Never before seen innovation gets thumbs up from UK market
Posted on 02/06/2016
The new Managing Director of a global hardware giant has told staff and colleagues that he is delighted to be in his new role and that the company is on an exciting journey.
David Walker took over as Managing Director of Caldwell UK Ltd from John Reeder – who sadly passed away at the end of 2015 after a long battle with cancer.
He takes on the role following 10 years at KPMG where he most recently managed the operations of various consulting teams. Before this, he was delivering strategic and operational consulting projects for a wide variety of organisations, many with strong engineering and manufacturing operations.
He had also been advising John Reeder at Caldwell on its growth strategy, prior to becoming MD.
His first task as MD was to attend the FIT Show in Telford, where he was ‘thrown in at the deep end’ of the industry.
He comments: “It was the first time Caldwell had exhibited in the UK. The decision was made to do so because it is such a pivotal time at the company. We’ve launched a record seven new products in 2016 and we are also re-positioning ourselves as a global operation – to ensure more continuity as a brand.
“Globally we’re a tour de force in the hardware sector and we have engineering capabilities second to none. We wanted to show this off at the FIT Show and also soft-launch many of our automated and ‘Smart’ products.”
On the role itself, David comments: “It’s been a whirlwind first few weeks and we’re on an exciting journey here at Caldwell. You can feel it – the momentum is huge. New products, investment and constant innovation are driving us all forward.”
Caldwell UK operate out of a plant in Coventry and is the overarching brand, with Cotswold Architectural Products, Doors in Motion and Magnum sitting underneath.
The company’s mission statement is to become the world’s number one total hardware supplier.
Eric Mertz, global CEO, comments: “David is a natural leader and has an acute eye for detail. Under his stewardship, the UK operation is set to go from strength to strength. We’ve got some exciting launches and events on the horizon – this is a great time for the Caldwell family.”