20 YEARS OF BENDS AND ARCHES
1st July 2014

Universal Arches have just celebrated their 20th anniversary in business at the FIT Show and have experienced a large number of changes in their sector and across the glazing industry as a whole.

Twenty years ago the bending sector was certainly seen as a more cottage industry with lead times of 2-3 weeks relatively common from a number of players, most of which have now ceased to trade. Universal Arches in recent years and under the guidance of managing director, Leon Day, has done much to bring the bending sector into the mainstream in the industry.

Deliveries are now down to around 7 days from order confirmation, inline with other more standardised products in the industry and they have now raised the benchmark further in the last 12 months with the offer of a colour facility and fully glazed frames all within the same time period. For many companies, the fully glazed option eliminates duplicate order processing and the guarantee of the correct unit size and delivered direct to site at the same time.

While it may be considered that the use of carriers was an unfortunate necessity two decades ago, Universal now serve the core of the UK with their own delivery fleet, with the remainder serviced by a local and specialist haulier. Product specification has also changed with all products now fully welded unlike the poorly mechanically jointed products of yesteryear and indeed 20 years ago externally glazed windows enjoyed a significant market share.

Exhibitions have also changed, with Universal Arches exhibiting at Glassex back in the heyday of double decker stands and visitor numbers well in excess of 10,000. The last few Glassex shows were hugely disappointing for all. But Universal Arches’ love affair with exhibitions have continued through the launch of the FIT Show and the company was one of the first to sign up for the 2013 inaugural show and has been first out of the blocks ever since for each new show.

In recent years, the experience built up over 20 years has expanded beyond window and door profiles into other building plastics. There have been ventures with Rehau for curved cable management systems, Thomas Sanderson for arched shutters and more recently with Eclectic Systems for their Residence 9 system and Solidor for an arched composite door solution.

Leon Day, managing director of Universal Arches comments: ‘It’s been an incredible journey for the business and the long-term loyal staff over the last 20 years. I also believe that some of the most exciting years are ahead of us as we look to broaden our expertise in the shaping of building plastics through our ISO Accredited business.’

For further information Universal Arches log on to www.universalarches.com, call the sales office on 01744 612844 or follow them on Twitter @universalarches.