Onwards and upwards
August 1st 2007

After the Linpac group acquiring Allibert earlier this year, Linpac Storage Systems' sales director, Tim Judge, says the merger is going better than expected. With a broader service portfolio, healthy order books and a rejuvenated industry, he says things are looking up. Brendan Coyne reports

Acquisitions can be tricky. But Tim Judge, Linpac Storage Systems' head of sales, says the Allibert merger is going better than expected.

"Mergers can be quite uncertain times," he admits. "But we've applied a great deal of effort and resource to make sure customers and staff are looked after. Employees get nervous, they're not certain what's going on and a couple have decided to go and do other things – but that's how life is." Personally, Judge thinks "it's a great marriage", and that the two companies are learning much from each other.

As a distributor, the Allibert business means Linpac now offers a more complete package. Allibert retains varied clients and has strong links with industrial storage specialist, Esmena. As Linpac Allibert, Judge says it will continue in that pattern. "We will still sell that group of products and enhance it by going into the market and seeing what's out there. The businesses complement each other rather than compete, which means more revenue streams and profitability." With the market continuing to build onwards and upwards, and specialist warehouse truck lift heights hitting 13m, Judge says Esmena's ability to go higher and heavier than most could help win more big contracts. "It remains to be seen," he admits. "But Allibert is going to lead with the Esmena offering. That will be their trump card. And for Linpac sales it means that, if the client wants to go bigger than the cut off point of our manufacturing capacity, we can offer the Esmena product." Internally, Judge says Allibert's service is "genuinely second to none". Staff from the Bromsgrove business are now passing on their skills to Linpac. "They've worked at it and are rightfully very proud," he says.

"Linpac can genuinely benefit and move forward as a group." Getting better The broader service capability and additional channel to market sees Linpac well placed to gain in a resurgent market.

According to Judge, the entire industry (or at least the honest people) would admit that last year was tough. "But over the last six months or so we've gone through the green shoots of recovery. We're really busy, as are our competitors. Which is great: it's good for the industry, the economy and all the ancillary businesses involved with logistics and warehousing." However, Judge admits that hard times can be character building: when the going gets tough, the tough get leaner; emerging a more efficient business. Did that require any additional investment in technology? "No," says Judge. "We aim to stay ahead of the curve in that sense. Whereas others have taken manufacturing to Europe (or wherever is currently cheap), we had already invested in machinery here to keep pace with the market." With a new beam line installed a couple of years ago, the company is now in the process of implementing a new bracing line, which Judge says will create further cost savings, delivering products with better tolerances and that are easier to build. Which is timely, because the company expects very shortly to come under pressure from China.

Whereas many European markets are cushioned by local restrictions, Judge says the UK affords its firms no such protection.

"It's very easy for them to place some adverts, attend a few exhibitions and set up stall." While a common complaint in many a corner of British industry, Judge is confident rather than bitter about the future.

"Customers don't just buy frames and beams, it's all about confidence in the whole package. We spend a lot of time with the customer, we can offer them our own products or a genuine independent broker's solution, bring them into the office to see how the contract is being handled, they can go into the factory and see everything coming together. And that gives the customer complete confidence that they are making the right decision. Which is essential, because generally, it's an awful lot of money." The approach continues to work for the company, as recent contract wins confirm.

A good example, says Judge, is a UK distribution centre completed for office furniture specialist, Staples. "We came onto the project relatively late and had to make some short sharp impacts – which we did," says Judge. "Worth about £1.5m, it included pallet racking, pallet live and some carton live. We've literally just completed – and on the strength of our performance we've been asked to partner Staples' European expansion programme.

"So we must be doing something right," says Judge. "Hopefully quite a few things."

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