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messyleadremovalkit
Over the last few months the entire structure of our
industry has undergone fast and dramatic change.
Significant moves in ownership through our
acquisition of PFL and the sale of HW to Latium
represent the latest moves in a broad industry
restructuring. As reported on the front page of
leading plastics journal, PRW, Synseal is now the
largest PVC products manufacturer in the UK. The
acquisition of Finesse with its well known and well
respected Legend 70 brand moves us to clear
market leadership in window systems. Acquiring the
Permacell roofline brand also takes us into the
cellular foam market for the first time.
We believe the growth we have achieved in 2005,
when many systems companies were falling back, will
have consolidated that lead. Synseal’s conservatory
sales remain buoyant despite a difficult and demanding
market. Our customers continue to do well and with
their success our sales have increased significantly. If
further proof of this was needed, then two different sets
of trading results made the point. While Synseal
announced a storming 19.9% year on year growth in
Global conservatory roof sales for the first half year up
to 30 September, another company announced a 25%
drop in conservatory sales year on year and forecast a
slowing of the rate of decline.
We continue to listen to our customers and deliver
what they want, when they want it. Our commitment
to the conservatory market through continuous
research and development enables our customers to
keep ahead in the market. The launch of the innovative
global600 conservatory low rise roof system - see inside
- is sure to accelerate that growth and confirm Synseal's
position as clear market leader in conservatory roof
systems as we
go into 2006.
Stop Press…. synseal's hat trick in 2005 construction marketing awards
Hot off the press, Synseal has just been shortlisted into not one, butthree categories in the finals of the prestigious ConstructionMarketing Awards (CMA). The awards, organised by Interbuild andsupported by CIMCIG (Chartered Institute of Marketing ConstructionIndustry Group), are designed to reward marketing, business and productexcellence and achievement within the construction supply chain. Theywere established to recognise creativity, innovation and effectiveness inthe implementation and execution of a company's marketing and/orbusiness development strategy. Phil Else, Marketing Manager, comments:“Synseal places such a great focus on innovative and consistentmarketing, we're delighted that our efforts have been recognised by the
CMA. We have reached the final in three categories: Best Use ofExhibitions/Events; Best Use of Direct Marketing and Best Small Budget Campaign.
The awards will be presented in London at the end of November so fingers crossed that we can bringyou even better news in the next issue of The Synseal Times!”
new salesstructure means
even biggerteam committed
to customersAs a dedicated customer servicecompany, Synseal has nowintroduced a new internal salesstructure. The newly created team ofthree members, Dave Jackson, DanMcKee and Paul Callaghan, are nowresponsible for looking after allexisting customers. Dave Jackson,who previously worked with thecompany in a sales position, joins thetwo new recruits Dan and Paul.
The new initiative means we have a team that focuses fully on looking after our existingcustomers, ensuring that as we grow, every fabricator can take advantage of our fullmarketing and sales support. As well as day to day advice and helping to keep everyoneupdated, the team will also be responsible for informing customers of any new productsacross the whole Synseal product range of roofs, hardware, patio doors and kits.
synseal acquirespermacell finesse
As a dedicated customer service company,keeping customers happy is at the heart ofeverything Synseal does. From left to right;Kevin Harvey Director of sales, Bob Parsons,Dan McKee, Dave Jackson, Tim Armitage,
Paul Callaghan and Andy Miller
Nick Dutton Sales & Marketing Director
synseal’s customers raise 12k for Charity
Children in Need was once again the favouredcharity of Synseal. “After the donation we madetwo years ago we had great feedback from ourcustomers. So once again this year rather thansend out Christmas gifts to our customers we
have made a donation to charity,” explains NickDutton.“Kevin Harvey presented the £12,000
cheque live on TV. Instead of the usual bottle ofwine, customers will receive a certificate
confirming the contribution, as well as theknowledge that their small contribution helped
to make a big difference.”
