Tests and questions
Thermoseal Group’s sales director Mark Hickox argues that we shouldn’t be seduced by big brands, and that each component should be thoroughly tested and approved.
Dare I say that we have occasionally learned the hard way when it comes to building the perfect IGU?
Before we manufactured most of our products, we were a distributer of other companies’ products. For the most part, this put us in a very commanding position because our success and reputation was largely dependent on the quality of the products we were distributing and the manufacturers’ reputations. And we could choose those products based on quality.
Also, we knew the market, we knew the standards and regulations, and we knew how those components were being used in the manufacture of insulated glass units.
But ever so often we would slip up, and we would distribute a product that was not up to scratch, and which didn’t perform as we were led to believe.
Naturally, we held our hands up and we remedied the situation. But on the very few occasions this happened, the problem could be tracked back to a single moment: that we believed what we were being told by Global plc.
In our naivete, we assumed that Global plc couldn’t manufacture and sell something that was sub par because they were an international company with brand strength. We were wrong. Today, we manufacture and test all our products, and where we do distribute products for other companies, we put them through the rigorous testing procedure that all out products are subject to.
Unfortunately, where we have learned our lesson, other companies haven’t. IGU manufacturers will still be seduced by big brands today, believing that they couldn’t possibly sell something that wasn’t fit for purpose. But they can and they do.
The promise of the same component at a cheaper price is enough for some companies to not question the compatibility of that product with their needs. Cheaper, yes. Long lasting, no.
To muddy the waters, those component parts – warm edge, sealant, desiccant – will have been tested to a certain set of criteria, but it isn’t always clear if those criteria will allow the components in a finished product, and installed in a window in the UK, meet the real-world challenges thrown at it.
If/when that product does fail, and the IGU manufacturer goes back to Global plc for compensation, the contact they completed the deal with would have moved on. Their replacement will almost certainly shrug their shoulders and point to the evidence, arguing that nothing incorrect had been claimed. And they would be right.
Even faced with these repeated scenarios today, I’ve had IGU manufacturers tell me that they believe Global plc couldn’t possible sell inadequate components, and refuse to test them because Global plc supplied their own test results. And can I match them on price?
A programme of constant product testing and development has resulted in our components being among the best performing components on the market – thermally, gas retention, etc.
This means that if a customer were to replace one of our components for a lesser performing component from another supplier, they would be obliged to retest the final product to EN1279, parts 2 and 3. A higher or equal performing product can be substituted using a simple part 6 annual test.
Ultimately, it is up to the IGU manufacturer to ask the right questions of their supplier. Yes, we will test our customers’ products, which use our components, in our extensive testing facility in Wigan. And our customers should be confident that we batch test all our products so that what they receive is up to the standard that we promise.
But, more often than not, window companies ask too few questions about the construction of their IGUs, simply demanding the lowest price. I say to unit manufacturers that you can keep reducing the cost of building an IGU, but unless you have properly analysed the associated data, it could end up costing you dearly in the future.
