We are Capital Coated Steel!
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, Wales (and the UK) forged incredible ties with Eastern economies. Household names flocked to Wales, attracted by government incentives and access to lucrative European markets; Panasonic, Sony, Sharp, Mitsubishi and LG, all established themselves on Capital’s doorstep. These marque companies were in need of a high quality supply chain to meet the exacting demands of the household market; with VCRs, stereos and microwaves destined to take pride of place in homes across Europe.
With a processing facility in the Welsh Capital and an ambitious management team, Capital found itself in the perfect position to supply these demanding markets.
Capital had to bridge the knowledge gap between supplying ‘traditional’ markets and the high #quality, #lean environments demanded by electronics companies. So we invested heavily. We embarked on an education programme of Total Quality Management. Cosby Associates were brought in. We created a purpose built training centre fully furnished and equipped with display equipment and a laser CD player (if anyone can remember those!). Within these walls, we trained the workforce, received customers and spent many hours developing high quality practises which provided the building blocks of the company that we are today.
We also invested in ground breaking processing equipment that facilitated multi-stranding – the practise of slitting strands of material before shearing and stacking each decoiled piece as a ‘blank - a process we continue to offer to tight tolerances via our decoiling facilities today.
Throughout the 1990’s our customer base expanded with the introduction of satellite set-top boxes as society experienced a paradigm shift in home entertainment. At that time, we supplied 70% of the European microwave market (LG, Whirlpool, Panasonic, Sharp and Daewoo among others).
But why is this history lesson relevant? Well…it says everything about who we are today. It educated us to assess and determine product quality and establish #qualitymanagement systems. It informs how we ensure statistical accuracy and crucially, how we behave, respond and #service our markets. It set the standards for our future success.
The company ethos, established in the late 80’s was ‘Get it right, first time and every time’. It is perhaps a mantle that is impossible to live up to all of the time, but if that is the very thing that you strive for, then it colours ALL activities even on the occasions we get it wrong. These were the building blocks of Capital Coated Steel and we can see it through our service of bleeding edge sectors like ceilings, modular buildings and clean rooms.
As the #business landscape has evolved, we have extended our quality ethos beyond the boundaries of product and customer service into 21st century considerations that include #sustainability, #biodiversity and #wellbeing.
