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Stuga
Flowline-3 ‘Revolutionises’ Coalville Glass and Glazing’s
Business
Coalville
Glass and Glazing
of Coalville, Leicestershire, has run a Stuga Flowline-3 for the last
one and a half years and says that it has proven to revolutionise the
company’s business.
Concentrating
mainly on new build installations Coalville is a successful fabricator
of the L.B. Plastics Sheerframe system, which the company has used for
many years.
Production manager Chris Hemsley says that he just cannot imagine life
without the Flowline now as it takes away most of the skills required
at the front end of production, allowing Coalville to concentrate efforts
further down the line. He also noted the number of comments from customers
who were surprised at the improvement in quality and consistency of
their windows, from what was already a good level. The company now makes
the same number of windows with less operators together with much more
production flexibility and this has also allowed it to run with less
stock, further reducing manufacturing costs.
The company only needs one operator to run the machine and even he is
not utilised anywhere near full time on it. Software is never an issue
because Stuga always takes care of all software issues quickly and efficiently.
The Coalville Flowline was the first of these machines to be built feeding
from left to right, instead of right to left, but Stuga supplied on
time and without problems caused by having to reverse the sophisticated
Stuga software to work the opposite way.
Chris was also impressed with how quickly the machine was installed
and up and running, as he had expected this to take many weeks, rather
than the two to three weeks it did take. Dealing with a British machinery
manufacturer has also paid dividends when it comes to spare parts supplies,
with every conceivable part being available at the Stuga headquarters
in Great Yarmouth. Service is also a pleasure with Stuga's guarantee
of an engineer within twenty four hours maximum in the event of a total
breakdown. The Flowline has in fact been remarkably reliable says Chris
but it is nice to have the peace of mind that there is such good back-up
if it does go wrong.
For further information please call Stuga free on 0800 169 5444 or Coalville
Glass & Glazing on 01530 837014.
Sold
Secure Helps Ling Joinery Raise Profile
Cumbria-based
fabricator, Ling Joinery, finds
GU Ferco Sold Secure scheme to be an excellent way of demonstrating
its commitment to high quality products and service and raise its profile
with end users.
Ling Joinery is a family-run firm, which manufactures and supplies high
performance timber windows, doors and conservatories to the building
trade and public sector as well as private individuals in all parts
of the UK and abroad. The company has used GU Ferco Rhinobolt for many
years and joined Sold Secure in the very early days of the scheme.
Sold
Secure is an independent, non-profit making scheme that embraces a broad
cross section of security products. Administered by the Master Locksmiths
Association (MLA), it has built up an excellent reputation with the
trade and public. The company says that GU Ferco products are currently
the only ones of their type in the marketplace allowed to carry the
Sold Secure symbol - proving that they have been independently tested
to withstand forced entry and attack.
‘Sold Secure benefits ourselves and customers as it gives the business
credibility and reassures customers that we do the best we can to protect
them and their homes. It also gives us a professional image and helps
us with our ongoing development of both our products and business,’
comments Gillian Airey of Ling Joinery. ‘Sold Secure is promoted
through our marketing material such as brochures and letterheads etc
and it will also feature highly on our new website.’
The scheme's high profile is only one of the many factors that mark
it out from other 'security approvals.' Sold Secure has the distinction
of being closely associated with the Police, insurance companies, insurers
and its membership of the MLA. They work together to share information
on the actual and current break-in techniques in use by real burglars.
These techniques are then recreated with an equivalent test into the
Sold Secure programme.
Gillian Airey comments 'Sold Secure is a brilliant scheme that reassures
customers and ourselves. We are very happy about the on going improvements
within the scheme and recommend it to other people within our market.’
Tel: 02476 217900
Factory
Direct Invests in Advantage Pricing Software
Newcastle upon Tyne based, Interbuild, trading as Factory Direct, says that it has used its direct sales skills to good effect in building a successful sales operation over the past three years. The company begun selling kitchens from small premises in Birtley, Co Durham. Very soon the company outgrew its first location as kitchen sales began to top 30 installations per week. The company now occupies a 35,000ft2 combined warehouse, office and showroom that now employs 150 staff and has diversified into window and door sales as from the beginning of 2005.
Training
demonstration of Advantage's pricing software
Advantage
Windows and Conservatories Ltd supplies Factory Direct with its PVC-u
frames and doors. Managing Director of Factory Direct Adrian Hughes
says: ’I believe that with Advantage's help our business can be
just as successful in selling windows and doors as we have been with
kitchens and bathrooms. We have just invested over £90,000 in
new laptop computers for our sales teams. They will run the new Advantage
pricing software which will allow our sales representatives to accurately
price any combination of doors and windows including bays, bows, panels
and literally hundreds of glass options.’
Advantage introduced its new pricing software to specifically help companies
such as Factory Direct with their retail sales. It was developed as
a concept by Advantage chairman Ian Moran in conjunction with software
company Windowlink. The software allows a sales representative to provide
instantaneous quotations to the homeowner as well as generating 100%
accurate prices. It has the added benefit of being able to be programmed
to provide variable profit margins and fitting costs.
Advantage's Group Commercial Director - Danny Hague says: ‘Factory
Direct is a company which has tremendous potential. It has experienced
phenomenal growth over the past three years due to its pro-active approach
to marketing and sales. Our new pricing software will play an important
role in supporting and sustaining the company’s continued expansion.’
Advantage Windows and Conservatories Ltd
Tel: 01625 856488
Interbuild - trading as Factory Direct
Tel: 0191 419 8555