- New managing director appointed at RB Farquhar Manufacturing
1st Nov, 2008 - Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Article
21st Jul, 2008 - Warrington Depot has moved
28th Apr, 2008 - R B Farquhar Charity Dinner in aid of CLAN
23rd Oct, 2007 - Success for RB Farquhar Manufacturing in the Sunday Times/Bank of Scotland £25 million Entrepreneur Challenge
4th Oct, 2007 - Major Radisson SAS hotel bathroom pod contracts for RB Farquhar Manufacturing
18th Jul, 2007 - Bathroom pod production record at RB Farquhar Manufacturing assembly plant
13th Jul, 2007 - RB FARQUHAR ANNOUNCE NEW £2MILLION HEADQUARTERS FOR HUNTLY
27th Jun, 2007 - Luxury Loos - New to R B Farquhar
30th Mar, 2007 - Welfare Hyjak - New to R B Farquhar
30th Mar, 2007
New managing director appointed at RB Farquhar Manufacturing
Bathroom pod manufacturer RB Farquhar has announced a number of senior management changes, including the appointment of the first non-family managing director in the firm’s sixty-year history.
Current managing director of RB Farquhar Manufacturing, Michael Shand, has stepped down from this role in preparation for moving with his family to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to set up a new bathroom pod assembly plant early in 2009.
He has been succeeded as managing director by current sales director Patrick McDonald, who joined the company in 1988 as a draughtsman, and has worked his way up through a number of design, project management and sales positions. He was appointed sales manager in 1998, and sales director in 2006.
Within the RB Farquhar Manufacturing sales team, Account Manager Mark Wimpenny has also been promoted to sales manager.
Improved productivity
“We fully expect 2009 to be a tough year in our core UK and Irish hotel and residential markets, but we are (November 2008) about to announce a major breakthrough into the continental European hotel market,” said Patrick McDonald.
“Our assembly plant at Chomutov has grown rapidly since we opened in 2003, to become the leading facility of its kind in Europe, but we plan to implement new assembly flowline efficiencies during 2009 which will further enhance our productivity.”
New opportunities
Forbes Shand, chairman of parent company RB Farquhar Holdings, said he believed the moves would greatly strengthen the company’s market-leading position in the bathroom pod industry.
“We have been researching the UAE market for the last two years, and we are confident that we can make a successful early market entry into one of the most buoyant hotel construction sectors anywhere in the world today,” he said.
“Prefabrication of bathroom pods has been shown to deliver cost savings over traditional site installation methods, so, even in the current challenging UK and Irish construction markets, we have an opportunity to increase our market share.
“Patrick McDonald is a hugely experienced and knowledgeable figure in this industry, and we believe under his direction we will be able to broaden our sales territory within Europe and boost our production efficiency in the Czech Republic.”
Background
RB Farquhar was established in North East Scotland in the 1940s by the late Bob Farquhar, who was succeeded as managing director in 1984 by his nephew Forbes Shand, the current group chairman.
Forbes’s younger son Michael became managing director of RB Farquhar Manufacturing in 2002, and won the first regional final of the Sunday Times/Bank of Scotland £25 million Entrepreneur Challenge in 2007. As its prize, RB Farquhar Manufacturing is to receive a Bank of Scotland funding package of £5 million free of interest and arrangement fees for three years, which the company plans to use to capitalise on new market opportunities in the UAE.
