Quickslide completes phase two of £3million investment

Quickslide says it has ‘rewritten the rule book’ with its long-awaited mech-weld machinery. Specifically designed to reduce the manufacturing time of mechanical sash windows from 15 minutes to just 90 seconds, the fabricator adds that the new machinery also delivers consistent high quality – overcoming a challenge that has long persisted across mechanical frame production.

This has been achieved while eliminating human error and enabling Quickslide to deliver its Legacy vertical slider with mechanical joints to trade partners at market-leading lead times.

This new installation, three years in the making, is phase two of an overall £3 million investment in automating production at the company’s Brighouse factory. It consists of three uniquely configured machines, fully custom-designed and the first of their kind in the UK.

“The automation of window manufacturing can learn a lot from other sectors – which is why we looked outside the industry for inspiration,” said Quickslide’s managing director Ben Weber. “This allowed us to set a high bar for commissioning a suite of machines designed to automate a notoriously labour-intensive process.

“Push-button automation is crucial for repeatable, reliable results, and the £1 million we have invested in mechanical jointing is part of an overall £3 million strategy across all manual processes in our factory. Critically, we’re only just getting started.”

This long-term operational strategy was developed with a simple premise – to increase production capacity while improving quality. Eighteen months ago, a £1.7 million Schirmer machining centre was commissioned, fully automating milling functions and incorporating auto-reinforcing across Legacy VS production.

“If we can deliver a specialised product such as our Legacy VS in as little as five days, with guaranteed quality and competitive pricing, we know future scaling investments will take Quickslide, and its trade partners, way beyond the constraints of what the industry currently offers,” continued Ben.

“Without giving too much away, we are now exploring AI-driven robotic functions and reconfiguring production layouts from cellular to line-fed systems.”

Every part of the company’s capital investment strategy focuses on automating processes, guaranteeing repeatable quality, and optimising the use of raw materials.

“What used to take 15 people carrying out various functions now takes just one person feeding two machines. What used to be a 15-minute process now takes just 90 seconds. As the business scales, we can redeploy that labour across other areas, using their skills and knowledge in more valuable ways – investing and automating is never about cutting back, but maximising current resources for greater returns.

“Skills shortages are a problem in this industry,” continued Ben. “Our intention is to protect those who currently work with Quickslide. At the same time, automation better protects Quickslide against a lack of skills coming into the marketplace.”