INDUSTRYNEWS
Re-energising aquistion adds brands
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WELGLAZE HAD BEEN TRADING from its Buntingford, Hertfordshire base, building a solid reputation for decent products, reliable service and, actually a friendly smile and these qualities were amongst those that led to Audasi Group, parent company of Yorkshire VS manufacturer Quickslide, choosing the business to increase its penetration of the UK window and door trade market.
Welglaze was seen by Audasi as having qualities that suited its own core trading philosophies that include transparency, honesty, efficiency and reliability in addition to simply being good to do business with; a southern reflection of Quickslide’ s good old Yorkshire down-to-earth qualities in fact.
Audasi did not want a‘ Quickslide South’ but rather another operation that would operate to the same set of proven values but which would also offer additional brands and products and, effectively, with its own‘ personality’. And, as Audasi Chairman Adrian Barraclough explains, whilst the Group was acquisitive, it was the possibility that Welglaze might be available and the potential it offered that set the wheels turning:“ Welglaze was brought to our attention as being a long established window and door fabricator – it was founded in 1970- with a decent reputation and a good team on board. It also manufactured products using brands that we don’ t already use. The basics were there and so we approached them and completed the purchase last autumn. The Welglaze acquisition is an ideal fit with the investment from the group re-energising one of the area’ s longest established and most popular window and door makers,” said Adrian.
It was clear that Welglaze would benefit from investment but what followed the acquisition was extraordinary, as Adrian explained:“ A factory became available in Letchworth just a few miles from the existing Welglaze operation so we took that and put in new production lines, handling equipment and everything needed to step up production to ensure we would always be ahead of customer demand,” explained Adrian.“ This has always been a core philosophy at Quickslide and it has worked well for us.” By the end of the year Welglaze’ s new factory was fully functioning, an operation that took just two months from receiving the keys.
With Adrian emphatic that Welglaze would not be just another Quickslide, its core values would be meshed with the inherent qualities to be found within Welglaze to enhance the business for existing customers in addition to growing the customer base nationwide.
Another of the key attractions of Welglaze is a product portfolio that is quite distinct from that of Quickslide. In fact, a full range of Deceuninck products was a key factor in the acquisition as was an established customer base and excellent reputation, as Tom Swallow, Welglaze Sales and Marketing Director, explained:“ We have been quick to step up our output of Deceuninck products and to include the new Heritage Flush Casement; It’ s is a lovely window and a perfect offer for the increased interest in windows of this type.
“ The Heritage Flush Casement does a great job in replicating this popular style of window. And just as we achieved with vertical sliders, owners of period homes can now enjoy the warmth and comfort of modern windows and maintain the traditional looks of their properties and at reasonable cost.”
Welglaze manufactures the whole range of Deceuninck casement windows and delivers throughout the UK, expanding from the company’ s previous focus on the South East.
“ Welglaze will deliver to customers throughout the UK, to timescales and with consistent quality that have become the norm in our established operations,” added Tom. The full range of Deceuninck windows is now produced in Welglaze’ s state-of-theart factory with the result that consistent quality has now been further improved.“ We are now running to 99 % plus‘ right first time’”, said Tom, offering a highly compelling USP for making Welglaze the default trade fabricator for Deceuninck products.
All of this comes to nothing without faultless, market leading service, insists Tom:“ At Welglaze our customer service and support systems now include detailed quotation-to-delivery order tracking together with enhanced service and technical support for fabricators. We already offer market leading lead times and deliveries.”
And for installers looking for Deceuninck products backed by traditional service and faultless product quality, Welglaze offers the best of both worlds.
http:// www. welglaze. co. uk
CLEARVIEW-UK. COM » APR 2017 » 29