Bridgnorth firm's new warehouse means jobs boost for town

Coram UK Holding Ltd, which manufactures wetrooms, shower enclosures, bath screens and accessories, has one of two UK bases in Bridgnorth, on the Stanmore Industrial Estate. 

The Dutch-owned firm, which also has headquarters in Ilton, Somerset, supplies retail, merchant, and health care channels and its brands include Coram Showers, Impey and Geesa. 

Warehouse support was previously outsourced to a third-party logistics company in Leicester.

But Coram, which has more than 30 staff at its Bridgnorth site, has now developed a new warehouse, leading to the creation of six new jobs -  a manager, supervisor, administrator and three packers.  

The new warehouse project was given approval in June 2024 and an internal project team was formed, led by Paul Gatfield, Head of Manufacturing, Safety, Health & Environment, and Faye Hobbs, who is Head of Supply Chain. 

Now complete, the development has not only led to job creation in Bridgnorth but supported efforts to improve the company's carbon footprint, while also reducing costs at a challenging time for the industry. 

Mr Gatfield said: "We are really pleased with how the project has gone and it has been a massive success. 

"We had to clear an area in one of our other production buildings and relocate our composites manufacturing cell. 

"This relocation was overseen and completed in-house by a team of engineers. 

"We then had to design the warehouse layout and source and install storage racking."

"While this was happening we had the floor resurfaced, sourced narrow aisle fork lift trucks, new services installed - electricity, air and heating - and a new warehouse barcode management systems was also developed, tested and proven." 

Mr Gatfield said the new warehouse development was an important move by the company and had brought a number of positives. 

"This is saving the company money and it is better for the environment because we are no longer double handling and shipping everything to Leicester first and, of course, we have increased the workforce as well. 

"It's been fantastic to receive investment from group. We turned the project round and came in under budget. We have to be as efficient and cost effective as we can be and this is another way of doing it, bringing everything back and keeping everything on the same footprint.

"We can save time and money and continue to offer a better service and it will hopefully make us a more attractive option for those who want to purchase off us."