Kush Patel is now managing director of Emplas, after serving the window and door manufacturing business as deputy managing director since May 2017. Kush joined the company in 2004. Since 2017 he has led Emplas’ manufacturing operations, supported by operations director Phil Harrison.
Ryan Johnson, who fulfils the newly created group managing director position, said that the appointment reflected the contribution that Kush had made to Emplas’ growth over the past decade, and ‘formalised a pre-existing management structure’. He added: “In reality, Kush has been doing the job of Emplas managing director since 2017 when he became deputy, so operationally nothing has changed. It’s more about recognising the contribution that he’s made and continues to make to our business.
“I’ll continue to have a responsibility for sales and marketing, with Jody Vincent. Phil Brown will continue to head up our finance team, with Kush supported in operations by Phil Harrison. It formalises a structure which gives us a very strong senior team and supports our future growth plans.”
Kush joined Emplas as a production scheduler fresh from university, with a degree in business. He steadily progressed through the Emplas ranks gaining an understanding of the business from the grassroots up. This included rapid progression within a year to planning and operations manager, and a spell in the sales team before joining Emplas’ commercial contracts team, to head up the delivery of a 27,000-window refurbishment project for Bristol City Council.
When Kush was made operations director in 2012, he led Emplas’ capital investment programme, including its factory extension and multi-million-pound investment in machinery. Working alongside Phil, Kush has also led a manufacturing efficiency drive which has supported Emplas in achieving operational efficiency gains of up to 15% in the last 12 months, reportedly helping it to control costs and hold prices to its customers.
Kush said: “What I hope the team will get out of it is the sense that, regardless of where you come into the business, Emplas offers you a genuine career path and hard work is rewarded. It’s not only me; we have a lot of members of the team who have climbed through the ranks and many others who may be starting that journey now but who are the leaders of our business tomorrow.”
