Mike Crowshaw, Managing Director at Peak Converters, details more about its innovative new sprung cushion, the PeakPocket™.
Last month, the UK’s leading foam and fibre converter Peak Converters opened up the factory doors as Big Furniture Group got an insight into all things foam and fibre. September’s follow up article shifts the attention from factory processes, software statistics and mountains of ready-to-go foam blocks, to drilling down on one of its most recent innovations – the PeakPocket™ sprung sofa cushion.
Known for its outstanding customer service and innovative, high-quality foam and fibre products, Peak Converters are key suppliers of upholstery kits to the trade and have produced millions of kits and cushions for some of the largest furniture, caravan, and mobile home manufacturers in the UK for over 50 years.
With PeakPocket™, the company is further solidifying its position as the go-to partner for innovative, high-performance, eco-friendly foam and fibre solutions. “Earlier this year at the Furniture Components Expo, we unveiled our new fully recyclable sprung sofa cushion, the PeakPocket™,” Mike said.
“The cushion incorporates a simplified design that allows every component to be easily disassembled for recycling at the end of its life. All the fibre within the product is made from recycled materials created from plastic bottles.
“As well as being eco-friendly, the cushion is sturdy, offering comparable longevity and comfort levels to traditional foam and fibre cushions.”
As a development partner to many of the soft furnishing industry’s leading suppliers, the new cushion is a celebration of collaboration with both Wade Springs and more latterly, Think Group (formerly Texfelt), who are a leader in resilient fibres and sustainable non-wovens.
“This new partnership will allow Peak to offer more resilient, innovative, and environmentally friendly fibre solutions to our customers, improving product durability,” continues Mike. “We’ve been extremely pleased with the reaction since its launch and we’re now looking to build on this momentum.”
Peak Converters also offer Upholstery Kits, which provide all the necessary materials upholsterers need in one package. The kits typically include foam padding, which comes in various thicknesses and densities, giving shape and comfort to the piece, as well as cushioning material. This is placed between the foam and the outer fabric, which helps to smooth out any irregularities and gives the upholstery a more polished appearance.
“It’s our ‘bread and butter’,” adds Mike. “From humble market-stall beginnings to becoming an award-winning, leading supplier of upholstery kits and cushions to some of the UK’s largest furniture manufacturers, our dedicated team convert hundreds of thousands of foam and fibre products for a wide variety of industries every year.”
Recognised for its ongoing innovation and success, Peak Converters was recently awarded the ‘Excellence in Sustainability’ accolade by the British Furniture Association for its commitment to sustainable manufacturing.
“We were honoured to receive the ‘Excellence in Sustainability’ award during this year’s Furniture Component Expo,” Mike said. “It’s a proud milestone for the business with sustainability a key component in our operations.
“The last five years have been transformative for our business as we have re-focussed, built our team, invested heavily in improving our productivity, and become a more sustainable business. Since last Autumn, savings in energy from our solar panels equate to 21 tonnes of Co2 emissions, the same as planting 1,278 trees.
“We often put energy we source back to the grid too, which includes around 40% of solar energy since April. We have completed our electric car investment where every car is now electric with charging stations at the factory, while we are also looking at potentially introducing electric trucks to our fleet.
“We are continuing to go paperless throughout the factory and we only have a few zones left, which will be completed by the end of this year and we’re constantly upgrading and investing in our machinery to make it more energy efficient too.
“We recently embarked on a major machine refurbishment programme, which includes upgrades to advanced machine monitoring software. These improvements are aimed at increasing production efficiencies, reducing lead times, and delivering even greater value to customers. Plans for the next few years include further investment in machinery and IIoT technologies to increase capacity and reduce machine downtime.”
For now, the focus remains on growing its PeakPocket™ sprung sofa cushion, as Mike concluded: “We’re excited about our next phase of growth and our new PeakPocket™ technology is just the start.
“We look forward to continuing to work with our customers and to keep raising the standards in foam and fibre solutions. Get in touch with us today to find out more about PeakPocket™.”
