Rapierstar is the largest specialist designer and supplier of window and door screws in the UK and Ireland .

The company started life 31 years ago at the home of founder and MD David Furness as Architectural Supplies Limited , who spotted an opportunity to challenge the market ’ s established players . At that time , David believed that window fasteners were too often either low grade , cheap and poor quality products , which were causing huge problems for fabricators and damaging consumer confidence in finished windows and doors , or over-engineered and phenomenally expensive .

His vision was to bring to the market a uniquely innovative , technologically advanced and keenly priced branded range of fastener solutions , and it proved a success with the rapid development of its customer base .

After 13 years as Architectural Supplies Limited , David believed the next stage in their development was to encapsulate all the products it offered , backed by a strong customer support ethos , to be much more than ‘ just a fastener supplier ’. Hence , in 2005 the Rapierstar brand was launched , along with its family of trademarked product ranges , including StarPVCU window screws , StarTurn universal timber screws , StarFix masonry fixings and StarPin polymer headed pins and nails .

Today Rapierstar operates from a 100,000 sq . ft HQ and bonded distribution and technical centre near Macclesfield in Cheshire , where more than one billion individual items are held in stock at any time . By holding many months of stock , the company is able to absorb the impacts of disrupted global trade , as observed in both the pandemic and Brexit , to offer stability to customers across the UK and Ireland .

How Rapierstar is different

One of the company ’ s greatest assets and differentiators is its technically skilled , customer-focused team . They provide a unique specialist advice service rooted in fastener expertise with a focus on the fenestration market .

Rapierstar ’ s skilled and knowledgeable team supports fabricators , installers , systems companies and hardware manufacturers . By working right across the industry , they are in an excellent position to help customers achieve more , whether that ’ s improving the quality of their products , getting new products through tough testing regimes , overcoming technical issues

or boosting productivity efficiency and health and safety in their factories .

Over three decades Rapierstar has established long term partnerships with outstanding manufacturers across the globe , which ensures it is in full control of product design , manufacture and supply , to deliver consistently high-quality fasteners to customers . This is maintained and checked by the rigorous testing of every batch of fasteners arriving at its UK HQ in its own technical centre .

Achieving technical excellence

Rapierstar works constantly to highlight the crucial role that fasteners play in the assembly and construction of every building element , including doors and windows . This is necessary because they are often taken for granted due to the fact that they are so small and – per unit – by far the lowest cost component in the finished product .

As the team has seen on numerous occasions , however , one failure such as a friction stay screw breaking and causing the casement to fall loose , can have costly consequences in terms of call-backs and reputation .

The quality and performance of the highly engineered PVCu and aluminium

window systems in today ’ s market depends upon the weakest link in the chain – which can be the fasteners used in assembly . This is one of the reasons why the vast majority of the UK ’ s fenestration industry rely on Rapierstar for the correct advice in selecting the best screw for each application and consistently reliable delivery .

How have fasteners evolved in the past three decades ?

Today ’ s window screws are vastly superior in every way versus those of the early 1990s . The plating and passivation performance of Rapierstar products helps to provide increased corrosion resistance to exceed extended guarantees and the products are far stronger , but also more forgiving .

Point technology has increased speed of insertion and , therefore , fabricator efficiency , capable of meeting the high demands of modern production . This is why leading hardware manufacturers recommend Rapierstar screws , and why the company works with all the major profile manufacturers to develop Recommended Fixing Manuals ( RFMs ) – these are available to all fabricators to download at www . rapierstar . com .

The next era for Rapierstar

The business is in excellent shape for the next 30 years thanks to its long term strategy of re-investing profits . This means it continuously improves the way it operates , and it is able to innovate with new products .

In the last two years Rapierstar has implemented many major upgrades behind the scenes , including cloud-based solutions , a world-class ERP system and fully integrated business management systems on a par with , if not ahead of , many multi-national businesses . The latest digital technology is at the core of everything Rapierstar does , such as the latest version of Microsoft Business Central as its business management platform , increased use of Solidworks computer aided design to develop new products and enhanced cybersecurity protection . All these provide a solid platform for the business to thrive in the digital age .

Running parallel to this has been on-going investment in its R & D programme . A number of patented new product developments are in the pipeline for different applications across the construction industry . These reflect Rapierstar ’ s design capabilities and offer new potential for the business in its next era alongside its position of market-leadership in the fenestration market .

www . rapierstar . com