QFort launches in UK
If you’ve never heard of the name QFort, that would be understandable. Up until now, the manufacturer has focused on European markets, specifically Romania – where it is based – as well as France and Italy.
In its home country, QFort is – quite literally – a household name. According to the managing director of QFort UK, Paul Cherciu, whose father set up the business in the late 1990s, when prospective homeowners are searching on Romania’s equivalent of RightMove, QFort windows are regarded as a feature highlight.
The scale of the business in Europe is huge, turning over around 145million Euros a year at the last count. The factory in Romania is equally vast at roughly 538,000ft2 – 226,00ft2 of which is dedicated to aluminium – and is highly automated, with vertically integrated IGU production, manufacturing and Qualicoat certified paint lines.
All this enables it to produce around a staggering 1,500 windows and doors per day.
QFort’s new UK showroom, the launch of which I attended last week, is also very impressive. Based in Egham, South West of London, it represents a £500,000 investment and is a statement of intent from a company that is now focused on expanding into the UK.
Setting up a new brand in the UK, a market that is so different to the rest of Europe, is of course no small undertaking, but QFort has used the last year or so to build a customer base – and importantly, to fine tune its product offer and lead times.
It will be focusing primarily on the aluminium sector, and has established a permanent UK based team, as well as a dedicated distribution hub. You can read more about the launch of the showroom here and a full feature article in the July issue of Glass Times magazine.
In addition to attending the QFort showroom last week, I also visited the new Press Glass UK factory in Port Talbot, Wales.
‘State of the art’ is a phrase that tends to be overused these days, but the Press Glass factory really is a marvel of modern glass production. Representing a spend of £65million and spanning 250,000ft2, it is headed up by managing director, Khaled Elleboudy, who has used his extensive knowledge of glass production to fine tune the facility into one of the most efficient and high tech factories in the UK.
You can read more about this, in the June issue of Glass Times.