Hello from Richard
Hello and welcome to our first edition of Hills ‘HillsTalk!’ As we steam ahead with the development of our company, we hope this newsletter will give us the opportunity to pause and reflect on some of our latest news updates and achievements. As you know, these past few months have been particularly busy and have been crucial in our growth and success as a team. With all our teams hard work and dedication, we are effectively furthering our position as the UK’s leading vertically integrated number plate manufacturer and component supplier.
I hope you enjoy HillsTalk!
Richard Taffinder
News Update
Hills are the market leading manufacturer of number plates in the UK. They also lead the field in the supply of number plate components to the automotive industry. Founded in 1927, Hills are a Great British manufacturing success story situated in the heart of Birmingham. Hills demonstrate their innovative attitude, pride in their products and passion in everything they do.
News update
Sun is shining on
Hills welcome a new face to the team
Speculate to Accumulate
20 years of service is commended
News in Numbers
Rule Britannia
Setting the Standards
Full of Eastern Promise
Hills final Thought
James Nash
Hills Malaysia are proud to be associated with James Nash at the World Touring Car Championship.
James has made a good start to his season and will be racing in Sonoma, USA in his next round. Catch him in action on Eurosport!
The new face of Customer Service
Hills is proud to welcome on board Gemma Pettitt, our new Customer Service Manager. Gemma joins Hills from her previous job at Tooling International in Solihull.
Gemma commented “I’m delighted to be part of the Hills team, everybody has made me feel so welcome and working with such great products and customers makes Customer Service a joy”
Sun is shining on MetaTek
It feels like we’ve had a hundred seasons in the past 18 months. As people, we’re lucky that we can shelter inside, but many of the nation’s number plates are not so lucky. Here at Hills, we’ve been measuring the weather and recording the ways it has affected our number plates and as they say; circumstance creates opportunity.
We’ve perfected the most durable, weather resistant number plate available in the marketplace today; MetaTek. We started by looking at our roots – good old-fashioned metal number plates with their bombproof construction. We then fused that with modern, reflective, adhesive and digital print technology to come up with the lightest, durable, environmentally sound, and best value number plate available today. Plus it’s also available in a lipped format giving all the marketing benefits of large font advertising on number plates.
Speculate to accumulate
It’s been a busy few months here at Hills. As you know, we never stand still and we’ve been busy investing in some great new equipment to further our position as the UK’s leading vertically integrated number plate manufacturer and component supplier. One of our recent acquisitions is a HP DRS Digital Large Format printer giving us the capability to produce tailored printing solutions for our domestic nonstandard and key export markets. Chris Glendinning, Export Business Development Manager explains, “The flexibility of in-house digital production has enabled us to conquer new markets by producing components essential to export. For example, we can now produce the graphically tailored plates required by law for each French province, which has opened up a whole new range of markets for us to explore.” Our innovation department is already putting the finishing touches to the project plans for our next big thing. Watch this space!
In it for the long haul
The key to Hills’ success is without doubt the strength of its people. The diligence, breadth of experience and passion displayed by the whole team allows us to deliver the highest quality products and maintain our competitive advantage in the marketplace. It is important to recognise Mark Gridley and Tony Malone for their long and dedicated service to Hills. This year marks their 20th year with Hills. Thank you for your dedicated service and here’s to another 20!
Rule Britannia
In these tough economic times, it’s nice to hear of a UK success story. From Birmingham, the heart of England, Hills exports are at an all-time high. “Exports have grown by 33% in the last 12 months, bucking nationwide trends,” Richard Taffinder explains.
Eastern promises
Hills Malaysia is now open for business! The latest phase of Hills’ global expansion has seen its Malaysian operation come on line. The state of the art sales and distribution centre serves the Malaysian market with the high-tech plates required by law.
Setting the standard
Hills are members of the British Number Plate Manufacturers Association and are involved in industry and Numberplate Security consultation with the authorities. For more information on the consultation, visit www.bnma.org
Final Thought – In the spotlight
Hills staff were put in the spotlight recently when Hills updated its photography library. The sun shone on the Birmingham Headquarters and the team rallied round to support the photographer who recorded the products, daily operations and took head shots of members of the team. You will see the new photographs soon on the Hills website and also across the new literature and presentations that will be hitting the marketplace shortly.
Richard Taffinder, MD commented, “I wanted our photos to show the genuine people behind Hills, not far removed photographs of random models. We’re lucky that Hills is blessed with such good looking, photogenic staff and I’m delighted with how well the images have come out and how much fun the team had on the day.”