In May of 2017, the Galtee Group opened a new showroom in JFK Industrial Estate, Dublin 12, to showcase their vast range of high-quality products, including the widest range of interior doors and decorative wooden panel products in Ireland. With a Belfast showroom also imminent, we travelled to the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ballylanders, County Limerick and caught up with director Eoin Ryan to find out more about this progressive, market-leading family business, which currently generates direct employment for more than 100 people.
Synonymous with Pronto Doors and Galtee Panels, the Galtee Group manufactures wood products for a wide-ranging customer base throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe. Their product range includes decorative panel surfaces, veneered panels and internal doors and accessories.
Pronto Doors is an Irish-owned and operated manufacturer of high-end, decorative internal doors and accessories, boasting an exceptional collection of doors along with Ireland’s largest range of options in finishes (from wood veneers to laminate, flush, flat panel and raised panel, lacquered or painted and everything in between), glazing, sizes and bespoke designs, with an experienced design team on hand to help clients choose, create, design and build the ideal door to finish their home or building.
Meanwhile, Galtee have been in the panel industry for 32 years and Galtee Panels has established itself as one of the leading veneered panel suppliers in Ireland and the UK, offering a comprehensive range of decorative panels including veneer, melamine, Gloss and SuperMatt acrylic, PaperFoil panels and door blanks, which are available on a wide range of substrates.
The Galtee Group was established in 1980 by Sean and Marie Ryan, originally set up to produce kitchen cabinet doors for the local market. However, it quickly developed into a key national supplier. In 1985, they installed a veneer laminating line and commenced veneering MDF boards. With the addition of this new product to the business, the company grew substantially year-on-year.
Now a second-generation family business, the Galtee Group is today run by Sean and Marie’s son Eoin Ryan (Managing Director), daughter Elaine Ryan (Head of Finance) and son-in-law Pat Meade (Sales Director). Finalists at the National Family Business Awards 2017, the company has survived one of the worst economic recessions in living memory and has enjoyed an encouraging period of growth since 2014, doubling turnover in the past three years.
The Group mission is to produce and supply high-quality products. The Galtee Group prides itself on quality in all aspects of its activities, realising that customer relations are key. Flexibility and proximity to the market enable them to react quickly to customer feedback and market trends. As Galtee’s No.1 objective is to be the best, customers have come to expect products and service of the highest quality, design and value.
Maintaining strong relations with customers and suppliers alike, Galtee’s latest major development programme involved not only capital investment but skills development and new product Research & Development, the results of which have transformed the rejuvenated company.
Committed to helping to sustain the world’s resources for generations to come, Galtee has also initiated a programme to continue reducing its carbon footprint. Wood waste within the Group is used as a source of heat in production facilities, while sawdust and veneer waste is processed on site into biomass fuel for heat and energy production and the use of eco-friendly haulage where possible – as well as many other energy-saving measures within the company – is contributing to the Group’s goal of becoming a carbon neutral supplier.
Progressing at an impressive rate and cementing its status at the forefront of the market, the Galtee Group recorded a major landmark this summer when opening their brand-new state-of-the-art Pronto Doors showroom and accompanying hub, The G Design Centre – a unique, inspirational space for architects and interior designers – off the Naas Road in Dublin, which exposes their products to a whole new market. A Belfast showroom is also in the pipeline.
“When my mother and father established the company in 1980, we were manufacturing kitchen doors and components for the trade,” Eoin Ryan reflects. “In 1985, with the opening of the Medite factory in Clonmel, we started to put veneer surfaces on MDF and we are now the biggest in Ireland and the UK doing that and one of the Top Five in Europe. We produce those panels here in Limerick – as Galtee Panels – and supply them mostly to merchants and manufacturers of kitchen, bedroom and bathroom furniture. We also supply panels for shop-fitting and commercial fit-outs as well as furniture manufacturers.
“We’ve expanded our range to include other decorative panels from acrylic to PVC to paper, which we manufacture in Limerick for export.”
Having initially manufactured internal doors in a low-key, behind-the-scenes manner – supplying them through third parties – the Galtee Group / Pronto Doors is now synonymous with manufacturing and supplying premium residential doors in Ireland and high-end commercial doors in the UK.
“We have developed a very strong name for quality and service,” the MD continues, when pushed on the key strengths of the business. “We also have good lead times in that our turnover time in comparison to our competitors is very fast. So quality and speed are very important.”
Like any successful business, the Galtee Group has evolved and adapted over the years to arrive at its current healthy state. “Traditionally, we were bulk materials suppliers, specialising in sheet material and kitchen and interior doors,” notes Eoin. “We also used to make surrounds for Dimplex stoves, timber flooring, toilet seats, hotel furniture, etc. A lot of that disappeared during the downturn when we focused on panel products and internal doors. In 2014, we decided to sell the kitchen door business.”
(Under new management) the company – scalable and flexible in terms of being able to fill orders both large and small – is now very much on an upward trajectory. “At one stage, turnover had dropped to 40% of what it was in 2005, but we are delighted to have doubled it again over the past three years and we have changed the business model so that we have more unique products and are now starting to market and sell our products directly.
“Pronto Doors is the largest door manufacturer in Ireland and nobody knew who we were because we were selling independently. We’re also the largest decorative panel manufacturer in Ireland and will now market direct and present ourselves from the start of the process.
“We’ve added up to 15 ranges of product in panels, which we have on show in The G Design Centre, focussed on giving clients the ultimate range of tactile finishes on the market.”
The Galtee Group is working closely with contractors offering complete door-joinery packages for a number of high-profile educational and public sectors, including work in the capital for L&M Keating; Mary Immaculate College’s new Research Centre in Limerick – the John Henry Newman Campus, developed on the former Sisters of Mercy Mount Convent Complex; St Joseph’s School in Charleville for JJ Rhatigan; and a new Dementia Care Facility in Bruff, County Limerick for Carebright.
Having supplied high-quality wood products to other prestigious sites from Dublin Airport to Lansdowne Road to the Criminal Courts, the Galtee Group is a veritable hive of activity right now, shipping up to three fully-loaded 40-foot artic loads of product from their manufacturing facility every day – two to the UK and one to Ireland.
“65% of our turnover is from exports but we’re also focussing strongly on the Irish market,” the MD of this exceptional family business concludes. “Brexit is a major concern but increased activity in Ireland is our counterplan to coping with that. Now that we’re marketing and directly selling our products, the challenge is to let more people know that we’re here and what we have to offer.”
The Galtee Group,
Cork Road, Ballylanders,
County Limerick.
Tel: 062 46898
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, October 2017, Vol 3 No 9
