The UK’s leading manufacturer of interior and exterior MDF mouldings, SAM, is delighted to announce its current £7 million investment programme.
On a local scale, the investment has enabled the 175-strong Antrim-based firm to create a new 45,000 square foot warehouse, of which groundworks have already started. Not only does this enable SAM to fulfil its delivery, stock hold, and stock range goals, but it also embeds SAM deeper into the local business community by providing new opportunities for local people.
As a commitment to bringing the best in market products and setting the bar on quality and standard, SAM’s continued investment has meant the business has been able to focus too on its business relationships with merchant customers to support their growth.
SAM’s mission is to ensure these customers have the right product, in the right quantity, in the right place, and at the right time. £2 million of the total investment is into ongoing annual costs to ensure this remains a reality for customers. After announcing how half (£1 million) of this segment of the investment was for a new, improved paint finish which launched to market in January, the business is now investing and spending the second half – a further £1 million per year – into distribution, to ensure the delivery of the widest product offering in the marketplace within the fastest time.
The wider £5 million of the total investment is into the new 45,000 square foot warehouse in Antrim.
SAM has been trading for more than 30 years, and it has long term plans to grow its business, both locally in Northern Ireland, and across the wider UK merchant network. Its commitment to its local community is evident through its continued fundraising and donations for local charities (for 2023 SAM is working closely with the local Marie Curie organisation) and sponsorship of sports teams and a school therapy pet.
Gerard Wilson, Sales Director at SAM comments: “We hope that the benefits of this significant investment will be felt by both our customers and the local community for many years to come. It’s great to see that the steps we’ve made for our industry have a local impact in the form of the construction of our new warehouse within Antrim too. We are committed to improving the impact we have, and on a local level we will continue our sponsorships and charity donations, in 2023 and beyond.
“For our customers and merchants, they have had three really challenging years with industry price increases, supply issues and delayed work with the pandemic. During this time we’ve worked incredibly hard to scale up our level of marketing support and communications with suppliers to make their lives easier and be a trusted reliable partner to all our customers. People and relationships are at the heart of what SAM is about; our mission is to ensure we have the right product, in the right quantity, at the right place, and at the right time for our customers. Even when other suppliers were struggling, we ensured we had stock so that we remained consistent and reliable. Our investment has empowered us to achieve more in this area, and provide an even better supplier experience than before – the benefits of our investment are felt throughout our whole customer base already, and beginning to be realised within our local business community too.”
As the industry has faced turbulent times, SAM is proud of its consistency and reliability of delivery and undeniable support for suppliers, which is also reflected in the business’ recent win of ‘Overall Supplier of the Year’ in the annual Jewson awards at the end of 2022.