New guidelines for bed manufacturers

The National Bed Federation, the trade association representing UK bed manufacturers and their component suppliers, has come up with guidelines for size by colour identification of products which they are hoping will be adopted as a standardised scheme by the industry as a whole.

“Errors from incorrect picking at any stage in the supply chain can cost time and money, so a scheme that reduces the incidence of such errors should be welcome,” says John Woolley, technical director at Hypnos Beds and chair of the NBF Supply Chain Working Party which developed the guidelines. 

“It is much easier and quicker to identify colour coded packages – they are widely used in many industry sectors - and this is one of those areas where a standardised approach, with everyone following the same colour scheme, just makes sense."

The recommended colours are a sky blue for singles (90cm/3ft widths); red for doubles (135cmm/4ft 6in widths); an apple green for king sizes (150cm/5ft widths); and orange for superkings (180cm/6ft widths). Non standard sizes in each of these categories can be flagged with the letter ‘S’

Single beds – Blue
Double Beds – Red
King Size Beds – Green
Superking Beds – Orange

The guidelines do not specify how the colour should be used: it’s up to individual companies to decide what works best for them – whether it’s coloured sticky labels; coloured corner protectors; pre-printed chevrons on polythene or paper bags or sticky tape.

“Larger retail groups will probably lead the way as their support for the scheme will drive manufacturers to adopt it,” says Mr Woolley. “But as it makes sense for manufacturers to mark all their products in the same way, smaller retailers should soon start to notice the appearance of colour coded packaging from their suppliers and reap the benefits too.”

Many of the NBF’s component suppliers have also already indicated their intention to adopt the colour coding scheme for size-related parts.

Colour charts specifying the exact colours by pantone, CMYK and RGB references will be available to download from the NBF web site, www.bedfed.org.uk

Press Contact: for further information please call Jessica Alexander on 0845 055 6406 or email

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