You’ve bought your shelving, it’s been delivered…now what?!
See the demonstration below for shelving assembly – it really is as easy as that.
Any more questions? Our team are always happy to help.
Call us on 01423 796200 or email us on info@craven-solutions.com
Here at craven, we have been celebrating National Apprenticeship week by taking a closer look into how the apprenticeship scheme has helped our very own apprentices!
We currently have two apprentices in our team, James Ward, an apprentice in our business management side of Craven and Charles Nelson, who works in our factory.
James Ward, Business Management Apprentice
I’ve been at Craven since July 2017. I work in the office, covering a wide variety of areas. This is mainly sales and accounts, as well as marketing contributions.
My days are often completely different, which is great. It means I’m learning as much as possible. My day-to-day work involves purchase ledger, sales analysis and working on one of our quotation systems.
I have plenty of support whenever I need it. Craven were really good at helping me transition into working life as this is my first full time job. As such, a lot of tasks have been completely new to me and Craven have been really helpful ensuring that I feel comfortable in completing them.
I actually had the opportunity to begin work experience at Craven throughout my last year of Sixth Form. When I started talking with Neil and Angus about my options for the future they offered me a full apprenticeship.
Part of my apprenticeship is to go to York College once a fortnight. I study for a business administration diploma which is one of the primary benefits for me doing an apprenticeship. I have the opportunity to work for a well-established, yet not over sized company. So, the opportunities for me to gain experience from lots of people are vast.
Although I work in the office, Craven also manufacture their own products. I can then begin to understand the way production affects business.
I think this is a really good opportunity not only to learn the processes of a business and building my skill set but to also learn about the workings of a business. For instance managing personnel and seeing the effects different decisions have. There are plenty of people I can learn from at Craven.
I would definitely recommend a programme like this because it’s given me an opportunity to further my education and obtain a nationally recognised qualification. I have also been able to learn new, practical skills. Every day I’m working with people who have masses of experience both in business and life generally.
Charles Nelson, Production Apprentice
I’ve been at Craven since September 2016. I work in production downstairs in the factory. The majority of my time is spent welding. I’m working towards building my skills as much as possible whilst on my apprenticeship.
I also have plenty of support. I have experienced colleagues I can talk to as they have all been in a similar position to me. The welders are really helpful making sure they answer my questions and reviewing the work that I do.
I found my apprenticeship through York College. They knew I had an interest in the production industry and as I live in the area they found me the opportunity at Craven.
There are many benefits to me working with Craven. I have loads of colleagues that are not only really knowledgeable but are really keen to pass on their knowledge. It is a new, busy environment for me which is really beneficial. Obviously I want to really build my welding skills as I really enjoy doing it. But, there’s also the opportunity for me to learn and understand the way the factory works.
I would recommend a programme like this to anybody that is interested in practical work. I have really enjoyed developing my skills in the workplace and feel they have improved lots more than they would if I’d just gone to college.
Nobody likes receiving complaints. But we see them as an opportunity to improve.
Complaint #1
Last week a dealer sent us an email accompanied by 2 images:
“The kitchen staff had just put some fruit bowls on this item when the shelf collapsed. The customer believes this is down to the welding. Could you advise on what the course of action will be?”
The reply was quite straight forward – they weren’t our trolleys. We knew exactly what the problem was though, so we happily offered our solution.
It wasn’t the welding that was the issue, our General Purpose Stainless Steel Catering Trolleys are fully welded. You can see from the second image that this trolley was bolted and it’s this that had caused the collapse.
All self-assembly flat-pack trolleys are more likely to sustain this type of damage. The bolts come loose and eventually fall out.
Now, we really love our trolleys. So, if you ever have to field an enquiry of this nature, get in touch and we’ll help you out:
But here’s the twist – just because a trolley is fully welded it doesn’t mean to say that you’re guaranteed peace of mind, as that can depend on who you buy it from…
Complaint #2
A couple of days later we got an email from another one of our dealers with these images:
The images were accompanied by an email asking us if this was one of our Tray Clearing Trolleys. The answer again was easy – no!
Apart from the fact our Tray Clearing Trolleys look nothing like this, the runners have been very badly welded to the frames and the castors weren’t fitted correctly.
We do however think we know which company supplied this. They’re not a manufacturing company – which you can probably tell from the pictures.
As a decent bunch of Yorkshire folk we weren’t about to leave our customer in the lurch. We provided them with an equivalent design that would work and was fit for purpose.
Now we’re not saying that we are perfect, and occasionally our trolleys have the odd issue too. The major difference when issues do occur is our service, we take ownership and make sure issues are resolved ASAP.
