Oxford Diecast update
Managing Director, Eloise Davies, reflects on a very different year and looks forward to the future.
In many ways, 2020 proved a difficult time for us all. There was fear in many people’s eyes of the uncertainty of what was to come. From a business point of view, we had to adapt, and we had to do it quickly. Looking back to March 2020, it felt like silence - the UK government had told us we had to close and stay at home, and so I carried my whole office home and set up on a table in my kitchen. My priority was the safety of my staff and their wellbeing, but nobody knew what to do or what was to come. We were not sure when we would be receiving the next batch of stock as the factory was just beginning to open after its closure, and when we did, would I even have staff able to unload it?
At the time, I thought that after a few weeks things would be back to normal, but, in hindsight, I should have predicted that we would still be fighting this out into 2021. The weeks went by and I began to adapt to home life. It was a strange feeling that usually I would be out attending shows and meeting customers, but this year felt so quiet. When rules allowed us, we slowly opened the warehouse, with limited staff and started to trickle the orders out.
In June/July, we had to make big decisions in commitments to new tooling, it was a gamble, but we knew we had to continue the development of new products. In August 2020, I returned to my office and started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We were still not out of it yet, and still working at a limited capacity, but it was a start. The following four months were total chaos, due to the ever-changing restrictions and isolations. But it was our kind of chaos, and we got through it.
I helped pick and pack many of the orders myself to ensure the warehouse could handle the Christmas peak. It was many hours of hard graft from us all. We pushed through it and overall, through the challenges, the year of 2020 was a success. We released quite a few new tooling items such as the Showman’s Caravan, Land Rover Tickford, Ford Cortina MkII Crayford, Bentley State Limousine, Bentley Continental, Audi Quattro, Audi S3, Road Roller and Tar Spreader, Electric Taxi, Mercedes Sprinter Van, Cadillac Eldorado, Chevrolet Corvair, Chevrolet Panel Van, Pontiac Chieftain, Ford Escort MkI & MkII, and the Ford Capri MkII.
It seems for the hobby industry, having some down time from the pressures of all of our busy lives has allowed us to look at the hobbies we once loved and reignite them. We are lucky that our industry has had a burst of excitement put back into it and reminded us all to make time for the things that we love.