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Image Above; Dan Powell (left) and Adrian Gale (right)

Following increased demand for VBH’s growing greenteQ portfolio, the company has appointed two new Regional Sales Managers (RSM) for its UK operation. Adrian Gale will be responsible for the region comprising the Midlands, Northern England and Wales, while Dan Powell will be responsible for Southern England and Wales.

Adrian Gale has been in the industry for 28 years, having worked for a number of hardware manufacturers and distributors. He joined VBH in 2016 as Timber & Composite Door Product Manager – a role he will continue alongside his RSM duties.

He comments: “I have been in the industry for a good few years now and have seen huge changes over the years – mostly for the better, though I do miss some of the characters from back in the day! We have a very skilled team here at VBH, covering all aspects of the business and most importantly we are all striving towards the same goal – success!”

Dan Powell, currently Maintenance & Locksmiths Product Manager, will take on the additional role of RSM for the southern part of the country. Dan has worked for VBH since 2013, when he moved from a hardware distributor. He’s looking forward to the new challenge, saying: “Since I joined VBH the greenteQ range has grown from an unknown industry name to one of the most trusted and reliable brands supplying the PVC-u, aluminium and timber markets. VBH has one of the most experienced sales teams in the UK and in addition to greenteQ we distribute a range of well-known brand suppliers such as Maco, Roto, Siegenia and Yale. With this back-up, taking up the post of Regional Sales Manager is an exciting opportunity. I’m looking forward to meeting new customers and being part of the greenteQ revolution!”

VBH’s greenteQ range is a growing suite of window and door furniture, colour-matched for a seamless and integrated look. For more information, call 01634 263300 or visit www.vbhgb.com.

Up to 70% cost savings can be achieved when using ISO-BLOCO ONE high performance foam tape from ISO CHEMIE to install and seal windows.

The self-adhesive tape enables installers to quickly and effectively seal windows from inside the building during the construction phase. This can avoid the requirement to use time consuming and expensive external access systems, which together with associated health and safety issues, can contribute significantly to a project’s overall costs.

Moreover, because the foam sealant can be applied in the wet and rain, the installation of windows can be undertaken regardless of external weather conditions, avoiding further time consuming and costly delays.

This can add up to potential savings of hundreds of pounds per day, ISO CHEMIE estimates.

BLOCO ONE offers a single product ‘fit and forget’ solution for fast and effective sealing based around the European RAL principles of three level sealing – the inside seal area is more airtight than the external one, allowing any trapped moisture inside the joint, or within the wall, to escape outwards rather than into the building.

The external seal area provides weather resistance and breathability, while the intermediate seal area provides extra thermal and acoustic properties and the internal one air tightness and humidity regulation.

ISO BLOCO ONE provides a longer lasting seal for window and door joints up to 30mm wide and installation compliance to BS8313-4:2016. It is impermeable to driving rain at a minimum of 1,000 Pa – 66% higher reliability than most conventional joint sealing tapes.

The internal air tight seal has been tested at 1000 Pa pressure difference (20 times more than UK Building Regulations) and was found to give less than 0.1 m³ of air loss. At the same time, depending on tape width, it will also supply a U-Value of 0.55 and reduce sound by 63 dB, straight from the box.

Once installed, the tape ensures structures are better protected from elemental factors like wind, dust and moisture ingress by accommodating the changes in structural movement caused by environmental, cyclical and settlement factors. Product complies with energy saving regulations (EnEV) on windows and doors as well as the RAL quality assurance association and can accommodate extremes of temperature changes, from -30°C to + 80°C.

Product comes with a 10-year guarantee and is available from stock on next day delivery service. More at www.iso-chemie.co.uk

Rocal has recently revamped their Rocal Extrusions website (www.rocalextrusions.co.uk), investing in a range of new features for enhanced content management. This included the creation of a bespoke content management system (CMS), designed to enable Rocal to change the copy, images and pages on their site quickly and easily.

Not only does this make things easier for Rocal themselves, but it also allows them to promote their services in a more coherent and accurate way for their customers. This means that they will be able to find exactly what they need quickly and easily. Whether you’re looking for plastic extrusions services, or extrusion finishes, colours, wrapping, custom tooling or general advice, it’s all present online.

The site rebuild has also allowed Rocal to integrate a built-in media library for heightened resource management. They are now able to upload technical documents for their customers to download, covering help and advice on both flexible extrusions and rigid extrusions. If you’re looking for advice on which material to use, this is a fantastic starting place.

This addition works alongside their new built-in news section, which enables Rocal to keep their customers up to date with their latest services, company news and the unique aspects of the Rocal Extrusions approach. This is perfect for ensuring that customers are aware of Rocal’s latest high-quality offerings, with information on how to get in touch included in the articles that are posted.

In addition to this Rocal has also changed their logo to bring their brand name to the forefront, changing from ‘Extrusions by Rocal’ to ‘Rocal Extrusions’. As a company that has been evolving and diversifying since its inception in 1993, this website update and logo change stand well in line with their commitment to quality across the board.