For that extra peace of mind, our range of Stainless Steel Catering, Cutlery and Tray Clearing Trolleys come with guarantees of up to 3 years. They are trusted to serve in locations all over the UK including the Houses of Parliament, Schools, Universities and NHS Hospitals.
So, if you want to avoid awkward conversations and complaints from your customers, there’s an easy solution, buy a Craven & Co trolley – simple really!
To get a copy of our latest Trolley brochure please email us here or alternatively call one of our Sales Team on 01423 796200.
We were going to call this piece “To Brexit or not to Brexit, that is the question” and paraphrase Shakespeare. But to be honest, we’re more Clash than RSC.
If you’re anything like us the whole EU Referendum Campaign has in turns disappointed, amused us and frustrated us. Will a vote to leave result in World War III? Will a vote to stay mean that we become part of a dicatorship super state? Both of these possibilities have been fed to us over the past weeks. Mmmm… perhaps Messrs Cameron and Johnson may want to ask themselves if these were their finest hours.
The upcoming EU Referendum on the 23rd June has made us think about our business specifically and how an exit from the EU would affect us.
One of the areas we looked at was where does the £ that you spend with us actually go?
If you know anything at all about Craven & Co you will know how proud we are of our great British manufacturing heritage, and we like as many people as possible to know about it.
If you have only just discovered us a little surf round our site will soon give you the same impression. I guess in a perfect world we would like to see that all of our suppliers were based here in the UK. But the truth of the matter is they’re not, and we understand that we operate in a Global Market.
Let’s cut to the chase, here’s where the money that you pay us for our products go –
5.75p in the £ is paid directly to an EU supplier
5.48p in the £ is paid directly to an Asian supplier
88.77p in the £ stops in the UK
We can live with that, nearly 90p in every £ that we turnover is reinvested in this country through the salaries paid to our suppliers’ staff, the taxes they pay, the taxes that our Suppliers pay all contribute to our Country’s wealth and cash flow, our defence, our hospitals and our emergency services.
The next time you look to choose an imported product over one of our products you may want to think of these things.
So, should we stay or should we go?
We like the traits traditions of this country. We don’t like being told what to do so, you’ll know how best to vote. Irrespective of the vote, we’ll still be here doing what we’ve been doing for 60 years, manufacturing great British products here in Great Britain.
Craven & Co are delighted to have supported the Ty Glyn Trust Holiday Centre and Gardens. They’re a unique holiday venue providing self catering holiday/respite accommodation. It is fully accessible for groups, organisations and families whose members have disabilities.
Centre Manager Kelly Melnicenko contacted Craven & Co to enquire about cutlery dispensing trolleys for the centre, which would provide assistance to the centre at meal times as visitors often help and volunteer during their stay.
Kelly commented:’ The trolley would be much easier and safer than carrying cutlery from the kitchen to the dining area. Having a trolley will also help the support staff. They often give their time voluntarily to take disabled children for holidays/respite to the centre”.
Craven were more than happy to provide a solution for the centre in the form of a free trolley.
Neil Fox, Sales Director at Craven & Co added: “We are a people company and it’s in our brand personality to help charities, individuals and business whenever we can. It put’s a smile on our face knowing that we have supported a great charity. Kelly and the team at the Ty Glyn Trust do a fantastic job, it’s the least we could do”.
2014
In 2014 Craven came up with an environmentally friendly alternative to sending Christmas cards and took it to an online vote to let their customers decide which charity should receive a £1000 donation.
Craven customers took part in an e-vote between Cancer Relief UK, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Shelter.
Shelter had the most votes and received the £1000 donation.
Shelter is a charity aimed at helping millions of people each year who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness. Providing advice, support and legal services.
2015
Following the success of the 2014 appeal, Craven took it back to an online vote in 2015. Martin House Children’s Hospice was decided the winner.
Martin House provide family led care for children with life shortening conditions. It is a place where children and their families can go to stay from time to time and find support, rest and practical help.
Additionally, Sales Director Neil Fox commented “Craven would like to thank all those that took the time to vote. We had an overwhelming response to the e-vote format and we are delighted to have supported Martin House this year. Charity is something that is very close to the heart of the craven team and we contribute wherever possible. We also donated to the runners up of our charity appeal and supplied Shelter £250, Honeypot £150 and Save The Family £100.”
Finally, in an attempt to raise more money for this cause, one of the Craven team donned the costume of ‘Marty Bear’ – the Martin House resident mascot. Guess who is in the costume for the chance to win a luxury hamper!
On Boxing Day there was a Flood Alert issued for the River Nidd in the Knaresborough area.
When we arrived at our premises the whole of the Ground Floor including office space, factory and both warehouses was flooded to a depth of about 18 inches.
