Each customer has a unique set of demands, explains Aluplast’s director of sales and marketing, Ian Cocken.

With the coronavirus pandemic behind us, and the Future Homes Standard ahead of us, it is easy to see why the window and door market in the UK is in a period of flux – ongoing challenges require all of us in the supply chain to adapt our products and services accordingly.

What is also easy, is to view the needs of individual businesses within the industry as being the same. But that would be a big mistake. Yes, the forces may be the same – for example, increased customer demand for flush and colour, and legislative requirement for lower U-values and better security – but how they affect each business is very different.

At Aluplast, we win and keep customers for a number of reasons. On the one hand, we maintained a supply of flush and coloured products while other suppliers were struggling, we’ve introduced new products – such as the new flush door – and we’ve continued to invest in our infrastructure as the market has grown.

But we also work closely with our customers to ensure that what we supply, and how we supply it, meets their particular needs.

Take the case of Seal-Lite in Somerset. They were struggling to meet demand in 2020 when their profile partner at the time cut their supply due to pandemic pressures.

“We had already been told that the system we were on was going to be withdrawn from the market, and we were starting to look at options,” co-founder and chairman, Chris Shearn, explains. “But after the first lockdown, delivery dates were getting pushed back – often on the day of delivery – and when they eventually arrived, they were missing key elements, such as trims, so we couldn’t complete our orders. Supply went off a cliff.”

Chris and his brother Jim spoke to us, and we initially agreed to help with the ancillary products. But they quickly decided to switch over wholesale, and were up and running manufacturing flush casements with the Ideal 70 within three weeks.

Essex Trade Windows also switched to Aluplast after its previous systems partner failed to keep up with demand.

According to owner, James Bracegirdle, Aluplast’s reliable supply of colour was key, as was our environmental credentials.

“About 30% of what we do is colour, so it is important that any systems company we choose can supply colour on the same lead times at standard white, which Aluplast can,” James says. “And a lot of their colours are available from stock, which gives me the confidence to sell a wider range of products to my customers.

“My customers also appreciate the Ideal 70’s environmental credentials. The homeowners my customers service tend to be in the upper bracket, and put sustainability close to the top of their desired features.”

Profile supplied by Aluplast is made from Ecotech, which controls the amount of recycled content in a profile’s design, without affecting performance.

“The flush sash casement pretty much sealed the deal for us because we were already starting to win a lot of business in that market,” James says. “It looks the part in heritage properties, especially with its slim 58mm sightline sash.”

Aside from the product, James chose to work with us because the two companies worked well together.

“It is refreshing to be dealing with a multi-national company – Aluplast helped with the programming of all my machinery, including a prepping machine, corner cleaner, automatic saw, and bead saw,” James says. “And director Ian Cocken and area sales representative Hussain Abdulkader, who we deal with regularly, are both straight-talking guys. They will go out of their way to tackle any issues that may crop up.”

This is a theme picked up by Stedek’s sales director, Richard Hammond.

“Like Stedek, Aluplast is a family run business with similar values to our own – sustainability, quality, reliability, and dependability,” he says. “We are not a huge business, and we don’t have a big warehouse to store lots of profile. So, we rely on our suppliers to be dependable, and to deliver on time and in full. This allows us to dedicate more floorspace to producing quality frames and to deliver on time and in full to our customers.”

It’s reassuring to receive feedback like this, because it strengthens my belief that we are not one thing to all people, improving reliability. And I have confidence in that because we continue to invest in our production capabilities while designing products with higher thermal performance, and focusing on sustainability.