DOORS
SOFTWARE & IT
SECTOR GROWTH WELCOMED BY KAT CHOOSES EVONET SOFTWARE COMPOSITE DOOR EXPERTS VISTA FROM BUSINESS MICROS Fast-growing composite door specialists Vista have welcomed a new report revealing continued growth in the UK’s residential door market, and predicting continued expansion throughout 2016.
KAT has invested in Business Micros’ EvoNet business management software as it strengthens its back office systems to keep pace with surging demand. The Macclesfield, Cheshire based company chose the hugely popular EvoNet solution because it is capable of integrating both the aluminium and PVCu sides of KAT’s business, allowing it to offer a more streamlined service to customers.
The study, authored by long-standing construction industry analysts AMA Research, suggests that the total market for residential doors grew 7% in 2015, attributing the rise to an increase in house-building and growth in home improvement more generally. The report also cited the importance of the continued trend towards higher-end products, driven both by the popularity of stylish, bespoke doors and a raft of legislation requiring improved security, thermal performance and fire resistance. Keith Sadler, Vista Managing Director, commented: “This is obviously fantastic news – and clearly borne out by our own experiences on the ground. We’re seen phenomenal growth over the past few years at Vista, driven by surging demand for robust, high-quality composite doors with an extensive range of aesthetic options. In 2015 alone, we saw a 30% rise in coloured composite door sales, and an 11% rise in contemporary style composite door sales. We’ve also benefitted from significantly increased demand for fire doors, seeing a 50% rise in fire door sales the same year.” “Everything we’ve seen suggests that this trend is set to continue – and at Vista, we’ve put extensive effort and resources into expanding capacity to accommodate that. Just this year, we’ve purchased our second edgebander machine, and invested £100k in a new CNC router that’s allowed to up production from 700 to 1,000 doors on a single shift.”
Keith Sadler, Vista Managing Director
Founded in 1995, Vista has grown every year it’s been in business, steadily expanding to become one of the country’s leading manufacturers of composite and uPVC doors. Its signature XtremeDoor, built using the industry-leading Nan Ya slab, a triple-sealed outer frame and a five-point lock, is widely acknowledged as one of the best composite doors currently available, extensively used in both the private and social housing sectors. Boasting unparalleled thermal performance, weather resistance and general robustness, the XtremeDoor withstood both hurricane-force winds and the Greater Manchester police during durability tests. For more information call 01516081423 or visit www.vistapanels.co.uk. READER ENQUIRY NO: 1216/0063
ALUMINIUM OPPORTUNITY
UNFOLDS FOR PVCU INSTALLERS
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Every order is tracked from receipt to despatch in what are now both paperless factories and automatic ordering of glass and auto batching of frames is optimising productivity. KAT already offers a ten day lead time on all of its aluminium doors and windows and has a reputation for efficiency and reliability. Now though, even further efficiencies are being achieved across its factories in Macclesfield and Newhaven and many of these are being passed on to customers. There is now, for instance, consistency across the entire ordering process in both aluminium and PVCu and there have been significant improvements in reporting and communication. As the work with Business Micros continues, KAT plans to add further EvoNet modules to its operation so that it can offer customers online quotations and ordering, and real time delivery tracking. Such is the efficiency improvement that KAT achieved 98%+ On Time Delivery in August and September. KAT offers its customers a choice of seven colour ways in aluminium, including duals, delivered in just two weeks for all product categories. To satisfy demand, KAT has almost become a mini systems company in terms of stock holding and stock management; and the integrated stock management module has been instrumental in this. In fact, KAT’s lead time to its customers is actually significantly shorter than that of many of the input components.
Innovative fabricator Whiteline’s latest product launch offers great business growth potential for PVCu installers. New Alumina from Liniar is a unique aluminium bifolding door system, in fact the first true aluminium bi-folds specifically designed to match fully Sculptured PVCu window and door profiles, foils and finishes. So, for the first time installers can supply a complete and consistent suite of products to enhance any home or building and all covered by a single 10 Year guarantee. Alumina’s aluminium construction delivers stronger, taller and wider bi-folds, with door sizes up to 1200mm wide and 2500mm high, ideal for larger applications where PVCu options just don’t go. Super energy efficiency, with U values as low as 1.2 W/ m²K, and maximum security options (PAS 024, Document Q and Secured By Design) meeting the demands of the most discerning homeowner. Woodgrain foils or colour matching, a host of clever features and effortless operation are the final touches to seal the deal.
Previously, KAT used separate software for its aluminium and PVCu divisions and relied on manual order processing, leading inevitably to duplications and carrying potential for human error. Now though, following the introduction of EvoNet with barcode scanning, KAT has not only automated its order processing and its invoicing, but has also achieved better stock control, production and delivery planning in both of its Macclesfield factories.
As ever, PVCu and Aluminium fabricator Whiteline is already in production and first to market yet again with Alumina, further improving their product range to customers and opening up even more selling opportunities. Tel: 01323 723724 www.whiteline.co.uk / www.PlatinumNRG.co.uk READER ENQUIRY NO: 1216/0064
The next benefit that KAT will deliver to its customers is the further reduction in its delivery time. From January 2017, KAT will offer aluminium glazing products on a seven working day lead time. This is made possible via working with Business Micros and its production planning module, coupled with a newly formed two shift system. Kat’s aluminium factory now works 16 hours, five days a week. Business Micros started working with KAT at the start of the year and a small, dedicated support team has worked on the project throughout. This has been particularly helpful in terms of providing consistent customer service and in building a strong partnership between the two businesses. Although EvoNet is available off the shelf, Business Micros typically tailors a bespoke version for every customer to reflect their priorities, timescale and of course budget; and, at KAT, this has been focused around achieving a seamless integration between the two Macclesfield factories. Paul Balfe, Technical Director at KAT said: “For the first time, we have the same system working across both our factories and across both our materials and that gives us a really solid platform from which to manage our future plans and expansion. Using the reporting function, we can now get an instant overview of how we are performing in both aluminium and PVCu, identify both problems and opportunities, and make better informed decisions both day to day and longer term. “Having seen growth in sales of our aluminium windows and doors of just over 60% this year and a doubling of our factory capacity, we now have the software infrastructure we need, not only to keep pace with that but also to ensure that we achieve the efficiencies which will enable us to continue expanding at a similar rate.” Business Micros has seen unprecedented demand for EvoNet this year from new and existing customers, with sales of the programme up 22% over 2015. Further details and demonstrations are available at: www. businessmicros.co.uk. KAT has manufacturing facilities and showrooms in Macclesfield, Cheshire and Newhaven, Sussex. Further information is available at www.katuk.co.uk. READER ENQUIRY NO: 1216/0065
December 2016 | www.glassnews.co.uk