IE
As Mila’s 40th anniversary year draws to a close, Managing Director Richard Gyde talked to Total Fabricator about the crazy days of the 1980s and how the company remains, in many important respects, a ‘family’ business.
Mila has been operating in the UK since 1980. How did it all start?
“Mila actually originated in Denmark. It was started by two guys named Michael and Lars – hence the Mi-La name and, after dipping their toes into the UK market with a stand at Interbuild in 1979, they decided to open a UK premises in 1980.”
Mila started out with just two staff, how many people does it employ now?
“Those first two staff were my father Ray and his PA Diana. Now, Mila employs a team of 70.”
Richard, you have been involved with the business since 1981 – how and why did you come on board?
“This was my first job straight from school and, with my father and then later my twin brother Robert working here, it almost felt like I was joining the family firm. My first job was painting the toilets though before I progressed to working in the warehouse, so there was definitely no special treatment!”
How do your weekly tasks compare – from then to now?
“When I joined in 1981, I was still driving our invoices to Luton airport every Friday evening so they could be flown back to Denmark. Even once we acquired a fax machine and our very own Texas Green Screen computer, we were still very reliant on manual processes, whereas now we’ve probably got some of the most advanced IT systems in the industry and weekly tasks which took hours just take seconds.”
You mention Mila’s ‘family’ mentality and ‘sense of belonging’ for staff – many of whom have worked at Mila for decades. Why is this family feel so important and what is the secret to retaining people?
“We’ve got plenty of parents and children working at Mila, as well as siblings and couples, so it definitely has a family feel and I think people appreciate that as a business we genuinely care about their wellbeing. There’s no secret to retaining people in an industry which networks as extensively as this one does, but we really do put a value on experience, and invest in training our own team as much as we can.”
Tell us about the Arran Isle Group which Mila became part of in 2009?
“Arran Isle have given us significant financial security and the resources we need to make ongoing investments right across the business – from stockholding to product development.”
It seems from your website that exhibitions such as Interbuild have played a big role in the Mila story – do exhibitions still hold the same value for Mila today?
“I love exhibitions and Mila was a stalwart of Interbuild, Glassex and then FIT. The current crisis has shifted things obviously though and at the moment, our marketing focus is on creating digital assets which our customers can use online either on their websites or as part of remote sales presentations.”
Will you be exhibiting at FIT Show next year?
“Like many in the industry I suspect, we still haven’t made a final decision. We’re waiting to see how the virus, or rather the race towards a vaccine, progresses.”
Are you worried about the impact of Coronavirus on exhibitions?
“Of course. There’s no substitute for meeting people face to face and for hardware in particular, I know customers like to see and feel the quality of the product for themselves before they make any buying decisions.”
What would you have done to celebrate Mila’s 40th anniversary in the UK this year if it hadn’t been for the Coronavirus pandemic? Have you have to postpone any plans or scale them down?
“We were planning a big summer BBQ for staff, family and friends so that’s had to be postponed until next year.”
Richard, you describe the ‘80s as ‘crazy times’ for the window industry. Can you elaborate?
“I think the Open Day we held when we opened our current Daventry premises in 1986 probably sums it up perfectly. We were offering helicopter trips to customers around the site and we had a BMW M3 Touring Car which they could drive around a course we had set up in the carpark. There was no such thing as ‘too much’!”
What are the most significant changes for Mila and the industry as a whole since those crazy years?
“For Mila, operational efficiency has been transformed over the years. When demand outstripped supply in the early days, we used the volume of our back orders as a measure of our success. Now of course, with our huge investments in supply chain and logistics, we judge our success on our OTIF (On Time In Full) score, which in normal times, sits around 98%.
For the industry as a whole, I think it was the shift from PVC-U profiles which were designed primarily for the German market to profiles designed and extruded here for the UK. The tilt and turn windows from the early days were replaced with casements and the hardware sector responded with locks and handles to match.”
What was the biggest game-changer – in terms of products – for Mila throughout its 40-year history in the UK?
“I don’t think I could single out just one. I would say we’re constantly introducing game changers. Mila, for example, was the first company to develop the concept of ‘central locking’ for the home more than 15 years ago and we introduced an anti-microbial composite window handle way back in 2015. Our Evolution door hinge is probably the stand-out development though because, even after 20 years and a few regular enhancements, it’s still arguably the best on the market.”
What products were in vogue back in the ‘80s and how do they compare to what’s popular now?
“I’ve actually dug out the original Key catalogue from the Mila archives and it featured plenty of Ferco PZ70 four-roller door locks and Fuhr Infront patio door gearing, which probably won’t surprise many people. What might surprise them though is the prices and how they show just how commoditised hardware has become over the years. Cego window handles were £5.65 back in 1980 and I see comparable handles being sold for around £1 today and multi-point door locks which were once £65 are now around £17.”
How has customer service and marketing changed over the years?
“The value of the customer service relationship never really changes in this industry which is why we still invest in recruiting and retaining the very best internal and external sales people. When it comes to marketing, we were already investing online but that’s been accelerated this year for obvious reasons…”
Are you worried about a second potential lockdown and do you have measures in place to deal with this?
“Mila led the way in implementing and sharing the protocols required to create a Covid-secure workplace, so I’m as confident as I can be that any kind of future lockdown wouldn’t affect businesses operating as we are. However, none of us wants to go through what we went through in the Spring and even though the market has bounced back, we’re still all walking a fairly precarious tightrope when it comes to customer confidence. We just have to hope that this second wave can be contained as much as possible.”
What is the secret to Mila’s success?
“It’s never just one thing. I think our product design and our supply chain set us apart from the rest and we’re an agile and adaptable business. Fundamentally though, the culture at Mila is to treat customers and suppliers in the way that we would want to be treated and I think that’s what makes us special.”
What are your hopes for the future?
“I think we all just want to see a vaccine as soon as possible!”
