New systems, new sales

Brian McDonald, sales director for Profine UK, talks about the sales opportunities in the company’s newly expanded product portfolio, which includes the Kömmerling brand and the recently acquired Legend, Evolve and Warmcore.

When we arrived back to work after the last Christmas break, few could have predicted a global pandemic, nor that we would be acquiring essential assets off the former Aperture Group business.

It’s been no secret that Profine Group had been looking at both acquisition in the UK and also the opportunities to build a brand-new facility. This is in light of the fact that the Kömmerling business had grown significantly in recent years and with it building strong market share.

For the first time ever we have a UK-based manufacturing facility that, in its heyday, extruded more linear metres of profile than any other business of its kind in the UK. So not only do we have a number of extrusion lines, but we have silos that are already taking stock of our Greenline compound.

Given the strong demand at present, we have already started to foil Kömmerling profiles in our lamination facility and, in the coming months, we will be bringing over the entire tooling for our Kömmerling 70 system. We also have access to the tooling and engineering departments at both our Berlin and Pirmasens sites in Germany, which will include the provision of additional downstream and extrusion lines as and when we need it.

From a sales perspective, things have changed considerably in that we are now selling several different systems, brands and also finished goods. Existing Kömmerling customers are buoyed with the new opportunities that these bring, and the inherited customers now feel that they have the perfect partner for the long term; it’s no surprise that the Profine mottos of ‘People Passion Profiles’ is emblazoned in our new reception area.

We’ve also bought on Neil Coutts as area manager north, who brings with him nine years at the former Aperture and Synseal business. Jason Scrivens has now moved on to the role of national fabricated sales manager and will be responsible for the sales of the Evolve vertical sliding sash window and Warmcore, given his previous experience with these types of products and sales channels.

From a PVCU systems perspective, we have the premium Kömmerling brand, while Legend is positioned as a cost-effective system at the other end of the market. The latter will benefit from the new product development strategy that we have put in place for the next five years at Profine UK.

The Evolve vertical sliding sash will also benefit from investment and product development, and this has been an important addition to the range in the UK. There’s also considerable interest from our Kömmerling USA business, as they look to introduce new products and systems; so these new assets and brands that we have acquired have an international perspective too.

One of the more interesting products we have acquired is Warmcore, which technically is excellent and supports the hybrid AluClip Pro and AluClip Zero products in Kömmerling System 76, which are widely used throughout Europe. There are development plans in place for this new hybrid platform, which already boasts feature-rich bifolding and patio doors, along with flush, casement and tilt and turn windows.

Given the number of new brands and systems, we have extended our footprint for the FIT Show 2021 to 166.50m² when we will formally present the new face and product strategy of the business. Following from our award-winning campaign around the show in 2019, we will again be looking to inspire the industry through pre-show activity including PR, advertising, social media and through our social media channels.

It’s already been a defining year for us in more ways than one, as we look to build on the firm foundations that we now have with the new facility and products. With a detailed product development strategy now in place, and the considerable resources of Profine Group, there’s never been a better time to be our business partner, despite the current uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic.