RAMVEK

2

Since 1988, Ramvek has been a leading retail shopfitting and hospitality fit-out company producing quality projects for commercial and retail clients. The company is capable of both high-end and complex work delivered from its five thousand square metre manufacturing facility.

3

Written by John Boley

The shopfitting industry has given itself something of

a new look, having lost a few major players during the

lean times in the last couple of years.

So says Mark White, founding director of Melbourne-based

Ramvek. He breaks the sector into two main categories based

on the size of the client. Many local contractors are able to work

for small, usually individual, retail outlets. Just a few companies

are capable of providing a sufficiently comprehensive service

to handle the larger clients – including the global retail chains

now (perhaps belatedly) invading the Australian high street

and shopping centre.

Mark says although there is a glut of the smaller companies,

“at the other end, there probably are not that many shopfitters

around with the capacity and size to deal with the big names.”

Major retailers require a national presence and a team large

enough to cope with a roll-out across Australia. Ramvek has

upped its game accordingly. Its website, for example, is “very

much focused on and aimed at people looking at our profile

from overseas.” Ramvek wants to be at the forefront when a

global name comes to town.

There is always a danger of a boom-and-bust economy in this

sector – boom at present with the influx of the major brands

following several bust years – but Mark says Ramvek has

staying power, having been around for more than twenty-five

years already. “We have experienced several of these cycles.

In the firm times, you have to make sure you don’t get ahead

of yourself. You need to be smart in how you do things and

choose wisely when it comes to projects. “

It is also important to know in advance and have good rela-

tionships with appropriately skilled subcontractors who can be

called upon when things get really hectic. “In a way, it’s good

when it is tough because then you need to make yourself

much more efficient, and you come out the other side a better

company.”

Mark Gale, Sales and Marketing Manager, points out that

Ramvek has other related business areas that tend to balance

out the overall picture. In the last two years, for example, the

company has carried out a lot of high-end projects in the hos-

pitality sector, which has been particularly buoyant (mirror-

ing the manner in which the food and beverage market has

been in many ways propping up the whole retailing sector and

breathing life into shopping malls and high streets up till the

new boom of 2014).

A level of versatility is essential in a market such as Australia that

is of limited size; if you stick to only one area of expertise, you

limit yourself too much, he says. “It’s an opportunity – you can

spread your wings and get into other sectors.” In addition to

retail (names include: Burberry, Chanel, David Jones, Sportsgirl

and Miu Miu) and hospitality (including: The Emerson Hotel,

The Duke of Wellington Hotel, Charlie Dumpling and Mel-

bourne airport eatery), Ramvek is adept at commercial fit-out

(examples include: Sheraton, Novotel and Langham hotels,

Hawthorn footy club).

RAMVEK

ActBalancing

4

Rather than overreach and try to cover all the bases in-house,

Ramvek has developed a close relationship with a couple of

leading architectural practices so it can offer a full end-to-end

design and construct programme for clients who want new

ideas instead of coming to the company with a brand DNA

already established.

“Ramvek wants to be at the forefront when a global name

comes to town.”

Is there a gap between architectural design dreams and the

reality of commercialisation? “Generally, we would build to what

the architect requests, but if it was not commercially achievable

we would advise accordingly. Most architects do understand

commercial reality.” But if a client agrees with the architect on a

fabulous finish from Finland, “we go to Finland and get it. That’s

our job. Depending on who they are, some of our clients are

prepared to pay for that service.”

The whole sector benefits from the increasing importance of

displaying any particular brand to its absolute best advantage.

“Nowadays, that brand image has to run all the way from the

merchandise to their shopfitting, so that has to reflect the quality

or even the price point. There is no doubt that corporations are

prepared to spend money on exactly what they want because

they see it as that important.” Typically, a big brand knows the

cost of what it needs but would nevertheless take a project to

tender; its price per square metre tends to be higher, though,

because it really does need the very best. Ramvek can dial in

whatever combination of quality and image the client needs.

5

COMMUNITY WORK IN ARNHEM LAND

Ramvek is both proud of and enthusiastic about a project that supports Aboriginal communities

a long, long way from its Victorian headquarters. Through the Arnhem Land Progress Aborigi-

nal Corporation (ALPA) and its Job Creation Program arm (RJCP), the company has teamed up

with Swinburne University to initiate a programme to get young Aboriginal people interested and

involved in furniture manufacture.

The establishment of a small facility in Milingimbi, some 400 kilometres east of Darwin, was

followed by a learning workshop. The aim is for the facility to become a viable business which will

create employment and put profits back into the community.

Established in 1972, ALPA (which is owned the Yolngu residents of Minjilang, Ramingining,

Milingimbi, Galiwin’ku and Gapuwiyak communities in Northern Territory) began as a co-opera-

tive of community stores in seven Arnhem Land communities. Today, the group has a turnover

of approximately $75 million per annum. The successful retail enterprise includes self-service,

air-conditioned stores offering an extensive range of quality goods to remote communities. It’s a

long way from the small, counter sales stores in tin sheds of forty years ago. The plan envisaged

by Swinburne and Ramvek is to manufacture furniture (having taught the local people how to do

it well) and distribute it through the ALPA network of stores, before progressing to selling special

pieces to the wider Australian market.

Ramvek says it is “proud to be working with ALPA: an Aboriginal-owned and run organisation, who

operate many successful community retail stores with a focus on training education and develop-

ment, as well as providing support to broader community activities.”

Mark White says the industry has swung round from a decade

or so ago, when fit-out companies did everything in-house,

to a situation in many cases in which some companies are little

more than an office that outsources every aspect of a project.

Ramvek still does the majority of its own work – painting and

metalwork, for example, manufacturing most of its components.

“We find that if we can get clients to our premises to see our

manufacturing facility, we win them over because they feel

comfortable we know what we are doing because we are

doing it ourselves. If the project manager, the joinery, the met-

alworking in-house, you really have control of the destiny of the

project.” Some work is subcontracted out – notably electrical

and floor-covering, “but less than most others. We feel it is one

of our best sales tools, and we are very proud of it.”

One of the features of Ramvek’s service offer is its ‘international

manufacturing program’. This dates back to 1999 when the

company worked on a new Borders book store in Melbourne.

The client said it would ship all the joinery, and when it arrived

from China and was seen to be of high quality it acted as an

eye-opener for Mark and his team. A Chinese speaker was

soon employed; communications with suppliers then obvious-

ly improved, quality rose and imports became integrated with

Ramvek’s own factory’s output, “in order to remain competitive”.

“Our overseas product has reached the point where our on-site

supervisors cannot tell whether what we bring in is from our

Victorian plant or overseas.” If it comes in from Shanghai, it is

carefully inspected by Ramvek staff, and if it passes muster, it

gets a Ramvek stamp, which is part of the reassurance factor

for clients.

Will the proportion of manufactured items from overseas

increase? “With the cost of labour rising all the time, the answer

is ‘unfortunately, yes’.” In order for Ramvek to do its best on its

clients’ behalf, its role will gradually shift from local manufac-

ture to sourcing cost-effectiveness. As long as Ramvek remains

vigilant and retains its quality focus, says Mark, the local and

overseas joinery will continue to complement each other.

Level 11, Suite 11.01, 60 Castlereagh St, Sydney, NSW 2000, AustraliaPhone: 02 8412 8170 | ABN 93 143 238 126

Ramvek

11 Chaple Street, Lynbrook

Melbourne 3975 Australia

P: +613 9794 9342

F: +613 9794 6332

E: marketing@ramvek.com.au

www.ramvek.com.au

RAMVEK