Dear Tony
2nd October 2012

It’s never good to hear of businesses failing, particularly if the company was one of the best-known names in the market, as Door Panels plc was years ago. Its demise is sad – we all feel for the employees who’ve lost their jobs - but not a surprise.
 
Like Kodak, which once owned 90% of the world’s camera film market, perhaps Door Panels could have moved on earlier. No-one imagined that Kodak wouldn’t be at the forefront of digital photography – especially as Kodak invented it! But Kodak was so wedded to film, and so slow to switch that it went from icon to dinosaur and never recovered, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.
 
Door Panels probably stuck with panel doors because that’s what it knew best and what it felt comfortable with. But the writing was on the wall five years ago: compositedoors look better, are more energy efficient, more secure and offer more choice.  Homeowners prefer them – and after decades of costly call-outs, so do most installers!
 
No doubt Door Panels did as much as it could to save the business, but you can’t turn back the tide. Panel doors are part of the industry’s past, and there’s no future in yesterday’s technology.

Kind regards

Nick Dutton
Managing Director