Work has begun on Komatsu’s new UK headquarters, set to open later this year. Forestry Journal went to Carlisle to find out what this development means for the company and the industry.
2023 is set to be a big year for Komatsu in the UK.
The forest machine manufacturer is planning to bid farewell to its current home and relocate to a new site which promises to radically change the way it conducts business.
Its base at Longtown Industrial Estate in Carlisle has been a sales and service hub for forest machinery (under various names) since the late 1980s, but the industry has changed a lot since then.
Now Komatsu has made a significant investment to break free of the constraints of its existing facility and build a new national headquarters befitting one of the world’s biggest and most successful forestry brands.
In January, a ground-breaking ceremony was held at the new site at Carlisle Airport Industrial Estate to mark the start of construction.
It was attended by representatives of Komatsu, Architects Plus, Cubby Construction and the mayor of Carlisle, Mike Mitchelson, who praised the firm for its commitment to using local companies in the project.
He said: “It’s good news for Carlisle; a huge investment that’s going to be Komatsu’s UK headquarters.
“It makes Carlisle have more of a presence nationally and all that money spent has been spent at local firms, meaning it goes back into our local economy.”
Ahead of the event, Forestry Journal met up with Komatsu’s managing director Stephen Bellas and financial controller Geoff Winrow to learn more about the development and the company’s plans for the future.
Stephen said: “We started the project to relocate in July 2019 and looked at several options before we settled on Carlisle Airport. We completed the land purchase in August 2022, construction is now underway and we’re looking at a provisional handover on the 4th of August.”
Given the timing, it’s no surprise the project has faced some challenges, with the COVID pandemic and cost of living crisis presenting significant issues to overcome, causing delays and putting funding in doubt. It’s clearly a relief for the team that work on the ground is now underway.
“The move is driven by the need to grow the organisation and retain and recruit staff,” said Stephen. “Where we are at the moment isn’t representative of the Komatsu brand.
"It’s worked very successfully for a number of years, but we need to move on in the interests of our staff and to allow us to compete in an evolving marketplace.”
Of course, competition has played a part. It hasn’t escaped Komatsu’s notice that rival manufacturers Ponsse and John Deere (its new next-door neighbour in Carlisle) have both opened first-rate modern facilities in the last few years, at Annan and Perth respectively.
With that in mind, the pressure was on to improve Komatsu’s presence in the UK with a new building incorporating offices and a workshop that will bring tremendous benefits to both customers and staff.
Stephen said: “We wanted a spacious, modern, future-proof design so the staff would have an environment they looked forward to coming to work in.
“Also, forestry is beginning to change. We now see more large organisations on the harvesting side. We’re moving away from seeing the typical one-man contractor with a harvester and forwarder to large companies where all the decisions are determined by spreadsheets.”
This means Komatsu’s own sales approach has to change. Historically, sales of forest machinery have depended a lot on whether the customer preferred the colour red, green or yellow.
Now meetings with harvesting contractors are likely to include the CEO and financial controller, with detailed analysis of the performance of each of their machines. In a room full of increasingly professional operators, it can be hard to tell who has the purchasing power, and all deserve to be treated to a high standard of service.
“We’re having to change our model,” said Stephen. “Forestry is quite an ageing industry, so we’ve been reliant on a generation of contractors who are now in their late 50s, early 60s, and heading into retirement. We had to consider how we can connect with a younger consumer base. So we’re looking at a more modern way of working, while still providing the same standard of service.”
This will be the first site owned outright by a Komatsu Forest sales market, including the land and building itself, breaking away from the company’s practice of renting out spaces. And it is, of course, a massive investment for the firm in the UK.
As such, it was incredibly important to make it fit for the future.
The new two-storey office, clad in timber, will provide more space than the current team of 35 requires, but allows room to grow in the years to come. Similarly, the workshop has a modular design, so an extra bay can be added if required.
The land is bigger than the Longtown site by an acre, so allows plenty of scope for expansion.
The facility will also have solar panels on the roof to improve energy efficiency, and electric car-charging points, among other features aimed at sustainability.
The design drew inspiration from Komatsu’s new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Klockarbäcken, Umeå, Sweden, which was designed to be sustainable while boosting creativity and productivity, boasting large, open areas, high ceilings and timber (sourced from the nearby spruce forests) throughout.
Stephen and Geoff visited the new factory last year to speak with designers and get a few ideas that would translate to the UK to replicate the Komatsu environment.
Stephen said: “We wanted a connection with the new factory. That scale and cost was not achievable, so there have been a lot of challenges, but we wanted to incorporate some of their ideas, such as building wood into the office area. And inside, we’ll be introducing some more similar elements, so when you walk in, you’ll instantly get the feel of a Komatsu building.
“When you’ve got the opportunity to create your own facility, you’ve got to seize it and make it as good as it can be, even with all the challenges that presents. We want it to stand out, particularly as it’s the first one that will be fully owned by the company.”
