diary of an entrepreneur
October/November june/july 2019 2021 business edge
The South’s First PVCu Window and Door Factory In A Generation Opens In Worthing It’s been a busy year at Newview – one of the South’s longest established glazing installers – we’ve taken the bold step of opening the South’s first PVCu window and door factory in a generation, right in the centre of Worthing.
Duncan Wietscher Sales & Operation Director, Newview Homes
Called Newframe, it will not only supply Newview’s own needs of several hundred windows and doors a week but will also be supplying Tradesmen and Builders throughout the region. Newview works with some of the prestigious companies in the UKHeathrow Airport, Thakeham Homes, Network Rail to name a few and working with these companies for years means that we have a great understanding of our customers’ business needs and drivers. The Construction Industry as a whole has been massively impacted by product shortages, price rises and global situations out of all of our control. Newview felt that the best course of action was to take back control of our PVCu supply chain by opening a window and door factory, but we were told not to open a factory down South, no-one would buy from us and we wouldn’t find any staff! But the naysayers were wrong! Fast forward 6 months and the brandnew machinery has arrived from Germany; the enthusiastic and plentiful local staff have been trained and we are already supplying 10 local Trade Accounts with windows that they would have waited 10 weeks for! “Opening Newframe has been a lifelong dream for me ever since I first started
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fitting windows in Worthing when I was 16” says Duncan Wietscher, Newview Sales Director. “With the backing of Building plastics leader Eurocell, Yale and Siegenia, plus the machinery, locking and glass companies we work with and our own Coastal Composites door range, we believe we can offer something not seen in our Industry before – a commercial ethical window factory in the heart of the south with family at its core and products Made in Britain. What better legacy could Michele and I hope for?” The new venture also means new jobs, with the factory employing additional staff through the Kickstart scheme for young people, as well as Returners to Work, or anyone wanting a different career path working for a locally owned family company. They are extremely lucky to have recruited Mark White as Production Director for Newframe. Mark has more than 30 years’ experience in factory management and brings a wealth of industry expertise with him. The new 15,000 sq ft Newframe factory has been fitted with nearly £1million worth of brand-new machinery, with the ability to make more than 500 eco-friendly Eurocell products every week, plus their new own brand range of Composite doors called ‘Coastal Composites’. Newview are offering lots to benefits and offers to new trade customers, plus now have a Consumer Credit Introducers License, allowing residents the chance to spread the cost with their Installer of choice. The Newframe factory will primarily be serving local Trade customers, offering unbeatable prices with faster lead times,
www.sussexchamberofcommerce.co.uk
with a key aim of reducing the distance products travel from factory to fitting. This fusion of community engagement, the environment and people is a key value for Newview and is one of the reasons for opening Newframe. Newview Homes over the last few years have become ISO9001 accredited for Quality Management systems in the business and now also have ISO14001 for Environmental Management. These are audited systems that give reassurance to all of our customers that we are continually improving and learning. We hope to be up to 500 products per week within weeks and next year will see further developments with aluminium – so watch this space. Website: https://newviewhomes.co.uk/
tel: 01444 259 259
