Motion upholstery retailer and manufacturer HSL has secured a Manufacturing Guild Mark.
The MGM, awarded by furnishing charity and City of London livery company The Furniture Makers’ Company, recognises excellence in UK manufacturing.
‘We are incredibly proud of our craftsmen and craftswomen and delighted to be awarded this prestigious mark of excellence from The Furniture Makers’ Company. The award is testimony to the hard work and dedication of everyone in the HSL family,’ says Ben Waters, HSL operations director.
Family owned since its foundation in 1968 by Jeffrey and Patricia Burrows, HSL produces its upholstery and beds in Batley, West Yorkshire. It has more than 50 stores across the country and employs more than 500 people.
‘Gaining the Manufacturing Guild Mark is the result of an extremely rigorous audit and assessment process. We scrutinise every aspect of a business’s operation and the fact that HSL passed with flying colours is testament to their pedigree and credentials as an exceptional British furniture manufacturer,’ says Steve Bulmer, Manufacturing Guild Mark chairman.
‘The team really impressed us with their commitment to continuous improvement. They have refined and re-engineered their manufacturing processes after establishing their own design and development team eight years ago, investing in high-spec machinery and technology to improve efficiencies and quality. Equally impressively, HSL now works with a local college, which delivers the company’s furniture manufacturing apprenticeship standards. It is also keenly focused on sustainability, reusing much of its own packaging, installing a new, super-efficient extraction system in the factory and expanding LED lighting, with plans to install solar panels at its Leeds distribution facility.’
