Thorn Lighting has unveiled the new strategy and management team that it hopes will deliver an ambitious 10 per cent growth strategy for the financial year.
The new team,headed up by UK&Ireland managing director Paul Coggins plans to take the UK lighting giant away from its current generalist model and turn it into a successful multi-niche player,serving key markets and applications.
Coggins told Lighting:"The company shifted its focus during the eighties and nineties and pursued a generalist model.We lost some good members of staff as a result.The new company will look to focus its efforts on providing quality products for a number of niches markets and we're getting some familiar faces back to achieve this.
"Both Peter Denny[project sales director]and Nick Sinclair[area sales director]have come back to Thorn and now they can see where we are taking the business and the opportunities this is creating,"he said."We're really attracting talent now,across the board."
The new management team,led by Coggins,includes marketing director Kelly Herrick,formerly of Abacus Lighting,Thorn Energy Solutions sales director Nick Clark and Public Lighting sales director Andy Spivey.The team also includes commercial manager Clare Thomas,customer services manager Tracey Lawton,head of HR Joan Goodwin and financial controller Stephen Blenkinsop.
After running his own energy business for a number of years,Nick Clark has been recruited to establish Thorn Energy Solutions–a cradle-to-grave energy consultancy that will aim to provide complete turnkey solutions for clients.
The company has changed its slogan to'Lighting People'to reflect the make-up of the new team,but also to emphasise its plans to instigate a more customer-focused approach.
Kelly Herrick,marketing director said,"The era of selling luminaires in boxes is over.Providing lighting solutions in a customer-focused way is what will drive Thorn's growth.We are in an exciting position;Thorn is the biggest lighting manufacturer in the UK,but we recognise we've been a bit of a sleeping giant in the last few years.There are so many opportunities to get back out there and re-engage with our customers and the industry again.Thorn is back in a big way."
