Paradise found

While some manufacturers would be at pains to cover up any trading difficulties, managing director of Utopia Bathroom Group, Simon Russell is quick to address them. "Utopia’s values went a bit wobbly for a while. But we’ve managed to gather them up and point them in the right direction. Retailers now see normal service resuming."

He implies that a change in focus from furniture to ceramics was the root cause, as Simon admits: When Utopia bought Barrhead, it was like giving my six year old daughter the keys to a sweet shop. We started thinking we could be a manufacturer of four piece pot. That is where it went wrong. We started making more product, increasing the complexity of what we were doing, and we did it less well. We had lost the plot." But the company has now put this right. Simon says: ‘1 remember my first managing director saying to me - KISS - Keep It Simple, Spaz. And quite simply, we sell ceramics to go with our furniture."

Its latest product launch showed exactly that, with a firm focus on furniture ranges. Utopia recently revealed The Timber Collection, pre-cut and finished granite and marble worktops for one-man installation, as well as black gloss, Natura and Ornamenta door finishes.

Profitable products

Simon Russell points out: This product launch has put Utopia back to where retailers expect it. But there are no showstoppers and deliberately so. The advantage of bringing someone into the business, who is not steeped in history, is that I approach this with a philosophy of what am I going to make some money out of?’ We have been massively disciplined at what we’ve done and the reaction we’ve had from retailers is ‘I could sell anything in your showroom’."

And Utopia is keen to point out that its product development is not stopping here. The company already has plans for 2011 and beyond. Simon continues: "There are more products in development in this business today, now, than there ever has been in the company’s history. It’s a bit of a challenge actually. We’ve probably filled our new product development programme up to 2011, already. But our same philosophy will apply. We are not going to flood our customers with new product, where it’s a battle to keep up. What we will do is develop product, we will take customer feedback on it and we’ll bring the best bits to market. And we’ll do that in an orderly fashion."

Retail sales support

However, Utopia also wants to show that its company values reach beyond its products. Simon continues: "As much effort as is going into our product development is going into the rest of our business." He adds: "The first, thing we wanted was better sales people, giving our customers a better service. We’ve got a really disciplined call cycle forour area sales managers, which means they will be on patch’ for all our customers, every week." Utopia is also aiming for higher quality displays out in the field. And, in return, as a commitment to its retailers, Utopia is undertaking training at its HQ for retailers and installers.

Check it out

But above all, it is its commitment to quality, which sees Utopia restoring its company values. The business had stopped inspection and testing of its ceramic ware, which it has now successfully reinstated. Having helped set up Auto Windscreens, a repair and replacement Windscreen business, Simon is aware of the need for products to be right first time, everytime. He has applied the same practice to Utopia’s ceramic business. He explains: "We inspect and test all the pieces, testing sanitaryware against furniture to see if it will fit, using a spirit level to check horizontal alignment and sinks are tested against frames. Every single piece is checked to that level and our rejection rate on our ceramic is under 1% when it gets to the customer. Prior to re-instating this checking process, the rejection rate was 4%." He continues: "The result of doing this has saved money. Our waste has fallen, so that we are making more money. It has to be perfect first time because as soon as it goes wrong we start losing money."

Certainly, Utopia is being transparent about how it plans to raise the bar in its business. And Simon says the company is “trying to make the experience of customers who deal with us the most simple, straightforward, successful and profitable experience as we can." He concludes: "Only crooks make guarantees and we can’t guarantee it will be perfect everytime. But I don’t think there’s anyone out there working harder to make sure it is right."