Interior outfitting company, Trimline celebrated its 55th birthday on 17th February.
When founder Reg Oliver (pictured in the middle) was made redundant in 1965, he was given a sewing machine by his ex-employer. He saw this as an opportunity to build a better future for his young family at the time.
Oliver had a background in ‘trimming’, an upholstery practice he’d used during his time working for the railways. As a result, armed with this knowledge he set up Trimline and offered upholstering services to the local marine market.
By the 1980s, the company had expanded to offer full interior refits for cruise ships, ferries and defence vessels.
It was at this time that his sons Mike and Gary Oliver joined the business, carrying out their apprenticeships on the shop floor and learning the business from the ground up.
By the time Reg retired in the early 1990s, Gary had become Managing Director and Mike was heading up the Sales department.
Now Chairman, Gary explained that he had often been asked how have we done it? He replied that the answer is not a simple one, but the top three would be:
1. Listen very carefully to what your customers tell you and really get to know them. From building a specification to finding out what they are planning next, find out what they are thinking, remember it is they that control your world
2. Do not remove all the profits from the business, save enough for a rainy day or even a recession
3. Employ and try your best to retain really good people who are smarter than you are. The ego has no place in business.
Around the same time, Barry Hurst celebrated his 40-year work anniversary. Reflecting on his time at Trimline, he said “I joined Trimline in 1980 so I have seen a lot of changes during my 40 years working here. The industry has changed, and we have changed with it, but the one consistent is the people here. Trimline is such a great team to work with and I’m still enjoying it.”
Also this month, Trimline partnered with TUI Cruises to undertake the interior refit of ‘Mein Schiff 4’ in Marseille, France.
As the main interior contractor on board, the refit progressed well and was slightly ahead of the project programme.
The following work was carried out:
• Full refurbishment of Cafe Lounge.
• Full refurbishment of Dimont Bar.
• Remodelling of La Spezia (Italian Speciality Restaurant).
• Remodelling of Hanami (Japanese Restaurant).
