64-66 SPOTLIGHT - Bond_It_TOR047_sept20_v2_LAW.qxp 01/10/2020 16:34 Page 1
SPOTLIGHT BOND IT
A STRONG BOND With a new building to accommodate growth, fresh recruits, range expansion and planned growth overseas, Bond It is having what can comfortably described as a busy 2020. David Moore, Bond It Managing Director and Founder, speaks with Torque Magazine... est Yorkshire building chemical specialist Bond It is one of those rare beasts – a UK manufacturer – producing a wide range of silicones, adhesives, water-based, solvent based products, liquids, tapes, cements and much more. “We are one of the few that does all that as a full manufacturer,” explains Bond It Managing Director and Founder, David Moore. “Over 85% of what we make is made here in Elland.” Moore started the business in 2002 with around 12 office staff, a small Production unit and a handful of salesman: “We were turning over approximately one million in the first year, but since then we have achieved annual double-digit growth on average. If you look at the last four years, we have grown by 13.5% per annum. “Now we have 105 employees and we recently have taken on our fourth building to accommodate more machinery, stock holding space and finished goods. We currently operate from a site that is in excess of 130,000 sq feet.” “When you grow on average 10%-plus we not only have to respond to improving the
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infrastructure of the business but personnel is key too. We pride ourselves on offering people a career rather than just a job. We have embraced apprenticeships, we work with Jobcentre Plus and we are a Disability Confident employer. We have encouraged career path advancement and most of the management team have been promoted from within so there is a wealth of knowledge between the key decision makers.” However, Bond It believes that with a continually changing market certain expertise cannot always come from within. This has led to the expansion of the technical team, and the appointment of a new Technical Manager, Simon Hodgson: “Sometimes you need to bring in technical knowledge – you can’t make someone a PhD in chemistry, so you have to go out to the market. This is an exciting opportunity for the company and we are hoping that the new team, headed up by Simon, will accelerate plans for new innovative product development.” The industry frequently has legislation changes to contend with (with more expected thanks to Brexit). This affects changes to both permitted chemicals and to
labelling. “We are always throwing packaging away thanks to legislation changes imposed upon us and that’s why we have taken on someone who also understands all about the new legislation coming in and is part of the BASA set-up (British Association Sealant and Adhesives).” At time of speaking in mid-August, Bond It had some sales staff on part-time furlough, but the firm has also had to bring in extra staffing thanks to Covid-19: “We had to increase our production staff with four new people as we’ve been selling lots of products that tend to be much more labour intensive. We’ve also had to employ two more pickers in the warehouse to cope with the amount of orders that have been coming through.” Covid: Disruption, DIY and new products “For 2020, we budgeted for double-digit growth again and we all agreed we could do this as a management team. Then we had the shutdown on 16 March.” In those days of heightened uncertainty, the firm furloughed half its staff with fears of production plummeting, but by the end
