The year was 2002, and the office of CAMCO wasn’t a sleek building; it was the boot of a battered Ford Mondeo, parked outside industrial estates across the UK. Inside, surrounded by the faint scent of PVC and ambition, sat David Phillips, meticulously organising rolls of edgebanding.
David wasn’t just selling a product; he was selling a promise of quality and consistency that the burgeoning kitchen and furniture manufacturing industry desperately needed. He knew the market was cluttered with mediocrity. His vision was simple: supply only the best, even if it meant physically hauling every roll himself.
The boot and the grind
In those early days, CAMCO — an abbreviation that would one day signify premium quality — was David. He was the CEO, the logistics team, the sales force, and the delivery driver. His days began before dawn, driving hundreds of miles to manufacturers, his sales pitch delivered with unwavering conviction.
He didn’t seek massive orders immediately. Instead, he chose to focus on edging his way to success, one roll at a time. He built trust by ensuring that the colour match was always perfect, and the delivery was always on time. He learned the value of every single customer, knowing that today’s small order from a workshop could be tomorrow’s massive contract from a factory.
His competitors, large impersonal distributors, dismissed him as a fly-by-night operation. But David was strategic. He listened. He heard the frustration about long lead times and inconsistent stock. He realised the true edge he needed wasn’t just in the banding itself, but in the service wrapped around it.
The strategic pivot to production
The moment of truth arrived five years in. CAMCO had grown, moving into a small warehouse, but David was still dependent on overseas suppliers. This reliance compromised his core value: premium control. He couldn’t guarantee the consistency he promised if he didn’t control the production process.
It was a terrifying decision — the single largest financial risk of his life. He decided to shift from being a distributor to a manufacturer. The goal wasn’t just to produce edgebanding, but to create the finest edgebanding in the UK.
He poured every penny, every lesson, and every ounce of grit into the plan. He travelled the world, sourcing not just equipment, but expertise. The aim was to build a state-of-the-art facility equipped with technology capable of flawless colour matching, precision slitting, and instant inventory management.
The pinnacle of premium
The grand opening of the new CAMCO facility marked the fulfilment of the car boot promise. With in-house production, CAMCO could now offer unprecedented lead times, bespoke colour runs, and a product reliability that eclipsed the competition. Manufacturers who had once scoffed at the lone salesman in the Ford Mondeo were now lining up.
wee Davy, now David Phillips, MD, stood at the helm of one of the largest and most respected premium edgebanding suppliers in the United Kingdom. His company was known not for the volume of its output, but for the quality of every metre that left the prestigious factory in Crossgar to travel across not just the UK but the globe. The journey from carrying rolls in the back of the car to managing sophisticated machinery demonstrated that success isn’t just about selling; it’s about owning the process and relentlessly upholding a promise of quality and service.