See centre pages
synseal back in pole position at glassex 06Synseal Extrusions Ltd is supporting the industry bytaking pole position at Glassex for the third year ina row. “We go to Glassex when we have somethingto show and 2006 looks set to be another excitingyear,” explains Nick Dutton. “We are launchingglobal600, the new complete low pitch conservatoryroof system. And after the successful Glassex 05 launchof SynerJy, the fourth generation fully sculptured suitethat integrates windows, doors, patios and
conservatories, we’ve decided to use Glassex 06 as thelaunch pad for SynerJy in blue-white – SynerJy blu.There have been many changes in the market this yearand we feel it’s important for market leaders in theindustry to show our commitment to the future.Glassex gives us the perfect opportunity.”
For those of you who like to plan ahead we’ll be rightthere at the entrance on Stand B070
system specific bridge packer...For many years Synseal has sought to design, manufacture and supply
value added products for customers to help them stay one step ahead of
their competitors. These products create a complete range including
inline patio doors, gaskets and conservatory roofs - and many of the
component parts.
Our latest component is a glazing bridge packer, used in every window
installation, but overlooked by conventional profile extruders. The new packer
is available for both SynerJy and Shield.
Continued on centre pages.
synsealcustomer
synerJy helps the advanced group to take the trade market by storm
Having been a Synseal customer for 11 years, Mark Watson, Owner of The Advanced Group,was delighted to add the SynerJy window and door suite to their product range. “SynerJy inmy opinion is taking windows to a new level. The suite was launched with impeccable timing,just when the industry needed something fresh and different to offer. It has certainly helpedus to take the trade market by storm, with sales literally doubling in the last six months.
new centurywindows safely
lands nottinghameast midlands
airport contract
Synseal fabricator New Century Windows has
safely landed a contract at Nottingham East
Midlands Airport. The total contract for the
offices of facilities departments Units 33 and
34 included 135 Synseal Shield Windows, five
French doors and a single door. “New
Century Windows have always been trade
fabricators,” explains Robert Cassidy,
Managing Director. “But recently we have
been looking at getting into contract work.
This was the first tender we’ve submitted and
we were obviously delighted to win the first
contract we ever tried for.”
Manchester's Pendlebury Hospital recentlyfaced the difficult problem of how to quicklyand safely move two wards of very sickchildren away from danger in the event offire. Moving any bed restricted people canbe dangerous, but when the patients arepaediatric bone marrow and highdependency children who are extremelyvulnerable to infection, you have a bigchallenge ahead.
Classic Trade Frames, part of the AbsoluteWindow Group, used Synseal SynerJy andglobal roof to provide the answer. “A U-shapedexternal SynerJy corridor now links the twowards together to ensure the children have aquick escape route which completely avoidsthe need to go outside. The corridor is sealedoff by two sets of fire doors providing a perfectsafe haven. And the solution to the problem ofthe wards being situated on the first floor - thecorridor simply sits on stilts,” explains TonyMarsden, Managing Director of Classic. “It wascertainly a challenge we hadn't faced before.The importance of keeping the children in asafe and sealed environment was everyone'stop priority. The hospital was delighted withour solution.”
classic conservatories providesa safe haven for sick children
Mr Robert Cassidy-Managing Director of New CenturyWindows Ltd Mr David McInerney-Facilities Manager
Nottingham East Midlands Airport
“Synseal has the ability to deliver qualityproducts consistently, mile after mile of perfectstock, on time, every time. Their productsalways provide great value for money, whichcoupled with the huge benefits that SynerJybrings - it looks good, is designed for 28mmand has attractive sightlines - will maintain theirposition as a leader in quality and designinnovation. But it's about more than justproducts - they are great people to do businesswith too.
“England is clearly a more saturated marketthan Scotland, so introducing new productsearly on here means we can steal a march onthe competition. No doubt our competitors willsee the benefits and want to carry the new suiteas well. I certainly wouldn't want to becompeting against SynerJy!”
coastalchooses togo global
Poole based fabricator Coastal
Windows, has seen lots of changes in
the market since they first started in
1971. The company recently
announced it was offering Synseal's
global roof system. Jeremy Beling,
Managing Director at Coastal
comments: “It's been a difficult year
for many window companies. In the
past conservatories were considered
the icing on the cake, but now
companies simply can't afford not to
be in the conservatory market. The
number of conservatories we now sell
has increased so much that we needed
a quality, reliable supplier. The global
roof system from Synseal has met
these needs.”
