Bailey of Bristol appoints Steve Bruce as their new Operations Director

Steve brings a wealth of manufacturing experience to the business having spent nearly twenty years at leading furniture company G Plan with a proven track record of delivering large scale business transformation and change. During his time there Steve was an active member of the company Board with overall responsibility for their two manufacturing facilities in the UK and Europe capable of producing up to 2,000 pieces of furniture per week.

As the new head of the Bailey Operations Team, Steve will assume overall control of the company’s main Assembly Plant in South Bristol and its Large Panel Manufacturing Plant in North Somerset. He joins the business during a challenging period where COVID related labour and component supply issues still hinder production capacity in a period of rapidly increasing customer demand.

In order to tackle the first of these problems Bailey has recently introduced a new grading structure for the Operations team which has assisted in retaining and attracting staff by offering them competitive salary and a clear pathway for progression. As a consequence, staffing levels are now back to where they were pre-pandemic putting the company in a great place to move forward again.

Supply chain issues, whilst less frequent, do still remain. Bailey has responded by scaling back its new product development programme and focusing on larger production builds of the most popular models to help reduce the demands on its supplier partners. This has proved effective, as much as possible, in minimizing disruption and production delays. Consequently, Bailey has taken the decision to leave its existing product portfolio, both caravans and motorhomes, unchanged for the start of the 2023 model year.

Founded in 1948 Bailey of Bristol is the longest established UK independent manufacturer with seventy-five years’ experience in leisure vehicle production and design. During this period, it has grown to become not only the UK’s favourite caravan brand, accounting for approximately one in three new caravan sales, but also one of the largest producers in Europe. More recently, in 2011, the company brought this same level of expertise to the motorhome market as well as expanding into new exports markets as far afield as New Zealand and South Korea.

Today Bailey employs over 500 local people across its three sites in Bristol and currently manufactures 5,000 touring caravans and coachbuilt motorhomes per year.

Commenting on this latest appointment to the Senior Management Team Managing Director Nick Howard said “to have someone of Steve’s calibre joining the Bailey Board will be a significant boost to our company going forward. He not only has a proven track record of performance in manufacturing leadership but is also closely culturally aligned with the Bailey family values, making him an excellent addition to our business.

“Steve’s recent arrival is the latest in a number of new appointments strengthening our Senior Management Team to ensure we are in the best possible shape to capitalize on the opportunities afforded by the recent surge in demand for outdoor leisure vehicles and accessories” he added.