As Apeer marks its 30^th anniversary this year, we talk to Apeer’s managing director, Asa McGillian, who recalls how the Ballymena based company has grown from PVC panel supply to a leader in composite door design.

Glass Times (GT): Asa, you’ve worked for Apeer since its inception 30 years ago – how did it all start for you?

Asa McGillian (AM): I left school at 16 and I had high hopes of taking some time out and playing golf – but my dad soon put a stop to that and put me to work in the factory!

He ran a business called Ace Fixings, supplying construction consumables and PVC panel doors, and while the PVC doors market was very strong at the time, we always struggled with supply.

So, in the summer of 1995, we made the decision to start manufacturing them in-house, and that was the start of Apeer.

GT: How has the industry changed since the mid-90s?

AM: There was a lot of demand for PVC door panels at the time, and that was fuelling growth for the business. We won a couple of contracts for Fife council, which we still have in place today, and we soon went from making 100 panels a week, to 400 or more.

I was soon promoted to sales, and that was very different back then. I had a Peugeot 306, with no air con, and no mobile phone at first, so all the calls were done either in the office or at a hotel.  All I had was my samples, a long list of window company contacts in the Golden Pages – the equivalent of the Yellow Pages in England – and I made my way up and down the east coast of Ireland.

I sold all the window industry consumables, sealants, and packers along with the PVC doors –even Edgetech spacer bar!

It was a great way to cut my teeth in the industry, but you needed thick skin – alligator hide as my dad used to say – to take the rejections and keep moving forward.

GT: At what point did Apeer start making composites?

AM: We had seen the growth of composite doors, and in 2000 we made the decision to start our own composite door business. As we’d found with PVC panels, buying in slabs proved challenging because of supply issues, so once again we came to the conclusion that we should manufacture everything ourselves.

As a result, I moved on from my sales role, and back into the factory to head up the R&D of a new, high performance, foam filled 70mm door with a double rebate and triple glazing as standard, delivering U values as low as 0.9W/m2k.

It was a product that was way ahead of its time, and all we had to start with was a welder, a foam filling machine, a saw – and about 10,000ft2 of empty space!

It took around 2.5 years to finalise the design and complete the testing, including the development of a new 2mm fibreglass skin that would give the doors a unique, grained finish.

The final design was ready in 2003, but we waited to officially launch it at Glassex in 2004, the first 70mm composite door in the market.

GT: What was the response from that initial launch?

AM: It was, and still is, a higher value product so those that understood the advantages of a premium offer, ran with it and enjoyed the higher margins. Those that just wanted the cheapest door, were obviously harder to convince.

In 2008, we introduced a stable door, which was taken on by Everest and that was a major boost to the business, and we also launched curved and arched doors, plus full colour options and unlimited designs on glass.

It was a successful period and in 2010, I stepped up to the role of managing director, to focus on the next stage of growth for the business.

GT: What did that next phase of growth look like for Apeer?

AM: The plan was to continue to grow and have a customer in every country in UK and Ireland – and we are getting close to achieving that!

We also continued to innovate and respond to market trends. That included the introduction of the Lumi, ‘frameless’ fibrelass window brand in 2015, which won a G-Award for new product of the year, plus the launch of our smooth, contemporary Silka finish in 2021.

And to take advantage of the incredible rise in aluminium, we launched the Silka brand of aluminium windows – a full suite of solutions – in 2023.

GT: How has the Apeer factory changed since your early days in 1995?

AM: We are now a fully integrated manufacturer, with two toughening furnaces, nine CNCs, three fibreglass skin machines, three foam machines and two paint lines – the only thing we buy in is hardware and sheet glass.

That gives us control of supply, but also it also helps us to guarantee the performance of our doors. We invest considerable amounts of time and money in R&D and third-party testing, so that we can prove the U values we claim. Unfortunately, not all other manufactures do the same, and this is a real challenge for the industry currently.

GT: What is your outlook for the future?

AM: The market is undeniably tougher at the moment, and installers have to work harder for sales, but we have all the tools in place to help them gain a competitive advantage. The includes consumer focused marketing, lead generation and the development of initiatives such as our ApeerXclusive programme that brings a wealth of benefits to trade partners.

Above all, we are proud to offer what we believe is the most comprehensive range of composites on the market, with high performance 44mm, 70mm and 120mm options. It’s a phrase you frequently hear in the industry, but we now offer a true, ‘one stop shop’ to our customers.