Invest In The Best

• Browse By Section
• In Focus
• Invest In The Best

Quickslide’s chairman Adrian Barraclough showed the quality of his windows by getting a group of magazine editors to make them the old (labour intensive) way whilst observing the modern, efficient, (£1.71m worth of investment) new way of making them too. John Roper, reports.

Quickslide says the £1.71m investment will not only set new standards for performance and manufacturing quality within the business but within the vertical sliding window sector itself. The machining centre was manufactured to Quickslide’s own specifications by Schirmer and is twice as big as its existing Schirmer machining centres with a footprint of 4,120sq.ft. 

Quality assured

Quickslide MD Ben Weber says: “A vertical sliding window is complex, perhaps more so than any other type of window frame. It has always required precision manufacturing and this equipment now allows us to bring a lot of the processes together to ensure consistent quality and output.”

Weber, like a number of the management team, has been at Quickslide for a long time. He joined the company in a junior role and his career developed in the company. Chairman Adrian Baraclough says that is the way he has developed the business, by spotting talent and developing people from within. He says: “This is my priority. I want people to come to work to be the best that they can be. I see staff as an investment, not a cost. If people become better, the company becomes better.

Trade partners

An attitude he also has towards clients. “We don't try to snatch customers from other manufacturers,” he says. “There is no point. Every customer you take just creates a hole for someone to fill. Our approach is to invite applications into our trade partners’ programme.  I am pleased that our reputation is such that we are not short of applicants.

“When we look at applicants, we look at everything, not just their financial status but where they are in the market, where they want to be, what their ambitions are. We don't accept every application either. If we don't think a company thinks the way we do then we recommend they go to another VS manufacturer. Those we do accept, we will work with to develop the company and its business. Guide its direction in the market to benefit us both.”

To grow or not to grow

Baraclough's new conundrum is how far to develop the business. At present the company occupies 150,000sq.ft  of factory space. Its customers include window companies, developers and house builders. Baraclough says: “Expanding beyond where we are would involve a bigger factory and the associated costs. And that supposes we could find somewhere suitable. Obviously, the younger management would like to see Quickslide grow bigger but it leaves a lot to consider.”

Meanwhile, growth is likely to come from  investment and the efficiencies it provides. Overall, the company has invested £2.7 million since February 2022 and intends to continue with further upgrades to its production infrastructure early in 2024.

Weber says: “It is still early days but with the new Schirmer we have achieved a capacity increase in heritage frames which we expect to see increase further as we get better acquainted with the machine and its operation.”

Picture: Quickslide’s Adrian Baraclough.

www.quickslide.co.uk

Article written by John Roper
11th December 2023

Share

Related Articles