DOORS&WINDOWS
Innovation
CLEARVIEW EXCLUSIVE
the difference between
leaders and followers
In this exclusive article for Clearview,
Stewart Lamb, National Sales &
Marketing Manager at HOPPE (UK)
Ltd reveals the hardware company’s
2014 product innovations.
Few in our supply chain need reminding
that recent years have been pretty
turbulent.
The hardware sector has taken a double
hit, both in volume and value owing to the
continued influx of cheaper, imported ‘metoo’ products. But recent reports indicate the
market is finally showing signs of recovery
and on reaching the other side, we’ll probably
discover that the current successful hardware
companies – those who have made serious
investment and commitment to the market
even during recession – are those that come
out ahead. Having celebrated our 60th
Anniversary in Europe in 2012 and 25th year
of trading in the UK in 2013, I am pleased
to say that HOPPE is determined to lead this
march and cement our place as UK market
leader in door handle manufacture.
GIVING SOMETHING BACK
HOPPE‘s current 50,000ft2 UK facility
provides an ideal national distribution hub,
which offers ultra-modern facilities including a
fully equipped showroom, meeting rooms, in
house training facility and new cylinder centre.
This facility has served us well, and so last
year we invested in order to give something
back, and to ensure that we are offering
the very best products and service to our
customers. The last six months alone have seen
an investment of three quarters of a million
pounds. We executed this in such a way as to
allow controlled expansion again in the next
three, five and 10 years. The extra capacity
allows us to be both proactive and reactive
- essential when you consider our customer
service and order processing departments take
in the region of 8,000 incoming calls every
36
APR 2014
month. We have also invested in our material
flow in order to become leaner, and so offer
better customer service. The addition of the
Kardex Remstar Shuttle automated stock
control and picking system for example, has
had a huge impact. This really has to be seen
to be believed. Computer-driven, it holds 700
individual SKUs and can be operated by just
one man, providing us with a 25-30% increase
in capacity.
It is all very well to say we have invested
internally to stay ahead of customer demand
and future-proof our business, but what our
customers want to see are new products that
will support their sales and help differentiate
against the competition. So the start of 2014
has seen HOPPE announce not one, but two
new innovative hardware collections.
Bringing Commercial Stainless Steel
Expertise to Retail Composite Doors
The first, building on our market leadership
in the supply of stainless steel hardware to
the commercial sector across the globe, sees
us apply this unrivalled expertise to retail and
composite doors. We can now announce the
unveiling of our range of stainless steel, high
performance door furniture and accessories
designed specifically with composite doors
in mind. The range includes stainless steel
pull handles incorporating V-shaped and
Semi-Circular, lever on rose and lever on
plate handles, and PAS24 performance
escutcheons.
HOPPE‘s dedicated 150,000ft2 German
stainless steel manufacturing facility has long
been renowned for producing high volume,
top quality stainless steel hardware that stands
the test of time in global commercial projects
such as HOCHTIEF’s Essen HQ with Sir
Norman Foster, Mercedes Benz in Milan, the
Mandarin Oriental hotel Hong Kong and the
Commerz Bank HQ in Shanghai.
Also now available is our new
complementary range of products to ensure
our customers have everything they need to
maximise on the forecast market growth for
composite and fire doors including letter
plates, knockers, numerals and spyholes.
Designed to colour-match exactly door
handles, finishes include the polished chrome
and gold and powder- coated white and black,
with further colour matches to our anodised
finishes due shortly.
“HOPPE (UK) has always been driven
by two mantras: get the product right first
time; innovation in design leads to market
leadership. These principles drive our day
to day activities, and while we will never be
the most cost-effective in the market and we
don’t want to be, we have the desire and the
resources to invest continually, to innovate and
expand to support our customers. We believe
this is our true competitive advantage.”
www.hoppe.co.uk or call 01902 484 400.
To read more, visit www.clearview-uk.com