Access to innovations

MD Joe Hague explains how Promac Group is bringing low cost, high return innovations to the UK window industry.

We have equipment on our stand at this year’s FIT Show that can transform your business for very little capital investment. This includes delivering improved product quality, improved performance, and increased yield, which directly transfers to increased profit.

Promac Group has a strong tradition of innovation at industry shows. The Graf SL4FF seamless quad welder, was, for example unveiled at the FIT Show in 2014. It’s since been instrumental in defining and driving innovation within the industry ever since, giving rise to a new generation of premium PVCU products.

Where things are different this year, is the accessibility of those innovations to anyone in the industry and the scale of the opportunity that they deliver.

This draws on the innovation that’s coming out of the new strategic alliance that was formed between FOM and Graf Synergy – the FOM-GS Group – at the end of last year, including the launch of the latest evolution of the SL4FF seamless corner welder: the SL4FF H-welder.

It builds on now established seamless welding technology to include seamless transom and mullion welding. This represents a major innovation in its offer and is a direct response to demand generated here in the UK.

It’s the SL1FF seamless cill welder, however, that we’re most excited about because of its reach and application across the industry.

The SL1FF is an evolution in the SL4FF technology series, delivering the same seamless finish on cill welding. This is a clear benefit to anyone fabricating a seamless window but the by-product is an automated variable angle seamless cill welder, which presents a major opportunity for every PVCU manufacturer in the market.

It fits everybody – you don’t need to have SL4FF technology to benefit from it, you just need to manufacture cills. The SL1FF gives you a better finish; it’s simple, efficient and delivers an incredible joint strength but is also very, very affordable.

The same design philosophy underpins ProfTeq’s new platform. Profteq, owned by FOM, is less well known here in the UK than Graf but no less innovative in its approach. We’ll be showcasing its new solution for timber-look windows for the first time in the UK at this year’s show.

Using just two platforms it delivers 90º/45º internal timber look or external timber look windows and exceptional finish, for a very low capital investment cost. If any PVCU manufacturer wants to start manufacturing high end products, this package of just two machines for any profile – a cutting module and welder, with no milling requirement – will allow them to do so.

It works across any profile platform, without the need to change tooling, while it can also be used for standard welds, providing increased production capacity if needed. All round, it’s an incredibly high quality solution.

The FOM LMT 65 working centre is designed specifically for aluminium window and door manufacture. It machines and cuts to exacting tolerances using a single operator.

Any volume PVCU manufacturer will use a cutting and machining centre and in moving to aluminium will ideally want to mirror or simulate that same production process. LMT 65 operates on the same principles of any PVCU line, preparing or machining profile, and cutting it.

In common with leading-edge PVCU machinery it de-skills and automates processes, making the entry to aluminium simpler, while delivering the flexibility to take on a wide variety of projects

Promac D10