SM UK approaches 20 years old!

From small beginnings in a garden shed, to now having 2 offices, a Service Centre, and the potential to opening of a new facility too, you could say we’ve come quite far! We’re now proud to say that we have a 48-strong team of fully qualified engineers installing safety equipment onto commercial vehicles across the UK to the high standard we are known for. But how have we got here and what else have we been up to since we started? Take a look below, and see how we’ve developed into the business we are today!

2000

SM UK first opened. With just 2 engineers and a garden shed as an office to process paperwork in SM UK had begun!

2006

Following a few successful years of becoming established and getting the SM UK brand known, it was now the time to take on an extra engineer to help with the slow and steady increase in work SM UK was experiencing. As well as this, because of the volume of work being carried out and the demand for services, SM UK now required a proper office environment - not a shed!

2009

By this year, 9 years after first starting, SM UK could now boast that it's engineering team had now grown to 10 engineers who were working across the country carrying out installations. The Head Office was also moved to another, new location which had the space to hold a warehouse full of stock. The team of engineers were now being supported by a new Admin and Bookings team who were based in the office in Leeds to control the workflow, invoicing and project management.

2010

Due to a rapid expansion within the year and a new, higher demand for SM UK’s services (partially due to the team of 17 engineers they now employed), the Head Office was moved (along with all the stock) to a new office in Kirkstall capable of holding a larger amount of stock as well as housing the Admin and Bookings team all under one roof.

2012

The year of the London Olympics...SM UK now had 22 engineers improving vehicle safety across the country. The brand and what SM UK were known for meant there was a larger increase in demand for their services. As part of this expansion, the Kirkstall office which was moved into just 2 years ago to accommodate a larger amount of stock had to be redesigned.

2014

Given that SM UK now held a strong, loyal and large workforce the time felt right to take on our second salesman to help expand our reach further across the UK, and focus our efforts in another area. As part of the development of staff, SM UK launched their Apprenticeship scheme by taking on their first Apprentice. The idea being they would work their way up to be a fully qualified engineer - and proud to say this engineer still works at SM UK today!

2016

In this year, a 3rd salesman was hired and had now grown the engineering team up to 30 - each with their own van and being managed by the team in house. Just like last time, the expansion in the engineering team was done to ensure the new demand brought in by the sales team could be met and keep customer satisfaction to the high level which had been achieved over the years.

2017

As the SM UK brand was now known by many, there was also a positive increase in the attention SM UK was receiving, so the decision was made to hire another salesman to make sure there was someone focusing on each quarter of the country. But also at the same time, allowing them to focus on more local businesses and expand our reach deeper into the region. Having moved to Unit 18 a few years back, the opportunity arose to purchase an office opposite (Unit 13). Once Unit 13 was purchased, the old office which the business used to occupy (Unit 18) shortly came up for sale. As our engineering team was growing at a slow, yet steady rate, we purchased Unit 18 and turned this into a Training Centre for the engineers and new staff.

2018

As part of the expanded service offering for our clients, the Directors started to look into the option of a having a Service Centre close to the Head Office, whereby vehicles would be brought to the facility for installations and conversions. The centre would serve a dual purpose. By using this new facility, SM UK would break into the Van Conversion market - an idea originally thought up in early 2017, but would also be a destination should a current vehicle with our equipment installed require a repair. As part of the office expansion, a full-time Marketing Manager was employed to help grow the brand further and work with the 4-strong sales team.

2019

As we enter the final quarter of 2019, we're looking ahead to the future and specifically our reach in the Midlands...more on this here!