Barbour Building Bagged In Virtuoso Move

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An intensive programme of factory upgrades following a site move to a former Barbour warehouse has seen composite and PVC-U panel door manufacturer, Virtuoso Doors, now at full capacity.

The company moved from its original Chester-le-Street manufacturing site to the new purpose-modified site at Follingsby Park, Gateshead at the start of 2021. The site has a 120,00sq.ft. footprint and has doubled capacity and manufacturing capability.

Over the course of the year the site has had a power upgrade to meet manufacturing requirements, a new compressed air system, and state of the art extraction system installed.

Decorative finishes

In addition, a new automated paint line has come online allowing for a greater choice of custom colours to be chosen by customers.

Health, safety & personnel

New lift assist systems allow the factory technicians and craftsmen to work on the door units quickly and safely.

Furthermore, the move to a more modern building is allowing for a number of improvements to staff facilities from the catering and break areas to the office space.

As Covid restrictions eased and huge consumer demand for home improvement products followed, Virtuoso Doors has been able to adapt to the circumstances and managed to secure a firm supply of the all-important door slabs needed for production. Virtuoso is now able to produce at a capacity of 200 doors per day.

 “With our teams having to adapt to changing conditions on a daily and weekly basis, it is important we don’t lose sight of how much has been achieved this year to put Virtuoso Doors on the front footing. We’ve moved from a cramped site to a state-of-the-art location with significantly more space and ability to grow further, which will help us create new jobs over time.”

– Tony Craggs 

Managing director, Virtuoso Doors

Pandemic adaptions

“Every purchase has been made with a view to improving the quality and precision of our manufacturing processes and the doors that we deliver to customers at the end of each day,” adds Virtuoso Doors’ Craggs. “There is never a good time to move home, yet for our team to have done this during the pandemic under restrictions and then continued to apply their talent and skills to bring the machinery on site up to speed, while others have adapted to the new supply chain realities to secure a source of necessary components. It is a very proud achievement for us.”

Picture: Virtuoso Doors, new factory.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
24th November 2021

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