Are You Making The Most Of Aluminium?

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• Are You Making The Most Of Aluminium?

Don’t be fooled into thinking all aluminium window and door suppliers offer the same opportunities to boost profits, warns Sternfenster’s Nathan Court.

Court is the company’s sales director. He says: “For many high-end home refurbishments, aluminium windows and doors are preferred to PVC-U alternatives because the slim lines and sharp detail fit the aesthetics the homeowners are looking for.

“Done right, aluminium can offer a perfect opportunity to build-in a healthy profit margin into your product and service offer. Unfortunately, it is easy to erode that margin because of the many inefficiencies that some suppliers have not ironed out.”

Inefficiency

Court is of the opinion that while aluminium products are now supplied by many more fabricators than were ten to 15 years ago, there are still many suppliers that operate inefficiently. He says: “We approach aluminium supply in the same way we do our PVC-U operation. This means we build-in lean manufacturing techniques and pass on the benefits to our customers.”

Cutting the faff

Sternfenster manufactures and supplies the Visofold 1000 Smarts bi-fold to the trade, which has had recent a design upgrade to include time-saving knock-in beads and co-extruded gaskets.

Court says: “On traditional aluminium bi-folding doors, fitting the gasket separate to the bead is a faff and can result in lost components. Knock-in co-extruded beads means there is no time spent hunting for parts. Our customers can spend less time on site, which means getting paid quickly.”

Lead times

Sternfenster offers delivery to most UK sites in just five days for both aluminium and PVC-U. Building on this, the trade fabricator has launched a vehicle tracking service to give customers greater visibility of their deliveries.

“Our two-hour delivery window has been our standard for years,” Court says. “Drivers plan their journeys several days in advance, so they can give our customers a two-hour window for delivery, which allows them to plan their days more effectively.”

Picture: Is you fabricator manufacturing efficiently to help you maximise your aluminium profits?

www.sternfenster.com 

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
25th January 2024

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