Clearview North January 2014 - Issue 146 | Page 11

INDUSTRYNEWS TAKING HEART WITH HEALTH KICK Staff at Hurst Plastics have been brimming with health thanks to a major programme, which aims to improve wellbeing in the workplace and reduce the risk of heart disease in Hull. Set up by the British Heart Foundation in partnership with NHS Hull and Hull City Council, the £1.5 million Hearty Lives Hull campaign, is tasked with improving the health and life expectancy of workers in Hull - an area with higher than average rates of heart disease and other serious illnesses. Hurst Plastics was one of 135 companies in the region to join the programme, which was delivered by Hull-based healthcare specialist ABL Health. The enthusiastic staff were provided with free health checks, exercise classes and nutritional clinics as well as sessions to help them quit smoking. They even took part in the Hull Corporate Badminton Tournament, which inspired a number of staff to take up the sport. Julie Rhodes, customer liaison and administration manager at Hurst Plastics, was one of six people who successfully gave up smoking. She said: “The sessions were fantastic and I am delighted to now be a non-smoker!” Steve Daniels, Hurst Plastics Ltd, Tel: [phone], Email: [email protected], Website: www.hurst-plastics.co.uk LETTER TO THE EDITOR Is it time to stop fabricating and start buying-in? If you’ve seen a copy of the latest Insight Data Fabricator and Installer Market Report I’m sure you will agree it made fascinating reading. One of the most interesting statistics was how the number of PVC-u fabricators has reduced while the number of installers has increased. This suggests more companies are choosing to stop fabricating and starting to buy-in, a trend we have also noticed here at Dekko Window Systems. We supply a number of exfabricators who have chosen to concentrate on the more profitable installation side of their business and it’s a movement that looks set to continue. Running a factory is a major overhead and if you’re producing low-volumes, fabricating isn’t always a cost effective solution. For small to medium fabricators it’s sometimes easier to pass this side of the business over to a company like Dekko, who have the resources to produce quality products in high volumes at affordable prices. I know it can sound like a cliché, but we are a very customer focussed business, and this can make the move from fabricating to buying-in less painful. We understand that fabricators are used to having control over their workload, which is why we make sure we deliver when we say we’re going to deliver, and have strict quality control measures in place to ensure products are in perfect condition when they arrive onsite or at our customers’ premises. To succeed in today’s market window companies need to offer choice. White plastic wi