A giant is born

Top news this week comes from the manufacturing sector where the once-troubled Elumatec is joining the Emmegi stable to form a global giant with sales around 225million Euro and the promise of ‘increasingly innovative technologies’.
Read Story

Also, this week, FENSA is forecasting a boost to the use of WERs as against U-Values following the launch of its free, own branded WER labelling scheme. The organisation is quick to stress that all the factual and techie stuff will remain the same as the BFRC system except for the branding, plus a very interesting promise of consumer marketing later in the year.
Read Story

And, purely by coincidence, we hear separately from Brisant that, among other statistics, an overwhelming majority of homeowners cite security as their top priority in choosing a door (Read Story) and from ERA that we will soon be able to unlock our doors using our smartphones. Read Story.
Very different announcements of course but both highlight the ever-growing emphasis that this industry places on security, which can only be a good thing for all concerned.

Even more thought-provoking however, amid all the hoo-ha about construction industry SMEs being neglected by the major finance houses, David Thornton of G15 top installer The Window Company tells us in his letter that he had to go to Sweden to find a bank that took his company seriously!
Read Letter.

We hope you do not have to go as far to find something to interest you in this week’s issue.

Chris Church Editor

Please send all your news stories to news@the-glazine.com

This Week's News

Emmegi group
acquires Elumatec

Cifin Holding, the Italian owner of the Emmegi Group this week announced the acquisition of Elumatec AG to create a new industry giant with combined sales around 225million Euro.

Cifin President Valter Caiumi said of the move: “This purchase lays the foundations for the most important group in our sector, uniting creativity, operational expertise, technology and international experience.

“The new Group will offer an extraordinary combination of strengths, which will provide our customers with remarkably high added value. We will have the opportunity to expand beyond our own main market, principally connected with the building industry, and to propose increasingly innovative technologies to manufacturing industry in the widest sense.

Read the Rest Here...

FENSA launches own brand WER label

FENSA has unveiled its own free window and door energy efficiency ratings system backed by the promise of heavy consumer marketing support later this year.

The organisation says the new window and door energy efficiency ratings are operated and independently verified by BFRC and that  the scheme is exactly the same as the existing BFRC scheme in terms of ratings, ratings bands and windows and doors covered. The only difference is the new labels are branded FENSA.

Read the Rest Here...

UK-US partnership
leads to smartphone
door lock launch

ERA Home Security is claiming a UK first with a keyless domestic lock that is operated in conjunction with a smartphone.

The ERA TouchKey is the first product from the company’s partnership with US-based Unikey, which was formally announced at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

Read the Rest Here...

More burglars choose door – survey

Nearly three quarters of burglaries are now carried out via the door, nearly half of those are now done by forcing the lock and nearly nine out of ten forced lock burglaries are done by snapping. Those are among the findings of the latest survey by Brisant Secure.

The Domestic Door Security Report, compiled using England and Wales Crime Survey statistics and a poll of homeowners and locksmiths, also reveals that over 85% of homeowners put security at the top of their list of priorities in choosing a door – more than six times the number who put appearance first.

Read the Rest Here...

MBO at Mann McGowan

Mann McGowan, the Aldershot-based supplier of fire resistant door and window components, has announced a management buy-out headed by Managing Director Jamie Scott, and Directors Russell Smith and original co-founder Rob Mann.
 
Jamie Scott joined the company in 2002 and has been in control of its production facilities for the past three years.
Russell Smith has more than 30 years’ experience with the company, working in most areas of the business, including production, development, sales and technical, as well as overseeing on-site installations.


Read the Rest Here...

We Have Email

From:
David Thornton,
Managing Director,
The Window Company (Contracts)

Is the window and door sector being unfairly treated?

Late last year, The Window Company (Contracts) changed banks from one of the ‘big four’ to the much less well known Swedish firm Handelsbanken.

Whilst I had never been unhappy with the service we had received from our previous provider, I was driven to change by the fact that they told me in no uncertain terms that the construction sector was on their list of ‘poor risks’ and that they could not support an application from us for funding.

Read More