set of key measures – and it enjoys a high client retention rate.
Embracing information technology through Palletways has played a key part in enhancing operational efficiency while an online track and trace system provides customers with access to information about the progress of their consignments at the click of a mouse.
The Pink Link has also relaunched its European service in association with Palletways, since when it has seen a significant increase in demand from customers shipping to 18 countries including Poland, Czech republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
Director Vicki Davenport has been shortlisted for two national awards recognising her contribution to UK business – featuring in two categories of the Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards.
The firm also rates CSR highly – raising thousands of pounds for local charities.
Vicki said: “Having traded successfully for 25 years, the business is still ambitious and determined to keep investing in fleet, IT, staff facilities and people.”
Towndoor Ltd
A family-owned commercial property rental and development company can look back on a year of achievement.
Towndoor Ltd, based at Meltham and established in 1988 by Stuart and Lucy Bamforth, today has a portfolio of more than 1m sq ft of workspace housing more than 100 units ranging in size from 400sq ft to 60,000sq ft across nine sites in the Huddersfield and Leeds area.
Under the leadership of managing director Dan Bamforth, the company has undertaken a modernisation and refurbishment programme of its existing properties – resulting in even more requests for units.
Towndoor has also invested heavily in new work processes to replace outdated systems and keep tenants happy by being able to respond more quickly to their demands.
The biggest achievement of the past years has been the development of a previously derelict site at Lockwood to create The Dyeworks – two standalone buildings each housing four separate units.
The scheme has attracted national company Screwfix as one of the tenants.
Towndoor spokesman Jon Stewart said: “Dan’s can-do approach and positive thinking are great motivators for the team and are definitely one of the reasons for his success in the commercial property business – sharing his passion for breathing new life into previously abandoned sites or modernising old buildings.”
He added: “Our philosophy is always that the customer must come first and this is a true reflection of how we have continued to run the company.
“We are always looking for ways to improve the company and remain forward-thinking.
“Our ‘customer comes first’ attitude has seen huge rewards and is a great way to listen to any feedback and implement their requests into our day-to-day running of the company.
“If our customers are happy, then we must be doing something right!”