At Coastal's recent open day,
customers were invited to visit the
factory in Poole, where Synseal
brought along the EVie exhibition
vehicle. “Customers could see the
quality of the global roofs in “real life”
and discuss their requirements with
Synseal's staff face to face. The day
was a great success with our
customers and well attended,” added
Jeremy.
As a quality focused company, with three
accreditations under their belt including BS7950,
Lancashire Double Glazing was determined to
find a roofing system supplier who could match
the quality of their windows. Nine months have
now passed since the company manufactured
their first global roof and they simply haven't
looked back. Bill Forsyth, Managing Director at the
company explains: “The fitters simply love global;
it's just so easy and quick to install. We were
impressed with the endless benefits that global
offers. The fixing really is a brilliant idea - one bolt
for the tie bars takes away the need for checking; all
pre drilling ensures no short cuts are made; the
capping fits with just one push; and the ridge
covering is in one run eliminating any worry of
leaking. Having watched Synseal go from strength
to strength in the trade press, it wasn't a difficult
choice to make. Their reputation preceded them.
Dealing with a professional supplier whose products
are top quality is really important to us, having
experienced serious problems with two previous
suppliers. One of them supplied us with aluminium
finials and crestings that pitted and discoloured, and
the other gave us PVC-U woodgrain cappings that
twisted in the sunlight.
This was unacceptable for us as a professional
company with a reputation to maintain - we have
been in business for 18 years, twice the time of our
guarantees - precisely because we keep our
customers happy. Thanks to global's fantastic
quality, we'll continue to do this.
“Manufacturing global also means there are fewer
components, which in turn cuts down the
processing time. One other major consideration for
us in selecting Synseal was their commitment to
research and product development. Their work has
simply catapulted them way ahead of other
competitors in the market and Lancashire Double
Glazing is delighted to be associated with them.”
stories lancashire double glazing
knows the way to an installer's heart -
just select global
synseal
As with all Synseal roofs, global600 has been designed with the installer in
mind. It's fixed from the inside, making it safer and quicker to fit. The pitch
of the roof is as low as 2.5° using a 35mm polycarbonate. At the end of the
glazing panel there's a co-ordinating sculptured deep-drip end closer to
stop water tracking back towards the building. By taking a full system
approach, with dedicated wall plates and coordinated profiles, we've been
able to design in several advantages that would not have been possible if
we'd taken the standard approach and assembled a collection
of fairly standard components. A custom-
built wall plate has been designed
which is simply offered up to the
wall along a guideline, again for
ease of installation. For added
strength the fixings pass through a channel
and fit securely into the brickwork. The polycarbonate
is dropped into place and a single nut locks each end.
The prepared components come in environmentally friendly single
or double packs to avoid any waste, and come ready
and complete for quick and simple
onsite installation.
global roof - order to delivery in
three days
EVii hits the roadFollowing the enormous success ofGlobal EVie, the Synseal state of theart exhibition vehicle, we are pleasedto announce that the SynerJy-GlobalEVii vehicle is also about to hit theroad. “Both the Global roof systemand SynerJy, the fully sculpturedsuite are on display,” explains NickDutton. “The new livery of thevehicle sports the black of the Globallogo next to the white of SynerJy. Itlooks stunning and will prove to be ashow stopper.”
When fully extended the tardis likevehicle expands to a full 30 squaremetres providing ample room for fullsized samples to be displayed. And aspreviously featured in the global EVie,customers can use the interactive touchscreen to view trade and consumerpresentations. The meeting roominside EVii also has the latesttechnology and facilities; a drop screenoverhead projector for presentations,fully integrated sound system, climatecontrol, and catering facilities.
