22 November 2004
Kimal wins Frost & Sullivan Customer Service Award
Kimal plc, a premier provider of healthcare solutions to the UK and a major player in the global healthcare market, is to receive the Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Service Leadership.
International industry consultants, Frost & Sullivan, whose specific mission is to publish world-class information on emerging high technology and industrial markets, awards top companies who demonstrate diligence and innovation in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
These highly coveted and prestigious awards recognise the superior planning and execution of product launches, strategic alliances, distribution strategies, technological innovations, customer service and mergers & acquisitions.
Uxbridge-based Kimal, which is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has been praised by Frost & Sullivan for its outstanding customer service and relations. The company provides almost 600 different types of specialised medical packs to meet the needs of the medical profession, in particular within the areas of cardiology, radiology, critical care, renal disease and oncology. The Frost & Sullivan panel of judges cited the company’s willingness to work in partnership with both suppliers and end-users.
Over the past ten years Kimal has built close business relationships with leading companies such as Namic and Kimberley Clark. It has also worked with its customers to produce Custom Procedure Trays, which are optimally configured and tailored to the needs of each specific end-user. This requires balancing the need for standardisation with the need to customise packs according to the particular procedural needs of the healthcare professional.
Frost & Sullivan recognised Kimal’s attention to detail as being a major customer service initiative. The judges commended the fact that Kimal places great importance on the order in which items are assembled in the pack. This order ensures that the table drapes are kept on top so that there can be no contamination of the sterile products. Moreover this offers working comfort and familiarity to the nursing staff in terms of organising and arranging the different trays. The judges commented: “This serves to strengthen Kimal’s stand in providing a very good customer service by going into the utmost details of the pack from delivery to disposal.”
The judges also found that: “Kimal is not driven by the concept of making excessive profits. Its primary goal is to achieve customer satisfaction by offering complete customisation in minimal turnaround time.”
In accepting the award, Alan Press, managing director of Kimal commented: “We as a company are extremely honoured to receive such a prestigious award. We pride ourselves on our ability to communicate with our customers and have established a trusted, quality name in doing so. This award recognises the particular skills of our most important business asset – our people and to receive this award during our 40th anniversary year really is the icing on the cake!”
Kimal’s healthy future looks set to continue. With an annual turnover of more than £28 million, it employs almost 300 dedicated staff at Uxbridge and at three purpose-built sites in Bromsgrove and Droitwich in the West Midlands and Runcorn in Cheshire. The firm is already the market leader, particularly relating to cardiology and radiology customised procedure trays in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Middle East.
After forty years of meeting the needs of healthcare professionals the innovative company is now working towards being the premier supplier of customised procedure packs throughout Europe. The company’s dedicated customer support means Kimal will continue to grow and maintain its highly regarded position in the healthcare industry.
To view the Frost & Sullivan Executive Summary, please click here
Kimal expanding facility to cope with demand
A Bromsgrove-based manufacturer is predicting a four-fold increase in output and a 50 per cent increase in staffing levels upon completion of a £1 million extension being built by construction group Weaver PLC.
Kimal plc, which currently employs 280 people and has a turnover in excess of £27 million, develops, manufactures and distributes innovative medical device technologies.
Founded in 1964, the company is expanding its 35,500 sq. ft premises in Sherwood Road, Aston Fields. The expansion is, in part, designed to cater for the growing demand for Kimal’s customised procedure trays (CPTs). Used by medical and surgical teams across the healthcare spectrum, the trays contain a complete range of items required to carry out specific procedures and surgical techniques.
The new construction project involves two extensions creating a further 8,800 sq. ft. of factory floor space and is due for completion in May 2004. Bromsgrove-based Weaver PLC built the original factory and office space on a green-field site, which was completed in 1996.
Tim Proger, production director at Kimal plc, said: “Weaver’s original build came in on budget and ahead of schedule, so the company was a natural choice to work with us on this next phase in our development. We predict the growth in the market for CPTs to grow dramatically over the next four to five years as the healthcare market requires more time-efficient procurement methods as well as rigorous cost controls. Our aim is to be Europe’s best manufacturer and provider of complete procedural solutions and this new facility will help us achieve that goal.”
Kimal’s product portfolio also includes the manufacture and distribution of a diverse range of products for filtration, imaging and critical care procedures. In addition to sales to domestic customers, Kimal has healthy international sales in most European countries and the Middle East.
Mark Weaver, marketing director at Weaver PLC, said: “There is so much negative talk about the future of manufacturing, it is good to see Kimal’s expansion. The company’s strategy of capitalising on a niche sector where it can add significant value in a rising market is obviously bearing fruit and is a powerful endorsement that UK PLC still has a valuable contribution to make to the manufacturing sector.”
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Tuesday 1st June 2010