Palatine Beds are realising a dream

May 22 2009 By Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

DISABLEMENT NEEDN’T MEAN TOTAL DEPENDENCY. ALASTAIR GILMOUR FINDS INSPIRATION IN DETERMINATION

HUMILITY is such an exceptional quality, it’s almost a gift. So, taking a guided tour around a production facility where the majority of the workforce has some form of disability is a very humbling experience. It is also thought-provoking and pride enhancing.

Most of the staff at Palatine Beds in Westerhope, Newcastle, could legitimately sign up for benefits – but don’t. They simply want to earn a living, driven by a work ethic that won’t let them take a back seat, regardless of their disability.

And, not only is the end product coming off the conveyor belt of very high quality, everyone from shop-floor to management takes great pride in encouraging teamwork and all are eager to contribute to the local economy.

Palatine Beds has been manufacturing high quality retail and contract beds and furniture for more than 100 years and now occupies an ultra-modern, 150,000 square feet manufacturing factory to the west of the city. A division of Your Homes Newcastle, an “arm’s length management organisation” at Newcastle City Council, it is an unusual company in that it offers a service as well as being a manufacturer.

“It demonstrates that disabled people are not unemployable,” says Ron Stobbart, Palatine’s sales and customer service manager. “Just because you’re disabled doesn’t mean you have depend on benefits all your life.

“Not everybody has heard of Palatine Beds and even some people in the council don’t know whatwe do.We felt the Think North East First campaign would help our profile.We offer employment opportunities to people with disabilities – although not all of the people we employ are disabled – and they will manufacture a complete bed from scratch. But just like any other business, there are still targets and delivery schedules to be met and customer orders to fill.

“The company started in 1907 making wicker products then moved into furniture – chair seats and backs. Now the core business is in beds and we manufacture, upholster and reupholster.

“A lot of people have slept in a Palatine bed and not realised it – they’ve heard of Myers, Silent Night and Sleep Eazy and we also want to let people in this area know we exist.” Ron lost his right leg 33 years ago and, rather than rely on incapacity benefits for the rest of his life, opted for working on Government-run community programmes. He had been a joiner, so when his disabled resettlement officer eventually put him forward for a labourer’s job at Palatine the company quickly recognised his skills could be put to better use.

“I was put on the benchmaking three-piece suite frames,” he says. “When we recruit new people we see what skills they have at interview and assess how theywill fit in. Training and support is then given.

“We have approximately 60 employees ranging from manufacturing through to sales, office staff, production, warehousing and transport. We buy in all the rawcomponents such as springs then everything is constructed here. When people see a bed being made they’re fascinated – it takes 30 minutes from start to finish, from cutting panels to sewing. And, we are one of the few manufacturers who have our own ignitability facilities to test for fire-proofing.

“We make beds for nursing homes, hotels, residential schools and obviously Newcastle City Council properties but there’s fierce competition from the Far East. The Thistle Group was a big customer a couple of years ago, as was the Roker Hotel in Sunderland. A lot of small holiday accommodation companies tend to buy better quality beds because people come back year after year.

“Electric beds are our best seller; we’re very competitive in that market.We’ve just completed a huge order for the MoD – 3,000 beds for the Army in Germany – and a holiday firm from Yorkshire which caters for disabled people has just ordered the type with the memory foam top mattress that they require.

“We have a greater understanding of people with disabilities so we offer a bespoke bed service. We work very closely with health and safety departments in particular as there’s a lot of manual handling involved in the manufacturing process. There’s a lot of technology involved now with things like pocket spring interiorswhich profile to the shape of the bed and give maximum support.”