Smooth talking
We catch up with Apeer’s Asa McGillian, who says that his firm’s Silka door range has blurred the lines between aluminium and GRP composite doors.
According to Apeer, the company’s Silka door range has been an unqualified success. The brand now has its own dedicated 20,000ft2 production area on the company’s 7.5-acre Ballymena site, with the facility capable of producing more than 500 units per month.
Apeer makes its own slabs, CNC machines are programmed for the current 16 Silka variants and, perhaps the most important part of the process, a new paint line remains distinct from the production of any other product. And as we will hear, the paint process is vital to the success of Silka.
So, what is Silka all about? Just another composite door, surely? Well, that is how it began life, as Apeer MD Asa McGillian explains: “We set out to develop a composite door that emulated aluminium, because at the time – and still now to a lesser extent – aluminium-skinned doors were largely available only as high-end products.
“We wanted a composite door that offered the usual features and benefits of our regular products: tough, GRP skins; a high density, energy efficient PU foam core that resists moisture and distortion; itself strengthened with steel to further improve cut-through – but with a smooth skin and finish that complemented aluminium. Silka not only looks like aluminium, it also has all the benefits of a double rebate, triple glazed 70mm composite door, which is inherently more robust than most aluminium skinned doors. And of course, it’s very competitively priced compared to much of the offer from aluminium door makers.”
That objective has been achieved. But what was not anticipated was just how successful Silka would become: “Silka outsells every other door we make, and not just to ‘aluminium’ customers,” says Asa. “But whilst development of the processes that provide the unique finish of the doors took considerable investment in time and money, the idea to produce such a product came to me during a sleepless moment at 3am one morning!”
The unique Silka finish stretched Apeer’s R&D team, including the moulds, development of the GRP skins and especially the paint processes”, explains Asa: “It was a complex process to get the finish just right. We introduced a new, unique paint finish that means that Silka doors are air dried, rather than processed in our usual infrared lines. Which led to the investment in a brand-new paint shop. And in due course, a new dedicated factory for Silka.”
And of course, all backed by a ‘rock’ style video that springs out on unsuspecting YouTubers and Facebook devotees: “Silka is a modern door in terms of its finish and also of course, the door furniture and hardware, so it suited the style of video, with great imagery and electronic rock-style music,” explains Asa.
“But the customer base is surprisingly diverse, again something that was a little unexpected, with a wide diversity of respondents to the video as well as other customers, in every type of home. Around one third of all Silka customers are buying to complement an aluminium window installation, the remainder simply because they like it. That is very satisfying.”
The hint is that there is more to come under the Silka sub-brand, but Asa would not be drawn, other than to say: “Achieving the finish that we created taught us a great deal and we have ideas about how we might extend this to other products.
“We think there is a great deal we can do with Silka but now of course, the next steps will take more than a Eureka moment in the middle of the night!”