Need professional, high-quality plastic extrusions services? Get in touch by calling 01652 659259 or by visiting www.rocalextrusions.co.uk.

Picture above:  Abacus is seeing significant benefits from using the Business Micros EvoNET business management system

Most fabricators transition gradually to Business Micros’ EvoNET business management software after several years using the Evolution manufacturing and order processing package.

Not so trade and commercial fabricator Abacus Windows in Chelmsford who went straight from the original Business Micros Winstar software to Evolution and EvoNET in one fell swoop last year and have never looked back.

Abacus, which fabricates in Halo PVC-U, wanted to set up a machine link to their new Haffner Murat SBA-4 saw centre, so approached Business Micros to complete that link using Evolution.

When Sales Manager Chris Bailey visited them, he realised that the company’s ambitious expansion plans meant they could actually benefit from installing EvoNET alongside Evolution, and the team enthusiastically embraced his proposals.

Business Micros’ experienced technician Kevan Howarth completed the installation for Abacus and helped to train the team on both software systems. One year on, they are already seeing huge benefits.

General Manager Cliff Evans said: “We were spending up to a day on production planning previously and now we can complete that in just an hour. We were also spending several hours on quotes which we can now generate in minutes. That’s making us much more efficient and guaranteeing that we’ll see payback on this investment in record time.”

At Abacus, EvoNET is tracking and monitoring every aspect of production from order intake right through to despatch. There are scan stations throughout the company’s factory enabling them to analyse output per man and identify any areas for improvement. This is giving them complete traceability of every product of course, with the added benefit that it will simplify their upcoming Kitemark audit.

Since the installation, Business Micros has tailored the software to suit how Abacus is using it. They have, for instance, created a colour coded display interface for the order inputting team which makes it easy for them to switch between the different products and systems being fabricated.

They have also added the popular despatch module within EvoNET which ensures that Abacus can guarantee that orders are delivered to customers error free and complete with all ancillaries. Cliff Evans added: “I’m delighted that customers are seeing the benefits of our investment almost as much as we are. As well as giving them the reassurance that every order is complete, we are also achieving incremental improvements in our quality, and responding more quickly to enquiries and quotes.”

The senior management team at Abacus are also benefiting from the big USP of EvoNET which is that it gives them a unique dashboard overview of how the whole business is performing. They can generate reports instantly on everything from margins to remakes and can use that information to inform their business planning moving forward.

Cliff Evans concluded: “If we are to achieve our ambitious plans, then we know we have to match our bigger competitors in terms of quality, efficiency and speed of response. Evolution and EvoNET are helping us to achieve that as well as giving us an invaluable new insight into our ongoing performance.”

More details are at: www.businessmicros.co.uk and www.abacuswindows.co.uk

Epwin has consolidated its glass production facilities onto one site – Epwin Glass.

Katrina Earl, Epwin Glass national sales manager, commented: “We are one of the leading manufacturers of insulated and energy-rated glass units for the window industry and we supply the trade, light commercial, new build and social housing sectors. As part of the consolidation and the creation of Epwin Glass we have invested in our production facilities to ensure they deliver the latest technological developments to our customers.”

All products are manufactured in the UK in the production facilities in Northampton and comply with relevant legislation and window energy ratings (WERs) for complete peace of mind. Katrina said: “We work closely with our suppliers to ensure we always use the best quality materials to meet our customers’ specific requirements and consistently deliver the products they need.”

The post Epwin Glass invests for the future appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

The Construction and Property Special Interest Group of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations has created a survey to understand women’s experiences and perspectives on working in PR and marketing in the sector.

The group has commissioned the research and want to explore whether women in construction and property PR and marketing have similar or different experiences to women in the wider construction and property industry.

The survey will report on how these experiences compare with the PR industry as a whole. And it will look at whether there are additional challenges for women in construction and property PR, given the complex challenges the sector already has regarding gender diversity.

Sarah Ball, secretary of CAPSIG, director for Balls2 Marketing and organiser of PIGS, said: “We want to hear from women in all types of PR and marketing roles in any sector of the property, construction and the built environment industry.”

To complete the survey, go to www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PLSJ8L3

The post Calling all women appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).

Wolverhampton-based ERA is supporting the local Midlands Air Ambulance Charity throughout 2018, as its chosen charity.

Money will be raised throughout the year via a programme of activities, run by ERA’s workforce, kicking off with a Valentine’s raffle, with many more exciting events, during the year to follow.

Darren Waters, CEO at ERA said: ”We are proud to support the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity which was voted for by our employees and look forward to helping them to continue to provide this essential, life-saving service. They receive no National Lottery or government funding so all the work they do is funded by corporate and public donations, so anything we can do to help means they can continue to save lives.”

Jon Cottrell, corporate partnerships coordinator for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, added: ”With each air ambulance mission costing £2,500 on average, and requiring a pilot, two paramedics or flight doctors as well as full life support medical equipment, we are extremely grateful for the generous support that we receive from organisations such as ERA, which is essential to our lifesaving operation.”

The post Air ambulance lifts off… appeared first on Glass & Glazing Products Magazine (GGP).