Tony Huggins has been appointed as managing director of David Bailey Furniture, the country’s fastest-growing manufacturer of specialist furniture products for the healthcare sector, schools, medical, and veterinary centres.
He replaces Trevor Gillman, who now takes on the role of chief executive officer and who has been responsible for developing the company over a 33-year period, transforming the business from a medium-sized manufacturer of kitchen units into a UK market leader of fitted furniture.
His vision and innovation have seen the development of an extensive range of storage units and other specialist furniture products, which are now widely used in hospitals and healthcare centres across the country.
Huggins, who joined David Bailey Furniture in September 2021 as operations manager is now charged with delivering plans to streamline the business still further following a major investment programme which has seen the company significantly expand its production capacity.
“We have shown steady continual improvement and have great potential to build on our rapid growth spurt, but I am very aware that we will always need to be as efficient as possible if we are to continue competing within a very crowded market,” he said.
“I intend to implement a five-year lean manufacturing plan for the shopfloor, which involves a fully-automated production system which will offer even greater opportunities for our loyal staff and I am very much looking forward to the challenge.
“It is my mission to have a piece of David Bailey furniture in every single hospital in the UK within the next five years and we have the right team in place and I am sure we can achieve all of our objectives within this period.”
David Bailey Furniture has been established for more than 40 years and employs 38 staff.