We are proud to be a small company in North Wales passionate about the products we make and our customers who use them.
Amdro is based on passion for design, the environment and the outdoors. With a love for enterprise, a degree in industrial design and experience of designing motorhomes and specialized caravans it was only natural that I would set up in business making campervans for people that love the outdoors. In 2004 I took a leap of faith and setup amdro. I knew with the passion and drive for doing the things I enjoy most that I could make it work. Aided by a welsh startup grant, family loans and a wife with a job, amdro was born in the bedroom office. The idea was out of the box to design and make a removable modular system that would turn vans into vans for camping. having seen all the vans around Snowdonia with hashed up arrangements I knew there was a market. The only way to show people my idea was to actually go and make one. So I got a small loan to buy an ex lease VW van and set about designing and building modular units to go in. Getting my hands on some birch plywood and a jigsaw work had begun. Sheepswool seamed the natural choice for insulation and sound proofing being surrounded by sheep. This was pioneering stuff. Sheepswool is now widely used in the conversion world which I'm quite proud of. That first van got me my brochures, website and first job to convert a van. The first camper sold on ebay. I remember standing in Bangor train station as I waved the first campervan off to Bristol with a bankers draft in my hand and a big smile on my face. This was it amdro had begun...
... and the money went back to buy a better van. This time an ex aa transporter. A TV. Company that filmed Wheeler Dealers saw the website and wanted to use the amdro modular units in doing up a VW for the show. Great opportunity for some free advertising.
Modular units were selling well for all sorts of vans as kits and as part of camper conversions. I had taken on two staff and moved from the bedroom office and driveway and into a premises in Caernarfon. On a steep learning curve in business we were busy enjoying a business that wasn't sustainable. The crunch came when an unexpected £6000 bill came and then the landord wanted to double the rent on a 6yr lease. It was a time of panic but I wasn't giving up lightly. I sold our Red VW campervan to pay off the bill and decided to move back home to work with low overheads.Having had child number 3 by this point the option of the office in the bedroom was out so the old veg patch was put aside to a log cabin office. An old caravan was bought and stripped out as a mobile storage and the garage was taken over. I turned what was a threat into a new opportunity. It was time to use the 4yrs experience of making and using campervans to design something new. With the aid of a Welsh Assembly design and development grant and a sandwich student from loughborough Uni we set out on a 6month project to design a completely new campervan. From floor to furnishings we would were able to provide the complete conversion as a kit or convert in house (or on drive)
The new amdro angel was, and still is a big hit. Anyone that sees its simplicity but truly practical design is taken over by what we call the angel effect. But in these instant times the instant drop in camper in a car is moving to the front..
Alongside the angel a new smaller camper was evolving. The jump conversion made in 2004 which was two modular units and a bench in a Kangoo had evolved into a boot bed and then into the boot jump. All developed to meet a demand from the customer. A customer liked the jump but wanted to keep the back seats in their Berlingo and really they just wanted a bed. So the boot bed was developed. Then came another customer that loved the boot bed but would still like somehwere to sit and somewhere to cook. So the boot bed base was split to form a seating area and a pullout cooker. The idea was posted on facebook and 10 boot jumps were sold. But hang on were not making them yet! The momentum on the boot jumps didnt stop with the demand initially outweighing are ability to make them fast enough. To meet the demand instead of buying in sheets of Birch Plywood from Latvia and CNC machining ourselves it made sense to get the wood cut and finished by the experts in Latvia before it was sent to us. This way there was no extra mileage on the wood and we could keep up with demand. So this is where were at. We are now developing and evolving the boot jump and other products to go with it such as the boot tent. Design in fabric, thats a new one on us that were enjoying.
So after 10 year were still designing and making removable units to make cars and vans into campervans, watch this space!!
Sales of the boot jumps have more than doubled and we a gearing up to supply the increasing demand. In September we took on a new apprentice John who is working with Grant to increase production. Delyth made the big step of resigning from her NHS job to join the amdro family business full time. Delyth is developing and managing a new stock system to keep everything under control. In November we got the keys to a large storage space so we can produce and hold more stock. The angels have continued to be poular both as DIY kit and fully fitted. The boot tents are now in production all made within the UK. The New VW T5 Kombi System design is developing well and hope to be officially launched in 2015.
The new production workshop has been kitted out with racking for the boot jump stock. Joe joined the amdro team as a CNC machininst together with the CNC. The CNC enables us to get products to market quicker by making our own prototypes and devloping new products. John has finished his apprenteship and was nominated apprentice of the year. John is now a full time member of the production team. Sales of boot jumps has continued to grow and the new Kombi jump is available made to order.