Taking global on the road in EVieallowed us to travel round the countryto show new fabricators and installersthe benefits of the system withoutthem having to make a trip to Sutton-in-Ashfield. Fabricators and installersappreciate the fact that we are awarehow valuable their time is and that wemake the effort to go to them.hits the
market
global600, the new conceptin low pitch roofing designedspecifically for the UK marketis now available. global600
recreates the way a conservatory
should be - but with contemporary
flair. We know the UK housing stock is
designed on imperial measurements,
so we designed a conservatory roof to
match. The 600mm (2ft) glazing
centres perfectly match standard UK
window sizes making the overall
structure easier on the eye and
allowing more light in too. Other roof
systems are based on the metric
scheme for ease of calculation with
500mm intervals. Trying to match up
doors and windows underneath is
difficult. No-one would put in a pair of
French doors one metre wide, even
though that's what matches with the
glazing bars on a standard system.
The market is tough for conservatory installers.Homeowners have high expectations and whenthey've made a decision they want their conservatoryas quickly as possible. Installers need to be able tosource and install quicker than their rivals.
So, to make sure Synseal's customers have this
competitive edge, we have invested in improving our
infrastructure. Sales order processing, IT and
manufacturing management systems have been made
even more efficient. And we've invested in highly
productive state of the art manufacturing equipment, so
when our customers place an order on Tuesday, the roof
will arrive on Friday.
Proof that you don't need to compromise onquality, price or service.
bridgingthe gap
Features and benefits:
o The simple clip in design enables factory fitting if required saving installation time on site.
o It incorporates a screw port so it can be secured in uprights to ease the toe-and-heel installation process for the installer.
o It provides a flat bed straight across the top of the profile upstand so the unit doesn't sit on an uneven base.
o Removes the need for the additional flat packer to create the flat glazing surface
o Simple instructions on the packer show which direction to use the packer for different bead types
o The packer is also designed to touch the inside edge of the bead so the beads are kept in place in a fabricated unglazed frame in transit.
o The notched ends mean that the bridge packers can be fitted right into the corner of a welded frame without the profile upstand pushing it away and not able to support the ends of the glass unit.
Our latest component is a glazingbridge packer, used in every windowinstallation, but overlooked byconventional profile extruders. Thenew packer is available for bothSynerJy and Shield.
product updateproduct update
For those of you who missed Nick's most recent article in Glass Age's Nick's in theChair series, The Synseal Times has re-printed his article on over-capacity
NICK’S IN THE CHAIR
Nick Dutton, Synseal’s Sales andMarketing Director
glass age/2005
Why did we go to Abilene?Some economists say that overcapacityis a feature of modern economies oncethey get to a certain stage. Mostmarkets find that supply and demandget out of balance for short periods.Suppliers may add a little more thandemand requires, and prices weaken. Atother times demand surges,manufacturers struggle to supply, andprices rise. But in most healthy growingmarkets imbalances don't last long andeither supply or demand soon catchesup.
In less healthy markets overcapacity andoversupply can persist for long periodsof time with disastrous consequencesfor prices, profitability and employmentprospects. And the overhang - theamount of overcapacity or oversupply -can be large. The longer the period ofmarket distortion, the bigger and morepainful the eventual correction.
European car parkIn the car industry the correction iscausing widespread pain. Fiat is brokeand Mercedes, Jaguar and Saab are allreporting market share losses. Car salesfell again in May for the fifth month ina row and the European car industry iscurrently saddled with 30%overcapacity. Unsold cars on lots andairfields stretch for miles. But whilesome are doing badly, BMW's share ofsales was up 23% and Audi were up17.2%.
The effects were notorious in thechemical industry in the 1970s, when itlurched from one period of massiveovercapacity to another and wreckedthe profitability of the industry.Industrial psychologists were asked toexplain how the best brains incompanies such as Shell and Esso gotthings so terribly wrong.
AbileneParadoxIn 1974 managementpsychologist Jerry Harveycreated what is now known asthe Abilene Paradox toexplain how companies, evenentire industries, can makebig, bad decisions time aftertime.
