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Our high customer satisfaction levels have proved that providing training to our quality Furniture Installers on an ongoing basis is key to maintaining consistently high standards. Having achieved the Investors in People award in January 2009, we continue to put our staff at the core of our business strategy.
We are now pleased to be able to offer accredited training to other Furniture Installers in the trade, having invested in a state of the art training centre located in the North West of England.
Click here to find out more about the training that we deliver.
In order to offer his expertise to other companies and assist them to improve production efficiency, cash flow, personnel, logistics, business development and general management, Peter Saunders founded Swallow Wood Consultancy LLP in 2006.
Using his diverse background, Peter worked with a variety of clients such as engineering companies, manufacturing organisations, world-wide distributors and the Automotive industry to mention but a few.
Achieving a £1.2million saving in the first 3 months of his consultancy contract with a large nationwide furniture manufacturer due to the successful implementation of standard operating procedures, he recognised the need for a new company infrastructure to serve the client.
Rubicon Developments Ltd was therefore born.
Employing it’s own furniture installers, warehouse personnel, administration and supervisory staff, the company grew to a point where further strategic management was required.
In June 2007, Carol Saunders joined the business and brought her training, recruitment, business administration, personnel and financial management expertise into the company. Training plans and personnel management structures were implemented, and in January 2008 the company achieved the Investor in People award.
Peter and Carol Saunders recognised that a recession was on the way, and began to invest in the future of their company by a program of diversification. No longer could Rubicon Developments sustain it’s 10 employee base in the current climate, without further business development and a strategy for growth.
So what were the company’s successes to date?
So.... in February 2009, Peter and Carol Saunders invested in Katherine Cavendish House, and project managed a 14-week refurbishment program.
A key factor that facilitated this distancing of the Directors from the business during this time, was the management mentoring program, that they had implemented in order to promote their existing warehouse supervisor to a Northern Regional Services Manager, able to manage the daily operations of the business in their absence.
This detailed and bespoke training plan was what gained them the prestigious National Training award in October 2009.
Out of this diversification strategy, Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors Ltd was born (September 2009). Now in control of their own retail sales through their Ashton-under-Lyne based Kitchen, bedroom and home office retail studio, the company was no longer reliant on one key consultancy client. Having travelled to Germany to select the best quality furniture to continue their high standards,
Also, having being recognised by the National Training Award and the customer satisfaction survey 100% success rate, as a direct result of the customer service training implemented, Rubicon Developments is now proud to offer their training to other companies in the Training Centre within Katherine Cavendish House.
So now, 1 year later, Peter and Carol Saunders, owning 3 companies...
...are able to continue to offer the services of their companies from Katherine Cavendish House in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Recognising that IT is the information super highway of tomorrow’s business, Peter and Carol made a decision not originally accounted for – they employed Andrew Chooah as their IT and Media Manager.
Since joining the company, Andrew has been horrified to learn of some of the IT horror stories told by various business contacts and now works within the consultancy side of the business to assist SME’s to have a comprehensive IT infrastructure without the extensive cost.
Keeping it in the family – David joined the company to work as a Studio Consultant in January 2010, where he is able to work with the Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors customers in order to provide a creative and cost effective design for their kitchen, bedroom or home office needs. Obtaining the Tameside Buy with Confidence trading standards accreditation in March 2010 further cemented Katherine Cavendish Fitted Interiors values on quality and strong customer service ethics within the fitted furniture industry.
There the story ends, or has it only just begun?.....
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How did it all start?
Peter and Carol decided on Bauformat and Burger German kitchens. With their fluency in the language and understanding the German culture, quality, precision and accuracy was guaranteed and further affirmed by the 5-year manufacturer’s guarantee.