Komatsu has drawn praise for its commitment to building the new facility in Carlisle, less than 10 miles south of its current base, and for relying on local designers and contractors, but none of this was a foregone conclusion, and it wouldn’t be happening if the company didn’t think the location was right.
Stephen said: “We were challenged to look at other areas, but we felt this was the ideal location. We’ve got two of the biggest man-made forests in the country either side of us, we have a regional network with our engineers and we’re conveniently situated to support everyone across the UK.
“Our staff are all local to the area too, and we didn’t want to lose anyone. I’m pleased to say we’re going to be able to retain 100 per cent of our staff, which is brilliant for a relocation project.
“We always wanted to use local consultants and local construction companies. Although we’re a UK operation, our roots are in this area so we wanted to use local suppliers and we’ve achieved that. Every aspect has been locally supplied, from structural engineers to architects and construction, all from within 10 miles of us.”
So what about the facility itself? On arrival, visitors will be presented with the impressive two-storey offices at the front, with the warehouse and workshop to the back. Every aspect has been carefully thought out to provide the best possible experience for staff and customers, particularly in areas where the two interact.
In the offices, the parts department will be housed entirely on the ground floor, a departure from the existing set-up at Longtown.
Stephen: “We wanted to separate out the parts area so it almost becomes its own entity.
“One of our weaknesses at the moment is we’re quite fragmented in the aftermarket department, with services upstairs and parts on the lower floor and no connection between the two. They can’t just lift their heads and speak to each other.
“Plus, we could be sitting with a customer about to spend half a million pounds on a new machine, who’s in earshot of an operator from a competitor looking for a part. We wanted to get away from that. So the whole of the aftermarket department will be on the lower floor now, serving as a retail outlet.”
There will also be ‘breakout areas’ for staff to allow them to get away from their desks – designed to improve the working experience and culture.
“We were keen for our staff to have flexible working so that if they want to move away from the desk to have a coffee or a meeting they can do so,” said Stephen. “Also, nobody will be eating at their desks. That’s something we all do at the minute and it just means we start eating and carry on working. You need a break, even if it’s just for 20 minutes when you’re not looking at your screen.”
There will be two rooms for training machine operators, which will be available to companies to hire out – an exciting service which Komatsu has not been able to offer in the past.
Geoff said: “There’s a real lack of new operators coming through. We were keen to create an effective, safe, modern training environment that will attract new talent for the benefit of the industry. It benefits us too, to train operators to be comfortable in a Komatsu environment. That potentially could influence the decisions of the people that buy the machines in the companies they go to work for, if they’re most comfortable in red machines.”
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Stephen added: “Ultimately, it’s our job to sell machines. But we also know that we’ve got to support the industry. Without operators, we aren’t selling anything. We know we’ve got an obligation to the industry as well as ourselves.”
Upstairs, a massive change for the team will be a move away from separate offices for an open-plan environment, with break-out areas similar to the lower level.
“Every member of staff will have a bigger area to work in and we think it will be much better for communication, team spirit and so on. We’ll have a relaxed canteen area and a huge meeting room.
“What we’re trying to create is an office where an owner can comfortably discuss his machine sales, but it can also be used to host events or employee days.”
The new warehouse will have a vertical storage unit eight metres high to hold almost all parts stock. The amount of space available means everything can be kept in the warehouse – not lying in the yard.
Alongside this will be a fabrication area and a workshop which will be six metres wider and three metres longer than the one at Longtown. This will allow for metres of space either side of a harvester or forwarder undergoing service or repair.
Stephen said: “We wanted a spacious and safe workshop environment. The plan is for something similar to a Formula 1 pit, where all the engineers will have exactly the same workstation. We want to raise the standards there as well.”
The yard space will be 1.8 acres, allowing a lot more room for moving and storing machinery.
At all levels then, there are plenty of reasons for Komatsu staff to be excited to be leaving Longtown and moving into their new base – and Stephen and Geoff are as keen as the rest.
But what about the customer experience? This is one subject that has probably provided the most food for thought.
Geoff explained: “We’ve got to start giving customers an experience that’s worthy of the investment they’re making, which can sometimes be up to a million pounds. Our current environment does not do that. And we’ve put a real emphasis on trying to make the customer experience a lot more professional, a lot more relaxed and a lot more enjoyable. Ultimately, we want customers, whether they’re buying a machine or not, to have an experience that is befitting of the brand of Komatsu.”
Stephen added: “We are changing in a changing industry. This new facility will change the way that we work and be reflective of the changes in the industry moving forwards.
“We’ve said it ourselves that if you went into Ferrari and bought one of their cars – with a similar price tag – you’d be treated like a king. It’s important we offer our customers a good experience when they come to see us and provide an environment worthy of the investment they’re about to make.”
Forestry Journal will return to explore the new facility when it opens later this year.
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