The manufacturing boss counting on European growth amid uncertainty

When you run a factory that only makes one product and you find yourself in the middle of a pandemic with nobody wanting to buy it, you’ve got a problem on your hands.

Paul Haigh, managing director of Leeds-based shower tray manufacturer, Just Trays, says he saw the bathroom industry almost shut down within 48 hours when the Government announced lockdown measures to stop the spread of the Coronavirus last month.

“We’ve never lived this before and we had no plans for it,” he says. “There was no plan in place for a pandemic and a UK lockdown so it’s been a very steep learning curve for us.”

When we first discussed setting up an interview, back in February, Haigh had set ambitious plans for new product developments and growth both in the UK and overseas in 2020.

A few weeks later he had ripped up the enthusiastic vision to plan for survival instead.

“I’ve ripped up the 12-month plan and all I’m saying is that I need to be profitable every month. Until I know what the market is and what people’s appetite for our product is, then I daren’t put a plan together,” he says.

Initially, Haigh came up with a proposal to cut costs quickly at the £17m turnover firm and a plan to manage finances during the initial phase of lockdown.

Around 100 out of 155 staff were put on furlough at its two sites in Leeds and Bedford and it let go of 40 agency workers, leaving a skeleton staff manning the operation during lockdown.

“In Leeds we’ve gone from a 24-hour operation five and a half days a week, with 35 people per shift, to one shift with 14 people,” he says.

The company is currently running a manufacturing trial in Leeds of the material it produces in Bedford.

The Bedford factory, which exports into Europe, became part of Haigh’s operation when JT was taken over by the £70m turnover radiator supplier Kartell UK last June.

The site is less than half the size of the 105,000 sq ft Leeds operation and he admits there are “brutal decisions” to be made.

“I don’t know if I can support both sites,” he admits. “I’m looking to move some of the business I have down in Bedford into Leeds.

“Prior to this, the plan was to bring jobs into Leeds, now it’s about maintaining jobs here.”

Haigh welcomes the Government’s support for businesses but warns the money needs to come quicker. “We’ve managed our finances so that we hope we get money back in by the second week in May. If it doesn’t come by the end of May, it’s a different story for my business and I’m not the only one,” he says.

While JT has traditionally served the UK market, selling to wholesalers and distributors, the Kartell takeover last June gave the business a new opportunity in Europe.

“The European side of the business is waking up,” he says. “I’ve been on the phone with my friends in Spain, Italy and Holland this morning and they’re coming out the other side and enquiring about their orders.”

He says the company already “has a toe in” a number of European countries, including Portugal, Italy, Germany, Belgium and France, Spain, and Holland. “We just need to expand on that. They’re all big markets.”

“The export side for us might be a lifesaver because I don’t believe that I’ll be able to rely on the UK market as much going forward.”

He adds: “We’ve got to try. We’ve got to challenge ourselves. I’m not a person to sit there and see how the market pans out, I need to drive and challenge the market.

“We need to have a look where we can do something different and how we can do it differently. We’ve got to get back to where we were financially as quickly as we can.”

Presenting at large bathroom exhibitions has always been a major way of attracting new customers for the company. Haigh now believes businesses will have to look at new ways of communicating with potential customers in the future.

“We were due to present at a bathroom exhibition next year”, he says. “I don’t know if that’s going to happen so we’ve got to look at how we communicate differently with potential customers through technology.”

Born and raised in Leeds, Haigh went on to study for a business degree at Manchester Metropolitan University.

But it was whilst doing an engineering apprenticeship at Unilever that he realised where his career aspirations lay. “I realised I wanted to be managing an operation,” he says. “I like to see things from start to finish.”

He spent 18 years at Unilever, working his way up to management roles. He also spent 18 months as operations manager at Hallmark Cards before moving to become operations director at JT in 2012. It was decided he would take over the business following its sale to Kartell.

“I took over and then two of the biggest things to happen to the UK occurred within six months,” he says.

Brexit gave the company an opportunity to sell into the European market ‘very competitively’ given the exchange rate at the time and the firm’s efficient costs base compared to European counterparts. “Brexit didn’t really phase me,” he says. “We worried about supply but we’d done a lot of work behind the scenes to counteract that.”

The main downside was losing a lot of its European workforce. Resources remain a headache for the company going forward. “I don’t want to stereotype a nation but there aren’t many Brits who want to go into manufacturing,” he says.

Haigh lives with his partner Louise and in Leeds. He has two children, a 17-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter.

Looking ahead, he believes businesses in the city should work together more to get through the current crisis. “If there’s something we can all do to help each other out, that would be something that I’d love to be involved in but I’m not seeing anything out there at the moment,” he says.

He adds: “I think this year’s written off for grand plans, it’s about survival. Make a profit this year and you’ll do well for yourself.”

CURRICULUM VITAE

Title: Managing director of Just Trays

Date of birth: April 1972

Education: Temple Moor High School in Leeds. Business degree at Manchester Metropolitan University

First job: Engineer at Unilever

Favourite holiday destination: Italian coast line

Favourite film: Saving Private Ryan

Favourite song: Mr Brightside, by The Killers

Last book read: Vietnam: An Epic History of a Divisive War 1945-1975, by Max Hastings

Car driven: Mercedes

Most proud of: A great pair of kids