Walk through history but Leach also has designs on the future

Whenever Richard Leach walks into Leach Design’s boardroom, the hand of history weighs on his shoulder.

The Huddersfield-based large format graphic display manufacturer has been innovating over the past 125 years and all those innovations are highlighted on a timeline charting the company’s history.

In 1891, when Arthur Holdsworth Leach set up shop not far down the road in Brighouse it was a photographic studio. It took Arthur Leach just four years to realise the potential of life-sized prints.

Fast forward 125 years and his great grandson Richard Leach is pushing innovation in an increasingly digital world.

But what is it like knowing that over 125 years of history are now on your shoulders?

“You do feel pressure but in a positive way,” says Mr Leach. “I do find it a rewarding challenge and it definitely injects meaning into your work life.”

Leach Design employs 90 staff and has a turnover of £11m. While the Leach family has always been involved in the business, it wasn’t a given that Richard would be taking the reins at the company.

“My father didn’t want to push me into the business,” he says.

After graduating from university, Mr Leach went seeking for experience outside the business. It enabled him to take stock and decide whether joining the family firm was what he wanted.

“But looking back I think I made the right decision because I’ve had a fulfilling and stimulating career in the company,” he adds.

Leach is one of those businesses that is in the rare boat of having been owned by both a family and a large PLC.

Richard’s grandfather, Eric, sold the business to Hunting PLC in 1966. But while the company changed ownership the Leach family very much remained involved in the running of the business. They bought the business back in 1999 from Hunting.

Mr Leach said: “I found the company as an independently owned SME being a lot more rewarding to be the manager of.

“You really feel master of your own destiny. You can be more flexible, change things and be lighter on your feet. You’re not bound by corporate decision-making delays.

“Since 1999, when we came back into family ownership, we’ve seen our markets evolve at the fastest ever rate due to the huge increase in digital technology used within our industries and also the massive challenges that the 2008/09 recession threw up.”

The agility of being a family-run business has enabled Leach to deal with the difficulties in the economy and the shifts in the market.

The recession was a “difficult” time in the company’s history, Mr Leach reflects, with four of its major customers going bust.

Luckily the business had let its balance sheet build up meaning the printer wasn’t in “terminal danger”.

Richard Leach came to the conclusion that the recovery would be flat and that the business should prepare to grow in a flat economy.

He said: “We took the view in 2008 that it was an L shaped recession. That the market had dropped and that there was no particular uplift visible over the horizon and for us to grow as a company we would have to increase market share and look at ways of growing in a very flat market scenario.”

In the eight or so years after the recession the company would post continuous growth.

The business now has an “organic incremental growth plan” in place, that could see Leach Design reach 100 employees again for the first time in “very many years”.

Recently, Leach Design launched the ‘Product Wall’ – a display that uses a combination of graphic displays, LED lighting and magnetic fixing technology, enabling shops to present striking displays that they can change quickly and efficiently.

“We see plenty more growth potential in the combination of large format graphic displays with LED lighting technology,” says Mr Leach. “We’ve increased our product design team in that area so that we can increase the rate of new product development to satisfy that growing market area.”

Leach Design is proud of its West Yorkshire roots. But the company is growing its global presence. One particular international market that seems to be shining brightly for the business is the Middle East.

In addition to providing graphic displays to the retail sector, Leach also works in the museums and cultural sectors.

Rather than just printing graphic displays, the company is designing and building environments, providing a more immersive experience for museum visitors. Mr Leach said: “The Middle East has got a booming heritage and cultural sector, which is largely driven from their plans to move on from the oil based economy to the next stage of their economic development.

“The many UK companies, ourselves included, who are specialists in supplying into the museum, visitor and cultural sectors have been drawn into that market because they are requiring that specialism.”

As you enter Leach Design’s headquarters there’s a serenity about the place, with sharp graphics exhibited on the walls. But behind the scenes the cogs of the business whir away.

There is even a little textile work involved as a small team of sewing machinists help bring displays to life. This is the place where it all began for Mr Leach.

“I used to talk to my father about the business when I was a schoolboy and often I used to go in on a Saturday morning with my father and watch him with the production operations, which were running on that morning,” he says.

Richard Leach factfile

Title: Managing director

Date of birth: September, 1968

Lives: Halifax

Favourite holiday destination: Austrian Alps

Last book read: The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis

Favourite film: A Beautiful Mind

Favourite song: I love to hear the England rugby crowd roaring ‘Swing Low’ at Twickenham

Car driven: BMW X5

Most proud of: 125 years of family business success

Education: Bradford Grammar School, The Queen’s College Oxford