I have always believed that customer care is top priority for a business, and we try our upmost to provide the best, personal customer service around. We value our core sectors of signage and fabrication like no other, but with the recession hitting these sectors hard, we had to branch out.

This month in particular, we have been driving into the oil & gas, engineering and defence sectors. James has had me charging around to the far corners of the North East, even venturing in to the depths of Teeside! In the hope that the business generated would outweigh the petrol costs! He is a cheeky lad, but he does make me get stuff done!

Fortunately, it looks like the hard work of the past months will be paying off, and as testament to this amd featured in the journal on 11th January in an article about or expansion. During the interview I described how "over the past year we have moved more into the oil and gas and defence sectors whilst maintaining our signage and fabrication services. We have acquired several national companies as new customers and these successful relationships are bringing further business from other companies." To read the full article click here.

I hope you will agree that we have maintained and developed the fantastic relationships we have with our current customers. For example, we thank Dyer Engineering who have recently given us a large oil & gas contract.

All of us at amd are proud that we can now say that rather than moving backwards because of the recession, we have made large steps forward. We thank you again for your contributions throughout 2009 and I look forward to working with you all in 2010.

Staff changes and additions at amd
We are happy to say that we have been able to make another two additions to the staff at amd and also to have promoted Paul Rowley to Production Director,(Pictured right in a very directorial pose). Paul plays a crucial role at AMD and has been justly rewarded for his continued commitment and dedication along with managing the delivery of a consistently excellent product. Although Paul will always be available for large queries on jobs and heavily involved with the factory, he will gradually be phased out as our customer's first point of contact on all general enquiries as he takes on his directorial role. Congratulations Paul!

Louise Sheriff was hired as 'Production Administrator' as the start of the year as has moved into the role of becoming your first point of contact during jobs. I am delighted to say that Louise has started very strongly and is already becoming a key part of the amd team. Louise will become even more familiar to you as she becomes the primary contact during jobs. We are sure that our customers will build a strong relationship with Louise and hope that she will improve even further, the premium service that we offer.

Chris Baxter of 'GENI' has become a Non-Executive Director at amd. Chris has been working with AMD since April 2009 as has had a significant impact on the business. I wanted to find a way to thank Chris for the work he has done and ensure that he would continue to work with us for years to come and so offered him the post. In the future Chris will help us maintain a profitable path as the business grows and make sure that we are well prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Before moving into Business Coaching and Consulting in 2005, Chris worked for a number of manufacturing businesses around the North East including Freudenberg Technical Products, Unipress, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Since studying for an MBA at Durham Business School, he has specialised in working with small and medium sized businesses. We are delighted to welcome him into the team.

Be sure to keep updated on the goings on at AMD by visiting the website at www.amdspecialistcoatings.co.uk.

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