Rapierstar has collaborated with Carl F Groupco and Eurocell to help long established and highly respected South Coast installer Newview to launch its new window and door manufacturing business, Newframe.
A new state-of-the-art 15,000 sq. ft PVCu window and door factory in Worthing will produce around 500 units every week using Eurocell systems, plus Newframe’s own new range of composite doors branded ‘Coastal Composites’ to service their growing New Build client list plus aviation noise contracts.
More than £1m has been invested in new machinery and technology to create a manufacturing facility capable of delivering on Newframe’s goal to raise the bar in terms of quality and service in the local market, as well as for customers across the south of England.
To assist in the set up of this exciting new venture, Rapierstar was invited to provide all the specialist advice needed to develop a fastener specification that will optimise both manufacturing efficiency and safety, as well as long term finished product performance and quality. It means that everyone in the Newframe factory benefits from clear guidance on which fasteners to use for the many different applications across all window types.
Rapierstar produced a series of standard operating procedure sheets to help train the new staff to select the correct fasteners for each of the cells within the factory. These pictorial sheets show which screws work best with the Eurocell profiles and the hardware supplied by Carl F Groupco.
As a long term supply chain partner of Carl F Groupco and Eurocell, Rapierstar was ideally positioned to provide this technical support. Ultimately, the collaboration will help to ensure that Newframe can take advantage of the market opportunity they have identified for a commercially ethical window factory in the heart of the south, with family at its core and British-made products.
Production Director at Newframe, Mark White, said: “We’re really excited to have our new factory up and running and really value the support of all our supply chain partners, including Rapierstar. The support from Carl F Groupco in particular has been amazing and hugely important for us to have them as a one stop shop for all our hardware requirements.
“Being able to manufacture our own windows and doors allows us to offer shorter lead times, reduce the distance products travel from factory to fitting, and give us better control of customer orders and contracts. It also means we have been able to develop a window and door specification and product portfolio that we believe is the best in our market, with the highest quality in everything right down to the tiniest component.”
Carl F Groupco’s Andrew Price, area sales manager, added: “The Newframe window and door range benefits from some excellent hardware products from brands including Yale window and door hardware and Siegenia tilt and turn gearing which combine with the advanced design of Eurocell profile systems. But to enable the full benefits of these market-leading products to be realised, everyone involved in this new factory project wanted to ensure that the fastener specification was right from the outset, hence why advice from Rapierstar’s technical consultant Paul Balfe was so important.”
The creation of the Newframe factory has already created 15 new jobs, with the factory employing 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. It is providing windows and doors for high profile clients including Heathrow Airport and Network Rail plus many National housebuilders, as well as local installers and building trades.
Paul Balfe, Technical Consultant at Rapierstar said: “We were delighted to be invited to provide technical assistance and collaborate with our colleagues at Carl F Groupco and Eurocell to achieve the right suite of fasteners for Newframe. Through our development of a Recommended Fixings Manual (RFM) for Eurocell systems, we already had a detailed technical reference point for fastener types and sizes, but that was just the starting point – we also helped the Newframe team to familiarise themselves with the products and ensure that the correct screws are used in the assembly process.”
Rapierstar works extensively with fabricators, systems companies and hardware manufacturers across the UK and Ireland to ensure fastener usage is optimised in window and door manufacturing. One of the ways it helps to do this is through a free Fastener Health Check – this is a full factory audit that reviews which fasteners are being used and why before providing a series of recommendations on where improvements can be made, often reducing stockholding and saving money in the process.
To arrange a Fastener Health Check or access any technical assistance for window and door fasteners, contact Rapierstar here or call +44 (0)1260 223311.
