24
MAY 2016 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
BOOST
TO GLASS
TOUGHENING
CAPACITY
GLASSOLUTIONS has
strengthened its position
as one of the UK’s leading glass tougheners with
the completion of its £1.5
million capacity-boosting
investment programme at
its Dudley factory.
As one of GLASSOLUTIONS’ two
specialist toughening plants, the
Dudley factory serves domestic
sealed unit customers across
England and Wales with the full
range of toughened Planitherm
low-e and float glass products.
Following this latest investment
programme to increase production efficiency and enhance
product quality, the plant is ideally placed to serve the growing
demand for toughened products
with an additional 50% capacity.
The plant investment programme is the largest in the factory’s 18 years under GLASSOLUTIONS’ ownership, and focused
on three key areas. Firstly, a new
automated Hegla glass loader
ensures the plant’s cutting tables
are fed more quickly and reliably
Pastures New For Giles
After nearly 14 years
working in a variety
of roles - the latest
being Managing Director - Giles Willson
has decided to leave
the Glass and Glazing
Federation (GGF). This
decision has not been
taken lightly especially after the high
profile role Giles has
undertaken within the
fenestration industry
over this period.
Giles said: “I have really
enjoyed the 14 years working with the GGF membership. There have never
been two days the same
with unlimited challenges
posed by the members. I
have also been privileged
to represent the membership and industry with government ministers, MPs and
other government officials
as well as chair the British
Standards committee for
windows and doors. I will
miss the members and my
colleagues but, I know this
is the right time to move
on.”
Nigel Rees, GGF Group
Chief Executive, stated: “I
have enjoyed working with
Giles over the last 14 years
which have seen considerable change to the industry
and the GGF. Giles has
been a major contributor to
a lot of these changes and
he will be missed from the
GGF team. We wish him
all the best success in his
future career.”
For further information
go to: www.ggf.org.uk
with the 20m2 float glass sheets
which are delivered daily. Once
cut to size, a new LISEC vertical compact grinding machine
ensures the glass is precision
arrissed, after which the gla ss is
fed into a new Firejet furnace.
These largely automated processes reduce the need for manual
handling to provide a safer working environment for GLASSOLUTIONS personnel and higher
consistency of product.
The new furnace toughens glass
sheets in a super-efficient way,
taking just a few minutes to transform the glass into a permanently
toughened product. In addition to
being environmentally superior to
the machine it replaced, thanks to
30% less energy usage, the new
furnace enables GLASSOLUTIONS
to maintain higher quality levels
with a lower risk of glass imperfections and fewer re-makes.
Visit www.glassolutions.co.uk
ASTRASEAL TRADE
COUNTER OPEN
FOR BUSINESS
Fast-growing fabricator
Astraseal has brought
in the next stage of
its installer support
strategy and opened
an on-site trade counter. Operating from
Astraseal’s main manufacturing facility in
Wellingborough, the
trade counter stocks
installation essentials
including trims, sealants, silicone, screws,
fixings, tools and other
ancillary products, all
at trade prices.
A skip facility is also on
offer, enabling installers to
get rid of their old frames
free of charge, and there is
a 50% discount for customers ordering windows and
doors from Astraseal.
Operations director Colin
Stanley said: “Astraseal
already supplies a very com-
prehensive range of PVCu
and aluminium windows,
doors and conservatories, so
opening a trade counter was
the next logical step. The
major motivator behind the
trade counter was to offer
more convenience for the
installer.
“We’re not making a huge
margin on these products –
they’re available at the same
price as many of the national trade counters– so it’s really more about supporting
our trade customers. The
50% discount to customers
already buying windows
and doors, would, as an
example, take a 25mm D
Mould from our standard
price of £2.25 to just £1.12
for a 5m length – which is
very competitive.”
The trade counter also
dovetails as a place for
technical advice, with experienced window installer
Phil on hand to check all
orders. Astraseal recently
launched an online ordering facility and is offering
tailored marketing support to its customers. The
company supplies products
made with REHAU, Eurocell, Synseal, Smarts and
Reynaers profile systems.
All sealed units are made
in house and frames are
available colour coated
courtesy of the Astraseal
paint facility.
www.astrasealdownloads.com