The milestone year sees Josh and Jake Ramsey, sons of managing director Mike Ramsey, join the family-owned and run business as they look to bring valuable skills and fresh perspective, ensuring the continuity and future success of the highly respected business.
Josh brings with him a background in technology consulting from a Big 4 firm. He is leading an IT transformation programme to modernise systems and improve operational efficiencies. While Jake brings his background in sales with him to focus on building relationships with existing and new customers, as well as driving growth in new product ranges, including the Ramsey Bedstead – one of the few bedstead options on the market that is manufactured in the UK and offers short and consistent lead times versus imported alternatives.
Established by Peter Ramsey in 1972 and joined soon after by his sons, Mike and Nick, Ramsey Timber began trading imported timber from a portacabin in Denholme, Bradford, to builders’ merchants and the DIY market. Over the last 50 years, Peter’s sons have grown and shaped the business to be a leading supplier of timber components to the UK bedding sector, generating £24m of turnover in its last financial year.
As the firm looks ahead, the focus will be on continuing to deliver the best Divan and Ottoman bed frames in the UK. Strong relationships with Scandinavian sawmills and board product suppliers have enabled the firm to provide continuity of supply to its customers during the tumultuous last two years, so reinforcing these relationships further will be key for the business, as the market faces continued uncertainty into 2023.
Mike Ramsey, Managing Director, commented: “We’re extremely proud to be a highly respected third generation family-owned business and to reach the milestone of 50 years trading. It’s a humbling moment for me personally and I’m excited to see the positive change that Josh and Jake will undoubtedly bring to the business.
“Our future priorities, as ever, are centred around delivering great service to our customers. We are building our in-house manufacturing capabilities, as well as developing existing and new supply partnerships that enable us to deliver a true, one-stop-shop for Divan and Ottoman bed components.
“We’re always striving to develop new products for our bedding customers, whether that’s to help them fulfil contracts in the hospitality sector, rollout innovative new products to retail, or to re-design a product to save our customers’ costs. We are really looking forward to working with customers old and new next year on these projects.”
This year has also seen Ramsey Timber invest in an office refurbishment at their factory in Bradford, and the development of a new website. 2023 will see further improvements planned around its machinery and in-house fleet in an effort to retain its place as the leading supplier of Divan and Ottoman bed components in the UK continue to deliver cost effective solutions to its customers.
L-R Jake Ramsey, Mike Ramsey, Elaine Ramsey, Peter Ramsey, Nick Ramsey and Josh Ramsey
