Company Profile
6th February 2007National Ventilation : blowing up a storm!
Written by Paul Braithwaite, Editor of HVR Magazine , after his visit to Somerset to talk to National Ventilation.
Like many a good company in the HVACR arena, National Ventilation started in a garage – in Stoke St Gregory, in Somerset.
The brainchild of John Davison, Managing Director, it began as a distribution company called South West Ventilation, buying in ventilation products and selling them on.
Robin Francis, Director, says that very quickly they realised the South West part was too local which was when it went National. Jason Smithen, Director, says one minute he would be dealing with a local electrical wholesaler and the next there would be telephone calls from a firm in Gloucester as word of mouth spread and then a call from a company in Manchester.
The South West name became too limiting. "As managers of wholesale branches moved around the country or one manager told another, then word spread. We did very little advertising initially," says Robin.
He admits there was a very steep learning curve and the company was conscious that if it over-reached itself and couldn't supply what was ordered then customers would not come back again. "Luckly, National Ventilation was the only company doing what it did." Robin calls it a super distributor, offering a full range of ventilation products to other distributors and wholesalers.
One of National Ventilation's early signature products – initially – was plastic ducting from Domus Ventilation. "This was a product which every wholesaler wanted. However the supplier offered it in units of 20 or more which meant carrying a lot of stock when a branch might only sell one or two a month.
National Ventilation offered the product in single units so wholesalers were willing to deal with it." Further, wholesalers also wanted the accessories and while they were dealing with National Ventilation, they would include other ventilation products too. So the business grew.
Soon it was time to rent another garage and soon after the upstairs room – "We had to take the snooker table out first". In a couple of years, National Ventilation had out grown its garages and had to move to a 2,000ft2 site just down the road from the present offices and warehouse complex.
"We knew a unit this big would last us for a good few years," laughed Jason.
Robin says that when an articulated lorry turned up from a supplier, it had to park in the road and all the staff had to stop what they were doing and help to unload it. It was all about stock turn.
However, the best laid plans of mice and men... Next move in 2000 was to the present site to a 4,000ft 2 warehouse in Burrowbridge, Somerset. This year National Ventilation is taking the sixth unit – it was racking it out as I visited the site – bringing the space now occupied to 24,000ft2.
"Hopefully, this will do us for the next six months," joked Jason.
There are 28 staff members, including six telesales, but Robin thinks there is room for one more sales person and one more in the stores. Currently, Managing Director John Davison is the sales representative for South Wales, Bristol and the South West, Mick Daniels is the Area Sales Manager for London, the Home Counties and the M4 corridor down and Jason has the North West, Scotland and Bristol up to Birmingham. One of the company's customers is a large distributor with three representatives covering the North West, North East and East Anglia.
So, from selling virtually nothing but plastic ducting, National Ventilation now offers between 5,000 to 6,000 lines. "Our philosophy is, and has always been, to be a one - stop ventilation shop," says Jason. He adds that other ventilation suppliers seem to focus on either the domestic, commercial or industrial sectors or perhaps just two of them.
National Ventilation offers domestic, commercial and industrial ventilation products.
Laura Linnell, Sales Office Manager, insists National Ventilation offers what major competitors don't and that is next-day delivery.
"Some 95% of orders are dispatched – order by 3pm – to arrive next day," adds Jason, and, as long as the order is worth more than £50, carriage is paid. However, there is no minimum order size and if a customer wants one fan or even one plastic joint, National Ventilation will send it.
The company uses Nightfreight for its distribution. An artic unit picks up a trailer, which has been loaded during the day, every evening between 4.30pm and 5pm. Until recently Nightfreight was collecting twice a day in smaller lorries.
Now National Ventilation is at a crossroads. This year (2006) it had the money to advertise and ramp up its profile. Jason says it is time to talk to consultants to have products specified and this is beginning to happen. As well as knocking on the doors of wholesalers Jason is now talking to architects and consultant engineers to have the lines specified.
"The architects and consultant engineers love our range, service and back-up expertise."
He adds that it is about customers being able to telephone the company asking for a fan which does this, this and this and the technical experts are able to say "you want this fan" immediately. "Most of our calls start with an enquiry and turn into an order." And staff also visit sites to see the problems and suggest solutions.
"Most companies phone and ask for the technical department. The answer is 'you are speaking to the technical department', and mostly, the sales staff are able to answer the queries without hesitation."
Jason adds that people think ventilation is technical and, of course, some of it is but much of it is general and logical and the catalogue is very specific.
Jason agrees: "National Ventilation has the products and the technical expertise, and now it needs architects and engineers to make the change from companies which they have been using for years and years. We Only need one chance to prove we can do better."
Jason cites a job in the North West. A wholesaler phoned to ask whether a technical engineer from National Ventilation would meet a contractor on site. A date was fixed and Jason went and surveyed the building. A few weeks after he received the order and a few weeks after that he received three more orders from the contractor. But he insists the business still goes through the wholesaler.
For a more high profile job, National Ventilation's ductwork and fans were specified for the new factory for Prince
Charles' company Duchy Originals Foods and the Falkirk Football Club's new community stadium.
In addition, car manufacturer Aston Martin has just built a new factory. National Ventilation staff worked with the consultant and its products were used in the construction of both.
Currently the firm is working on the design of luxury apartments in Canary Wharf, Soho Square, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birkenhead and Worcester. And the company has been working with Liverpool Regeneration, helping with the design work for all the ductwork, heat recovery units and multi-room extract systems.
Not bad for an organisation which, in the month Jason joined 10 years ago, turned over a mere £500.
National Ventilation has its own brand of ventilation products called Monsoon. This is a mixture of manufacturer products and also high quality products from the UK and mainland Europe. National Ventilation has exclusive deals with several leading European fan manufacturers which all complement the Monsoon brand.
National Ventilation will undertake training for its wholesalers. One wanted training for its staff and it worked out so well that the company is willing to do it for any wholesaler or distributor who wants it.
Business is going from strength to strength but, more to the point, everyone who works there wants the business to succeed with a passion – and it shows!
