Blue Diamond and Britannia Wardrobes work together to produce versatile interior wardrobe systems

Like many manufacturing companies, Britannia is constantly looking for ways to introduce new products and develop its existing ranges in a competitive marketplace. Blue Diamond provides the engineering and manufacturing resources to fulfil these ideas with products that are engineered for low manufacturing costs, pleasing appearance and long life. Britannia has been using Blue Diamond as a supplier for many years and as the relationship between the companies has developed, Blue Diamond is being used to source an increasing number of components.

Blue Diamond has extensive engineering resources in the UK and uses carefully vetted suppliers in low cost base countries to source a range of components. Individual companies find it difficult to deal directly with low cost suppliers because of the problems of communication and documentation; there are also often issues with quality standards and scheduling. Blue Diamond takes care of the complete supply chain and is now well established as a supplier of high quality parts at prices that represent considerable savings compared with local suppliers.

Britannia Wardrobes Ltd supplies customers in the UK and overseas with sliding wardrobe systems and a wide range of components for wardrobe doors, including tracking and accessories. Britannia had been a customer of Blue Diamond for a number of years as a source of roller bearings. Originally Britannia was having many of its components manufactured locally around Hemel Hempstead and assembling them in its own factory. However, this involved engineering and supply problems which could interfere with production schedules.

In order to streamline supply and control costs, Britannia approached Blue Diamond to see if the Company could rationalise further areas of their supply chain. Blue Diamond was quick to respond to this challenge and rather than just supplying like for like components, the engineering team at Blue Diamond has evaluated and re-engineered many components to ensure that they were not over-engineered and were suited for production by the most cost -efficient methods.

“One of the first products to be supplied by Blue Diamond was wheel-housings,“ said Ray Wilson, Managing Director for Britannia Wardrobes. “We soon recognised the added value that the Blue Diamond engineers were bringing to our components in terms of their functionality and appearance and as the relationship developed we moved on to redesigning more complex assemblies.”

So when Britannia was developing its Ambassador Wardrobe range to meet the demands of the 21st Century, it asked Blue Diamond to appraise the conventional fixtures and fittings and re-engineer them to take account of functionality, appearance, durability and cost. Blue Diamond met all of these requirements providing an attractive and versatile solution that is both quick and easy to install.

“Our partnership with Blue Diamond works really well,” continued Ray Wilson. “They understand our needs and can interpret these requirements into first class engineering solutions. We always get a positive and speedy response to our enquiries whenever we approach them.”

Components being supplied by Blue Diamond include moulded supports and brackets, shoe rack arms, and roller assemblies for the sliding doors. In addition to all the benefits of global procurement with the reliability and convenience of a single UK source, Britannia uses Blue Diamond to arrange order scheduling, packaging and stockholding of products as required.

Blue Diamond can supply all types of plastic moulded components, turned parts and castings, all manufactured to the highest standards. These products are being supplied across a wide range of industries including construction, automotive, agriculture, building, office equipment, pumps, electric motors and instrumentation.