NorthernView
26 | NOVEMBER 2023
NorthernView
BRIGHOUSE , I ’ LL BE BACK
Of all the magazines in fenestration I think I ’ m one of – if not the – most recent editor to take my post , and I ’ ve been at Clearview Group for around six years now . In that time , I ’ ve managed to get quite a few factory visits under my belt ( or is that hi-vis ?) but , there ’ s often ( understandably ) a look but don ’ t touch policy .
When the invitation arrived with the title ‘ Make it with Quickslide ’, and a simple agenda of timings and activities for the day ; it was nothing we editors hadn ’ t seen before . But the 2.30pm item on the agenda stood out for all the right reasons . After meeting for lunch , an introduction and investment and a safety briefing , point five had those four magic words . But what would we be making with Quickslide ? Would we really be making it ourselves ? How ? Why ?
First things first , and we sat with Adrian Barrowclough , MD Ben Weber , Marketing Manager Sandra Berg , Sales & Marketing Director Tom Swallow and Operations Director Mark Scaife .
At FIT Show , Adrian explained how the company never want to ‘ take ’ anything from the competition but to make the sector ‘ bigger ’ and better for everyone involved . He touched on this again at the event and built on it with the company ’ s internal values of allowing every individual to succeed and working with trade partners to make sure everyone gets the best out of the business of working together . He talked about engaging staff through personal development , finding out what they really what to do ( or don ’ t want to do ), and helping suppliers and customers build a better business too .
As the aforementioned ‘ newbie ’ that I am , I didn ’ t know about Adrian ’ s own background and it was fascinating to find out more about his career history in manufacturing ( train carriages , if I remember correctly ) and how those experiences ( good and bad ) helped to shape the way he works today ; most importantly ( in my opinion ) how staff are treated . One point that really stood out to me was his comment that when it comes to getting things done , you must put a spade in the ground – appropriately that is what we were about to do ourselves …
As the high-vis vests , headsets , clipboards and score sheets came out , it really was time for us to Make it with Quickslide . The challenge was finally revealed . We would be going head-tohead against the new Schirmer machining centre – ( nicknamed the Schirminator ) to see how long it would take us to make a VS window .
The £ 1.7M Schirmer demonstration was nothing short of spectacular , from cutting to screwing – every part of the process was fast , as you ’ d expect , but the level of accuracy was truly impressive . The excitement from the team that use it every day was matched only by building nerves that we would soon be expected to do the same process by hand , that we had just seen perfectly executed in a matter of minutes .
Three teams would be marked at every station on the quality of our work , how well we worked individually , and as a group . Having seen the demonstration of the Schirminator first ( and never had a hand in building a window in any of the factories I ’ ve ever been to before ), by the time I and everyone else on the orange team reached the first station , I had no choice but to ‘ fake it ’ ‘ til I literally made it , and throw myself into the challenge . The orange team and I moved around every station until the window was complete ; cutting , drilling , welding , screwing , cleaning et al . The final stop was at the QC station where marks where secretly given to the team leader , in our case Tom , but the scores wouldn ’ t be revealed until later in the evening at the awards presentation …
Following a few drinks , some mind-blowing table magic and a delicious three-course meal , the results were in . First place in the Make it with Quickslide competition goes to … orange . But wait , somehow I also bagged the ‘ Fabricator of the day ’ trophy . So , watch out Schirminator , because whether I ’ m coming to defend my title next year or take up a position as chief VS builder , Quickslide , I ’ ll be back !
And thank you to all at Quickslide and VAST PR , you really made my day .