Clearview Midlands September 2014 - Issue 154 | Page 34

INDUSTRYNEWS

Polyframe embarks on major
expansion programme
Fifth factory opens, creating 300 jobs in West Yorkshire.
Polyframe is embarking on
the most ambitious expansion
plans in its 22 year history with
the opening of a fifth factory.
The company has acquired
a second site in their home
town of Halifax, which will
create 300 jobs over the next
three years, for the town and
more than doubles shop floor
manufacturing space to half
a million square feet. Once
the site is fully operational,
Polyframe will employ
approximately 500 personnel
in Halifax and more than 650
group-wide.

‘continue its
impressive growth
and development’
This massive investment has
been has been further increased
with a grant from the Leeds City
Region Enterprise Partnership’s
Business Growth programme,
which is supported by the
governments Regional Growth
Fund. These funds will be used
to undertake building works that
are required to alter the Hopwood
Lane site.
Polyfame’s existing Halifax
factory on Gibbet St will
continue to operate as normal,
but with increasing volumes of
windows and doors, additional

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SEP 2014

manufacturing capacity was
essential for the business to
continue its impressive growth
and development during the last
three years.
The new location is only
200 yards from the current
Gibbet Street site, and covers
approximately 130, 000 square
feet. The alterations to the
infrastructure of the buildings
will be carried out over the next
few months to create a perfect
workflow for the factory and
ensure that production is as
efficient as possible.
Plans for the new site are
ambitious and as well as further
manufacturing space, Polyframe
also has plans for a training
academy and further office space
at the new facility. Central
to the expansion programme
is for Polyframe to be able
to consolidate the products
manufactured at the two factories
and so maximise efficiency and
utilise space most effectively.
Chris Watson, Polyframe Group
MD, commented, “If we continue
to grow at our present rate, the
current Gibbet St factory would
be running close to capacity by
the end of the year. For us to
continue to grow and introduce
new products to the market, the
need for a second Halifax factory
was essential. The layout of the
buildings allows us to create full

window and door lines, while
at the same time creating areas
for niche products – including
shaped and arched frames, bifolding doors, fully glazed frames
and Polyframe’s unique fire escape
ladder”.
An integral element of the
Hopwood Lane factory will be the
creation of the Polyframe Training
Acadamy.
“Our workforce is set to
double in Halifax to around
500 to 600 personnel,” Chris
added, “so we need to ensure
that comprehensive training is
available. We intend not only
establish a fabrication school for
windows and doors but also to
cover IT, sales training, order
processing and even accounts.
We recognise that a business is
only as strong as the people who
carry out the day to day running
of the company”.
The task of recruiting up to
300 new employees means
that the Training Academy will
become essential for Polyframe
to continue manufacturing the
high quality products that the
company are associated with.
Work will shortly commence on
the new Hopwood Lane site and
Polyframe plans to have the new
factory fully operational by the
end of the year.
Established in 1992, Polyframe
quickly grew to become a major

UK manufacturer, producing
in excess of 8,000 windows and
doors every week by 2010. The
extraordinary acceleration the
Group really got under way
in 2011 when the Company
purchased the assets of Aspen
Windows, which brought it a
100,000 square ft manufacturing
facility in Norwich and enabled
Polyframe to service its increasing
Southern customer base. After
a year of consolidation, the
Group opened a new factory
in Mansfield to manufacture
composite doors. This was
further augmented with the
opening of a window and door
factory in Portadown, Northern
Ireland.
Polyframe has a clear strategy
for the growth of the business
and 2013 saw its product
offering taken to new levels.
The Northern Ireland factory
enables Polyframe to manufacture
products specific to the Irish
and Scottish market, while
the composite door factory
manufactures a product that is
an integral part of the Polyframe
portfolio - and is increasingly
popular as the door of choice for
homeowners.
The Group currently also
incorporates a nationwide
network of 12 Trade Centres,
selling products to smaller
tradesmen and builders.

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