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The biggest and best product range
As a competitor you tend to form a view of your business opponents,
and I knew that
Spectus had been through the mill over the previous few years.
To be honest I was
not expecting a great deal of the company and believed that a
huge rebuilding
exercise would be needed to get the company back into the mainstream,
and back
on top of the window systems market. You'll understand my complete
surprise
therefore when I discovered that not only did we have one of the
most
comprehensive, coherent, innovative and modern product ranges
at Spectus, but
we also had a hugely talented and committed team at all levels
to back up that
product offering. This extensive expertise within the organisation
is complemented
by a great loyalty to the company. Some of our best employees
had stuck with the
company through the many troubles it had suffered under different
management
and changes of ownership. During this difficult period, they had
just put their
heads down and got on with solving the problems and building for
the future.
Not only had the company retained its brightest and best employees,
but the
company had invested very large sums in its products and in its
logistics and
warehousing over a number of years. It is not an easy decision
to make to invest
heavily when many of its rivals were investing less, and taking
the profit as dividends
instead. But those decisions are paying off now, giving Spectus
and its customers
a significant competitive advantage in the market when and where
it really matters.
Good at spotting growth markets
This innate sense of foresight shows itself too in identifying
the markets of the future.
Eastern Europe for instance has been supplied by Spectus for over
10 years, while
most UK systems companies turned their back on these emerging
markets.
As the European Union increases its member countries we will service
this now
fast expanding market from our new extrusion base in Wroclaw,
Poland.
The burgeoning Indian market was also identified well before the
phenomenal
growth in building started in 2005. By then, Spectus had already
been supplying
this market with a joint partner for over five years.
A leading premium brand again
This strength in depth has made my first 100 days in office relatively
easy as we
only needed a few tweaks in the set up to help return Spectus
to its rightful place as
one of the premier systems companies. Spectus is one of the big
window systems
brands. One of the leading premium brands in the 1980s, it prospered
in the 1990s
before running into well publicised troubles at the end of that
decade.
But, once again, Spectus is setting out to lead the industry.
The market is going
through a huge transformation and only some systems company brands
will be
relevant to fabricators in the emerging new market. Indeed, only
some systems
companies can help fabricators do well in the market now. I firmly
believe that
Spectus is well placed to become the leader amongst these brands.
Now to the next 100 days…
Well, I've got past my first 100 days, which is more than can
be said for
James Madison, the 20th US President who was shot dead exactly
on his
100th day in charge. But, with a surname of Kennedy, you'll understand
my
desire to avoid grassy knolls and downtown book depositories.
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