On a hot afternoon visiting in Texas, a familyis playing dominoes, wondering what to dofor the day. The father-in-law suggests a tripto Abilene (53 miles away) for dinner.Although the drive is long and hot, and someprivately think that they must be out-of-stepwith the group, everybody agrees. The driveis hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive atthe cafeteria, the air-con is on the blink andthe food is as bad. Hot, sweaty and badtempered, the recriminations start on the wayback.
The mother-in-law says she went along tokeep the others happy. The wife says, "I don'tlike Abilene, but didn't want to stand in yourway." The father-in-law says he suggested itbecause he thought the others might bebored. It was a bad idea, and no one's idea,but everyone went along with the crowdthinking someone must have a good reasonto go.
Dumb and DumberIt's easy to laugh. We couldn't be thatdumb… but if companies like Esso and Shell -and most of their big rivals - can add massiveamounts of capacity at the same time, notjust once, but time after time, then others cantoo. Adding capacity when there's alreadyloads of capacity, and doing it withoutthinking what your rivals are doing, doesn'tmake sense.
Meeting the needs of the marketThere is overcapacity in the windowindustry - too much for demand. Butovercapacity isn't the whole story. It isnot a general industry malaise - althoughthe industry as a whole suffers - it is amore localised sickness. In simple termsmanufacturers with significantovercapacity or unused capacity arethose whose products no longer meetthe needs of the market.
In the car industry companies that getcustomer needs wrong and produce carsthat consumers no longer want havetrouble giving them away - as airfieldsfull of unwanted cars demonstrate. Andmany car companies are in deep trouble.
Industry falloutMany systems companies are also indeep trouble. Some have already packedit in or put themselves on the market.Whatever the spin that accompaniessuch announcements it doesn't disguisethe brutal reality. They failed or are soldbecause not enough fabricators wanttheir products, or are prepared to paymuch for them.
Choose your supplier with care. Thewrong systems company can damageyour business; and choosing a newsupplier when the last one let you downor failed is a big decision. Jumping fromthe frying pan into the fire can be fatal.
There is a reason why some systemscompanies have excess capacity. Somedo invest in capacity ahead of demand,but it is more sensible to keep in step.More often they failed to satisfy theircustomers, who left to find what wasmissing, or their customers could notcompete effectively in the market withtheir products and lost sales as a result.As a systems company's sales fall, theamount of its spare capacity grows. Becareful who you get into bed with. Aone night stand might be fun but canhave serious consequences. You mightthink you've got into bed with a BMWbut wake up with a Fiat!
even entire industries,can make big, baddecisions time aftertime.
WHY DID WE GO TO ABILENE?
synseal
conservatorygallery
Some of the conservatoryprojects our customers getinvolved in are out of the
ordinary in terms ofapplication, location or size.
So we're introducing aregular feature on unusual
projects which demonstratehow flexible and innovative
global and SHIELD are.
We've selected a couple forthis edition, but if you'd like
to join the showcase infuture issues of
The Synseal Times, please contact
Sarah Newsome at Michael Rigby Associates on
01453 521621.
Fabricator:
Size:
Style:
Application:
Location:
Heritage Dorset Limited
6m x 10.9m
Synseal SHIELD Edwardian
Swimming pool enclosure
New Forest.
The conservatory butted against the property that the owner built himself
twenty years previously. “We are delighted with the conservatory, especially as
the rain has been pouring down here and there is no sign
of any leaks at all. I have actually used Mike O'Connor at
Heritage for 20 years, being in the building trade
myself. I always call on him for all the double glazing
and conservatory requirements so thought it time I had
one myself. Initially we wanted a slightly bigger roof
than the 6m x10.9m but had problems with planning.
As it turned out the size is just right and there's plenty
of room,” explains the homeowner.
Fabricator:
Size:
Style:
Application:
Location:
Pyramid Profiles Ltd
12m x 10m
SHIELD
Extension to tea roomsWolverhampton.
Supplied to trade customer, Country View Conservatories Ltd who then
installed the Shield roof to a customer's existing tea rooms, providing an
extension and joining two buildings situated in a vineyard.
