China Business Award
11th February 2011
Fired Up Corporation Ltd wins the prestigious China Business Award - Yorkshire and Humber China Business Awards 2010
Fired Up Corporation has been recognised for our success in China, winning the prestigious China Business Award in The Yorkshire and Humber China Business Awards. The ceremony took place at the Yorkshire and Humber Chinese New Year Dinner at The Blue Shed in Sheffield.
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Richard Kaye, CEO at Fired Up, paid tribute to Chris Chan, General Manager of its Chinese operation for its success stating, “I think it is important to have success recognised, acknowledged and rewarded and this award is an acknowledgement of the success we have achieved.
“Operating a business 5,000 miles away has been challenging but also rewarding and it has helped me grow as a business leader, benefitting the business as a whole”.
The company’s activities in China span 6 years. Fired Up now operate a 300,000sqft factory comprising of wood machine shop and processing, metal stamping, powder coating and finishing, final assembly and QA, separate raw material/finished stock warehousing and R&D testing facilities.
Sales into China are expected to account for almost 25% of turnover in the Chinese business in 2011. Turnover in China has grown from around £900,000 in 2006 to a budgeted turnover of around £6,000,000 in 2011. Turnover for the business as a whole is forecasted to be in excess of £13,000,000 in 2011.
Fired Up has wholly owned operations in the UK and China with ownership of several brands including Adam, the newly launched Endeva and Corby of Windsor, famous globally for the Corby Trouser Press.
Fired Up’s China Journey
From 2003 onwards it became increasingly clear that the following factors would have a major impact on the Fired Up business
- Our UK retailer customer base would increasingly source products direct from China
- Chinese manufacturers would increasingly be targeting the UK market both as manufacturers selling at low margins to UK retailers and direct to the UK consumer.
Therefore, with major customers pressing for cost price reductions, Fired Up had to act quickly to eliminate the risk to the business of the above circumstances.
Initially Richard Kaye investigated the possibility of sub contracting the manufacture of a selection of the product range from China, but ultimately nothing came of this. Then in 2004 Richard met a young Huddersfield University student by the name of Chris Chan, a Hong Kong national who had been living in Huddersfield for the past 11 years. Working together, and overcoming several obstacles, a factory unit was leased, new tooling created and staff recruited. Production began early in 2006. With our large UK retail customers placing greater emphasis upon cost reductions and direct sourcing it is difficult to see how the company could have survived in its current form without our China operations.
In June 2008 Fired Up commissioned the building of a 300,000sqft factory. This facility has 5 different units comprising: wood machine shop and processing, metal stamping, powder coating and finishing, final assembly and QA in addition to separate raw material / finished stock warehousing. The large office block accommodates the R&D department’s testing facilities and a showroom. A basketball court, internet cafe, and sports room have also been installed.
Since our business was incorporated in China Fired Up have invested £1,000,000 in equipping the factory. It is a measure of the success of the business that since the initial capital was introduced all of the investment has been self-funded.
Sales into China are expected to account for almost 25% of turnover in the Chinese business in 2011. As the Chinese business continues to expand beyond its original role as a source of cheap products for our UK operation, the proportion of sales to third parties in aggregate will account for 45% of turnover, an increase from the 33% expected as an outturn in 2010. This figure will move to, and beyond, 50% after 2011.
Endeva – a new British brand created for China
Fired Up’s expansion into the Chinese domestic market was further enhanced in November 2010 when we launched ‘endeva’. Created for the Chinese market place endeva is a range of small domestic appliances including induction hobs, kettles and rice cookers. These products are now on sale in ‘Ren Ren Le’ a mainland China chain of 85 supermarkets and 40+ domestic China B&Q stores. Retailer and consumer reaction has been extremely positive with higher than expected sales throughout the first months of availability.
Endeva is Chinese for “English Foundation” – a fitting tribute for an English product, manufactured in China by an English owned business.
Rescuing a British Icon – Corby of Windsor
In 2009 Corby of Windsor (the makers of the eponymous trouser press) was a company in terminal decline, suffering from high manufacturing costs and overheads. Fired Up rescued Corby and brought the ailing business to Huddersfield. The business was adapted to fit our model with component parts sourced in China whilst retaining the assembly in their Huddersfield factory - creating 15 jobs as part of the manufacturing operation. With our Chinese network Fired Up have been able to diversify the product range, increasing this to over 200 hospitality amenity products. Having recently exhibited Corby products at shows in Guangzhou and Macao we are now beginning to sell hospitality products into the burgeoning hotel trade in China. As well as products manufactured in China this also includes the export of trouser presses which are manufactured in Huddersfield.
Providing an ethical working environment
Fired Up has always taken its corporate social responsibility very seriously both here and in China. Over time our values have increasingly been adopted by the wider business community. We have found that by being able to control the working environment in our China plant means we don’t have to hope that our products are created in conditions that provide a good and fair quality of life for our workers, we can guarantee this. Fired up has always sought to defend and promote workers rights in the region and believe the example we are setting will have a positive impact on other manufacturers in the region.
Huddersfield University, Fired UP UK and China
Fired Up are working with Huddersfield University to develop a program for students of music, languages or business to work in our China operations and local educational establishments to both educate the Fired Up employees and themselves as part of their studies. Fired Up hopes this is the start of a long and fruitful relationship delivering value to both the company and the University.
Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing
Fired Up has recently secured a contract with Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing as part of a programme to replace gas fires in tenant’s homes with a range of Fired Up electric fireplace suites. This will see Fired Up Chinese manufactured products in place in social housing throughout the county.
About Fired Up Corporation
Fired Up Corporation was formed in 1999 by Richard Kaye as a manufacturer of electric fireplaces selling under its “Adam” brand. From humble beginnings in Meltham the company has grown significantly, with wholly owned operations in the UK and China with ownership of several brands including Adam, the newly launched Endeva and Corby of Windsor, famous globally for the Corby Trouser Press. They currently have over 280 employees and a budgeted turnover for 2011 of £13,000,000.
The international business of Fired Up is successful because of the synergies between its UK and Chinese operations. We are a vertically integrated, wholly owned manufacturer and operate across borders as one company both operationally and culturally.
Fired Up manufactures a diverse range of products for the home improvement and hotel and hospitality industries, with a focus on electrical heating and cooling products. Our mission has been and continues to be to streamline the supply chain from point of manufacture to point of use and to seek out inefficiencies and reduce waste.
Fired Up believes we operate a truly innovative business model with flexibility, scalability and control of output both in China and the UK. The UK and China operations are truly interdependent and flourishing due to the cohesive approach we have adopted for our business.
Fired Up UK manufactured products are exported to the Chinese market, our Chinese manufactured products are exported from China to the UK (and globally), and we sell our Chinese manufactured products directly to the domestic Chinese market.
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