The electricity had gone, plant and machinery was damaged and inoperable. A great deal of stock and work in progress was rendered to scrap as the result of water damage or movement damage. This was due to the force of the water entering and regressing the premises.
What to do?
We needed to re-open for business on the 4 January. Yet we had several hundred thousand pounds worth of orders on the books to be fulfilled during the rest of the month.
Being an ISO9001 Registered Company, Craven have a Disaster Recovery Plan in place. This involved reviewing the situation, notifying suppliers, staff and adopting the necessary measures. We had to maintain continuity of supply to our customers.
As we all know Boxing Day is a Bank Holiday and that year fell on the Saturday. Tool Hire Companies were closed making it virtually impossible to hire the de-humidifiers, industrial vacuums and other cleaning equipment we needed to make a start on cleaning up after the flood.
We had to make some calls.
At 8.00am on Sunday morning about a dozen of our staff together with quite a few of their friends arrived at Craven House. The water had drained away and every inch of floor was covered with a slimy mud. Fortunately through out of hours, Tool Hire Facilities and contacts we were able to start to order some of the equipment we needed. Unfortunately much of the Hire Companies’ stock was already hired out in other parts of the country. We weren’t alone in being hit by floods before Christmas.
In the words of the WWII Poster “We Kept Calm And Carried On”.
On the morning of 28th Craven’s yard was filling up. Plant Hire Delivery Vehicles and Maintenance People came to repair our machinery. Additionally, electricians, plumbers, IT subcontractors and Craven staff and family helped to make the premises fit for purpose again.
By the 4 January the factory was back up and running albeit at less than 100%. We were able to start replenishing our stock to replace the Standard Products damaged in the flood.
Equally as important however was the job of communicating with our customers so that our problems didn’t become their problems.
We immediately began to contact all of our customers who were scheduled to receive deliveries during January. We explained our position and alerted them that their deliveries may be delayed.
Our customers were fantastic…
Without exception our customers were incredibly supportive. We agreed that we would update them regularly on the stock and delivery situation. By using a combination of supplying alternative products, part deliveries, timed deliveries at no extra cost and the basic decency and forbearance of our customers and their customers we managed to meet virtually everybody’s expectations.
New business was dealt with by being entirely up front with our customers. Again the response was extraordinarily encouraging. If we couldn’t meet their timescales and no other product offering was available we told them as soon as possible. Even when that was the case most of our customers adapted their plans or handled their customers’ expectations to allow us to supply goods.
It’s that time of year again when we turn our attention to friends, family and loved ones and is very much a season of giving. At Craven we recognise that sometimes people just need a little help and that’s why we are proud to announce for the second year running, we are giving away £1000 to a charity of our customers choosing, instead of giving the money to Postman Pat to deliver you a Christmas card that will only find it’s way into the recycling bin in January.
We have sent out, to all of our customers, a unique email that allows then to vote for one of the following charities.
Honeypot
Honeypot Children’s Charity offers both respite breaks and outreach support to young carers and vulnerable children, many of whom would otherwise have nowhere to turn, working with children from the age of 5 to 12.
Martin House Hospice
Martin House Children’s Hospice provides family led care for children with life shortening conditions. It is a place where children, young people and their families can go to stay from time to time along their journey and find support, rest and practical help.
Save the Family
Based on the outskirts of Chester, Save the Family provides residential accommodation and support for families that are homeless (or at risk of becoming homeless) and who have multiple and complex needs.
Shelter
Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through their advice, support and legal services.
They are there so that no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.
Can we also thank everyone for their support in 2015 and wish you a healthy and prosperous 2016.
Craven Christmas Opening Times:
Best wishes
Angus Milnes
Craven & Co
P.S. We’ve decided that because all of the charities are very worthy causes to extend the donation to an additional £250 to the second placed charity, £150 to 3rd and £100 to 4th place (if you place an order with us in December, please quote your preferred charity at the time of ordering and we will add another vote for you).
We pride ourselves on delivering on our promises. Scarborough’s SCBU experienced this first hand recently. Our products speak for themselves when it comes to practicality.
We were over the moon this week…
We’ve just received a big thank you from Scarborough Special Care Baby Unit for the difference our products have made in their storage area. It’s always nice to see our products in action. See below the simple difference our products can make…
Products used include Medicare Storage Trolleys and Epoxy Coated Shelving
Read more about the facilities at Scarborough’s Hospital Baby Unit here
We’re always comparing our products to others in the market.
These images show our Nylon Coating compared to the biggest selling equivalent imported covering but ours is so much thicker!
Which one do you think is more likely to chip first?
Here’s a clue: it’s definitely not the one from Yorkshire.
