The four pillars of business
Ten years ago, Edgetech was acquired by NYSE-listed Quanex, which is introducing a new four-pillar strategy, as Edgetech’s managing director Chris Alderson explains.
One of the best things about being part of Quanex is that it constantly challenges us to do better.
Back when it first bought the business, Edgetech was already a world-renowned spacer manufacturer with a decades-long legacy of excellence and innovation.
But Quanex saw we had the potential to be even bigger and better, and over the last ten years, with its support and encouragement, we’ve been able to break new boundaries, and cement our reputation as a world-leader in our field.
Now, as we enter our tenth year as part of Quanex, we’re working to implement a new group-wide initiative, designed to continue that process of constant evolution that Edgetech has embraced since the beginning.
The ‘four pillars’ represent the four groups without whom we wouldn’t have a business. And who, if we want to excel, we must support, develop and serve to the very best of our ability.
The first, unsurprisingly, are our customers. Over the last five years, Edgetech’s own ‘Customers at the Centre’ initiative has seen us strive to make buying from us quicker and more convenient.
Now, with the implementation of the four pillars strategy, we’ll be taking that even further: immersing ourselves in the needs and priorities of UK IGU manufacturers, and doing our utmost to offer them the best, most innovative spacer products possible.
The second pillar is our employees. Staff wellbeing is another area where Edgetech already has a very strong track record. In the last five years, we’ve invested significantly in improving health and safety at our Coventry factory, for example. But in coming years, we’ll be seeking to emphasise making Edgetech a safe, fulfilling place to work – to an even greater extent.
We of course have a moral responsibility to protect our valued employees. We also want to attract and retain skilled and talented members of the team.
But just as importantly, we want to offer customers the most reliable, consistent service, all of which requires motivated and experienced staff members operating in a working environment free from injury-related downtime.
The third pillar is the community. Over the last 15 years, we’ve received incredible support from the people of Coventry and the surrounding area, and without it, we wouldn’t be the business we are today.
Going forward, we’ll be striving to do even more to give back to the community around us.
In 2020, as fantastic charities struggled through the pandemic, we raised money for some excellent organisations, as well as over £800 for Coventry foodbank with Quanex’s help. Quanex has raised over £15,000 for similar causes worldwide.
In 2021 and beyond, we’ll be aiming to take this further, as well as honour our commitment to the community in a much broader sense, by continuing to reduce our carbon footprint as a business, and leading calls for greater sustainability in fenestration and construction.
And finally, our fourth pillar is our shareholders. Quanex is a global business listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and it’s those shareholders that make everything we do possible.
It’s arguably this fourth pillar that ties all the others together.
The best way we can serve our shareholders is by excelling in the areas covered by the other three: by delighting our customers with innovative products backed by responsive, ever-improving service; by building a workforce of skilled, fulfilled employees doing work to the highest standards; and by being a successful, sustainable force for good in the community.
I’m immensely proud of everything Edgetech has achieved in recent years, and now, the four pillars give us a fantastic roadmap for achieving even bigger and better things in the decade ahead.
