Tough times see a return to core business
Jul 23 2008 by Alastair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post
Glen Dimplex Home Appliances boss Denver Hewlett (200)
Alistair Houghton meets DENVER HEWLETT, head of Glen Dimplex Home Appliances
The company is also focusing on expanding its Glen Dimplex Professional Appliances arm, which was founded last May and sells to commercial clients.
The division includes Lec Medical, which supplies fridges to pharmacies, wards and laboratories, and catering specialist Burco. Its products include solar-powered fridges designed to store vaccines in Africa.
Despite the peculiarities of British cooking appliances, Hewlett is determined to increase the company’s exports. The company sells to several countries, including Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, but is looking for other markets.
GDHA recently invested in a new plant so it can make its own polystyrene packaging onsite.
Hewlett said: “The transport costs of getting it here from our suppliers were fairly substantial, so we thought we’d get a reasonable payback from making the investment ourselves.
“Our products come in big boxes and they get moved around a number of times. By doing our own packaging, we reduce the cost of damaged products.”
Once they leave the production lines, the appliances are shipped to GDHA’s 450,000sqft National Distribution Centre in Stoke-on-Trent by a 12-strong dedicated lorry fleet. From there GDHA’s products are shipped to retailers throughout the country.
Hewlett’s career in the appliance trade started in his native Birmingham when he worked as a van loader.
His career developed in sales and marketing, including 10 years at Calor Gas before he joined the Glen Dimplex group 12 years ago. Before taking the helm at GDHA, he was chief executive at Stoves’ rival Belling, which had been bought out of administration by Glen Dimplex in 1992.
Glen Dimplex itself was founded 35 years ago as Glen Electric. It bought Dimplex, the leading brand in the UK electrical heating market, in 1977, kicking off its rapid expansion.
Today, the privately-owned business employs 8,500 people worldwide and turns over £1.2bn.
The group took over Stoves in 2001 when the cooker firm was struggling in the face of growing imports. Stoves was first renamed Glen Dimplex Cooking, but became GDHA ahead of its takeover of fridge brand Lec in 2005.
“When this business was acquired, it wasn’t profitable,” said Hewlett. “But we’ve invested heavily.”
