INDUSTRYNEWS
20 YEARS OF BENDS
AND ARCHES
Two decades ago, the bending
sector was certainly seen as a
more cottage industry with
lead times of two to three
weeks relatively common from
a number of players, most
of which have now ceased to
trade. Universal Arches, which
celebrated its 20th anniversary
at FIT, has done much to
bring the bending sector
into the mainstream in the
industry under the guidance
of MD Leon Day.
Deliveries are now down to
around seven days from order
confirmation, in line with other
more standardised products in
the industry and they have now
raised the benchmark further
in the last 12 months with the
offer of a colour facility and
fully glazed frames all within
the same time period. For many
companies, the fully glazed
option eliminates duplicate
order processing and the
guarantee of the correct unit size
and delivered direct to site at
the same time.
The use of carriers was an
unfortunate necessity 20 years
ago, but Universal now serves
the core of the UK with its
own delivery fleet, with the
remainder serviced by a local
and specialist haulier.
Product specification has also
changed with all products now
fully welded - unlike the poorly
mechanically jointed products
of yesteryear.
Exhibitions have also changed,
but Universal Arches’ love affair
with exhibitions continued
through the launch of the FIT
Show - the company was one
of the first to sign up for the
2013 inaugural show and has
been first out of the blocks ever
since.
The experience built up over
20 years has expanded beyond
window and door profiles
into other building plastics ventures with Rehau for curved
cable management systems,
Thomas Sanderson for arched
shutters and more recently
with Eclectic Systems for their
Residence 9 system and Solidor
for an arched composite door
solution.
Leon Day comments: “It’s
been an incredible journey for
the business and the long-term
loyal staff over the last 20 years.
I also believe that some of the
most exciting years are ahead
of us as we look to broaden
our expertise in the shaping of
buildin