Business View Caribbean | Volume 8, Issue 9

29 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 BL INDS DES IGNS L IMI TED have more than doubled that number now to a complement of 25 skilled staff members. All are full-term permanent employees, most of which have been with the company for a number of years. McKoy admits, “Unfortunately, last year we had to lay off a few staff members because business slowed down a lot at the beginning of the pandemic in Jamaica and now, even though things are still unsure, we have been hiring new people. Usually, nobody has prior experience in the manufacturing of blinds, so we do on-the- job training to keep a high level of quality and standards.” Blinds Designs manufactures superior quality window blinds and roller shades for indoor and outdoor use, with a wide range of products and more on the way. The company has three different departments: a verticals department with specified machinery in that area; roller shades and outdoor products are produced in a separate area; and all the horizontals materials in another area. The manufacturing facility is fully automated – an air compressor powers all the machinery, unless it’s a power saw, miter saw, or sewing machine, which are electrical. McKoy states that, at a time like this, if anything was feasible to invest in it would be more cutting machinery to speed up the process to increase efficiency. Being less labor intensive for the employees, it would cut down their production time probably in half. Company culture is open and friendly; employees are encouraged to let management know what can make the daily manufacturing processes easier. McKoy reports, “It works both ways. If we see a bottleneck somewhere and have an idea, we also propose the idea to them to get their opinion, because they do work with the products on a daily basis. So we definitely see a lot of discussion about that. And even if we don’t approach them, the environment is friendly enough for them to say, “Hey boss, what do you think about this?” And then we talk about it to see if it can or cannot work, or we can tweak it to see what can be done. Those are important workplace policies for us.” The firm has operated from a rental property in Kingston since inception, which also includes an adjacent storage facility and warehouse unit, as well as a Blinds Designs showroom. An additional site in Montego Bay houses just a showroom – all the manufacturing takes place in Kingston. Company representatives travel island-wide, selling directly to the consumer. According to McKoy, “We have residential, commercial, as well as government customers. There is no ordering done through an online portal. If it’s a familiar customer, we can take their measurements over the phone, or Instagram, or email, but as far as our direct residential or commercial customers, we would go onsite and measure and provide them with an estimate through email. We go to them, and then they will see color samples that we bring.