For Top Class Customer Service, “Made in England” is Best

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog concerning the fact that all of our products are made right here in Rossendale, Lancashire and that we are proud of the “Made in England” tag. I know that our American friends like to see a “Made in the USA” sticker and yet their biggest manufacturer of pop-up cubes sends most of its assembly work to Mexico. We have competitors in the UK who send out their production to other countries in the Euro zone where wages and production costs are less than they are here. Recently we have received comment on the blog offering support for the “Made in England” campaign.

However, rather than being jingoistic about the issue, the most salient point for me concerns levels of control and customer service. I would be worried about relinquishing control of production because of the many quality issues that arise during the manufacture of automatic pop-ups and interactive mailers.

We are very particular when it comes to the specification of the board and paper materials on which we print. We are equally discriminating when it comes to the specification of adhesives, adhesive tapes and rubber bands. We know the potential problem areas in every product that we make and we are careful to ensure that all goods reach our customers in excellent condition. As all products are assembled by hand, we realise that it is impossible to achieve perfection but we do our best to give our customers consistently good quality.

As I said in my earlier blog, I have no reason to doubt that our type of products can be made to an exacting standard in many other countries – after all, nearly every pop-up book in the world that is published today is printed and assembled in China. I just feel much happier in the knowledge that our own staff take ownership and full responsibility for every single order that we take. Our customers also like to feel secure in the knowledge that they can check the progress of their order with someone who really knows where the job is at – someone with “hands-on” knowledge.

However, to achieve the levels of customer service that we offer, I firmly believe that “Made in England” is easily our best option and production of Pop-Up Mailers will remain right here in our own back yard!