Building and fuse its other operations into its Tumkins Lane facility.

President and CEO Tim Smith announced the consolidation and new location yesterday.

He said the restructuring was a "major effort to fundamentally change the way the company meets customer requirements.'' "In 1998 the senior management team of the company began a set of activities called the A.F. Smith 2010 strategic planning process,'' he explained.

"We essentially asked ourselves what does the company need to look like if we intend on being more customer-driven and market-focused in 2010?'' He said the process allowed the company to review its structure and evaluate its six separate locations including Dundonald Street, the Tumkins Lane operations centre and business centres in four major hotels.

"This clearly presented a challenge for us in terms of an excess of building capital,'' he said.

It was decided the company could be more effective and efficient for customers if sales and administration were merged to one property and the retail section was moved to a central Hamilton location.

Mr. Smith said the shift in August would see the company's Dundonald Street premises up for rent.

"Beginning this month we will be upgrading the Tumkins Lane facility to accommodate more people, improving the way we physically handle goods and enhancing our IT system to improve work processes.'' He said staff were informed of the strategy two weeks ago and were "excited'' at their part in creating an enterprise that would ensure competitive success during the next ten years.