All change at Stan Bond

Stan Bond is South Australia’s largest supplier and manufacturer of indoor and outdoor blinds, timber and aluminium shutters, Crimsafe security screens and 3M Window Film,

General Manager, Andrew Earles told WFA that one of the major motivations for the move was the need for a more efficient and safe workflow. Stan Bond had been operating in multiple buildings, which created inefficiencies and safety issues. 

“Our growth over the past seven years has meant at times we were operating 24 hours per day across three shifts,” said Earles, adding that the move was part of the company’s five-year plan and took seven years to realise.”

Earles explains that the company worked with a major SA builder, Ahrens, who helped with the building design, and an ex-factory manager who led a team in developing the factory layout and flow. 

They used SketchUP and 3D scanning software to model the factory and worked with the production teams to adapt their ideas. The move took 14 months from finding the land to moving in.

Earles said it had already resulted in improvements in flow, safety, and efficiency, and helped attract new staff in a difficult employment market. However, he also acknowledged that it was a strange experience for staff to move from a place that had been optimised for nearly 40 years to a clean slate. Despite this, small improvements like easier parking, more space to move, and better lunch facilities have made life better for the team.

“We get to spend the next few years optimising this setup and realising gains never possible in our old space,” he said. 

The company’s lean culture and work to empower staff to make improvements in their areas would continue to be essential for achieving efficiency and realising the full potential of the new factory.

The company has integrated a curtain team into the new factory with semi-automated equipment and has broken the processes down to reduce the complexity of ordering a curtain and provide quicker lead times. It has also integrated IT information systems that customers are familiar with from the blind wholesale division, SABS.

“Alongside curtains, our initial focus has been getting the factory working well,” said Earles. 

“We expect that with BMAA Super Expo this year and other opportunities in discussion we will expand some of our existing product ranges and explore some new ones of 2023/24.”

Earles believes that the company’s retail, wholesale, and commercial reach across South Australia allows it to fit into the high quality, mass-produced approach to the curtain market. He sees curtains as a hot product segment and believes that more investment in equipment, training, and manufacturing is needed in South Australia. 

Blind manufacturers are well-positioned to provide that much-needed capacity.

“Our aim is to reduce the complexity of ordering a curtain and provide quicker lead times and IT information systems our customers are familiar with from our blind wholesale division SABS.”

“Curtains are a hot product segment currently; it was obvious more investment in equipment, training and manufacturing was needed in SA. That pattern seems to be across Australia and blind manufacturers are well positioned to provide that much needed capacity.”

Regarding the response from retailers to the change in the supply chain for curtains, Earles told WFA that the company has not yet released the product to the full South Australian market because the initial beta program was so successful that it filled initial capacity. 

The company has since grown the team and developed more systems, and is looking forward to growth in this area across 2023.

Earles expressed his gratitude to the team and the company’s leadership for the effort put into the move. He also noted the industry’s goodwill, which allowed non-competing businesses to share their wins and losses and inspire the design of the new factory. 

“I’m proud of the space created for the team to produce high-quality custom-made products, and I see the challenge now as using the space and equipment well to create great outcomes for customers around South Australia.”