Taking the lead

Dekko Window Systems’ sales director Kurt Greatrex explains how strategic planning can help overcome supply issues.

The past 18 months have seen pressure on the glazing industry’s supply chain like never before.

A global pandemic and subsequent lockdowns prevented people from enjoying holidays abroad and spending money as they usually would. Therefore, many consumers managed to save money.

In fact, according to estimates from the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, UK consumers have saved £125 billion since March last year.

With so much to spare, according to a survey by Santander, over 40% of consumers invested in something that wasn’t restricted: home improvements.

What resulted was a welcome industry boom, but what soon followed was a challenge we still face today: pressure on the supply chain and subsequent extended lead times.

This has been exacerbated by further disruptions such as container shortages, the recent blockage of the Suez Canal, and significant delays at UK ports following Brexit.

As a result, almost every major systems company, hardware and glass manufacturer is still struggling to meet supply, and so are fabricators and installers.

Lead times today can typically be between 12 and 16 weeks, while the industry boom driving the increase in demand is showing no signs of slowing down.

But thanks to a combination of investment in key areas, a recent factory expansion, strong partnerships with suppliers and a lot of hard work behind the scenes, Dekko Window Systems has managed to avert the problem and keep lead times of many of their products to no more than four weeks.

Like all fabricators, we’ve found the past 18 months extremely challenging, but with strategic planning, we’ve managed to keep supply chain disruptions to a minimum and continue to deliver the same excellent service our customers are used to.

Over the past year and a half, we’ve worked to increase our stockholding, invest in people and machinery, expand our factory and increase shifts, and work closely with our suppliers to get the raw materials we need.

The new 25,000ft2factory has allowed us to really ramp up manufacturing capacity of Räum, offering the range’s bifolds and patio doors in black, white, grey and grey on white colour options with a lead time of just three weeks. We are also offering products in our Residence Collection range with a four-week lead time.

The boom in demand shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, and at Dekko, we will continue to plan ahead and invest in the business in order to deliver the best service possible to our valued customers.

www.dekkowindows.com

Dekko Window Systems
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