Cumbria-based shower product manufacturer Kudos has said it will be marking its 20th year of trading this year with “ambitious growth plans”, which includes introducing a host of new products across 2019, despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

Kudos Katie Hodgson

The company welcomed two new directors last year, namely Mark Hill as managing director and Nick Graville as sales and marketing director, which Kudos said gave chairman and founder Bruce Ledwith “renewed confidence to invest for growth”.

The company has subsequently invested in new machinery, an expanded warehouse facility and production improvements. “The new management team identified many efficiency gains for the business and very quickly made some great workflow improvements,” said Ledwith.

“2018 culminated in an investment to move all our shower tray production to our facility in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, freeing space for a new 40,000sq ft finished goods warehouse, situated in an expanded facility two miles down the road from our production unit.”

Hill added: “Bruce appointed myself and Nick Graville in early 2018. He knew the company had built a reputation for brilliantly engineered, well-tested products but had the foresight to recognise that for the business to achieve its growth potential he had to invest in the right management skillset.

“My skillset is in finance, process, change management and continual improvement and, with the hard work of everyone in the team, we have transformed our operations processes over 2018 using 5S, lean six Sigma and continuous improvement principles to deliver some great efficiency improvements for the business.”

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