Control from start to finish

In a saturated market, the importance of dealing with a supplier who invests in their own quality R&D cannot be understated, says Bohle senior vice president of development and engineering, Daniel Büchner.

Bohle has undergone a transformation in recent years; from being known predominately as a distributor of glass hardware, a €5 million investment has diversified Bohle into a manufacturer of glass hardware with its own brands, R&D, and designs.

This, according to Bohle’s senior vice president of development and engineering, Daniel Büchner, satiates consumer demand for an ‘all-round’ supplier.

“There will always be a demand for distribution,” Daniel says. “Importing and distributing products not only facilitates access to new products, but also helps innovation to progress at a quicker pace.

“But in recent years, with the import challenges that we have seen off the back of things like COVID, and more recently, the Yemeni shipping attacks, customers are looking for the most reliable channels of supply, and for us at Bohle, that has meant continuing to expand our internal R&D and manufacturing.

“This not only means that we can guarantee supply, through the choice of imported products or our own in-house manufacturing, but we can also adapt our offering quickly to meet the changing needs of manufacturers and installers, producing quality products tailored to the market.”

One such product is the Juna shower hinge. Developed and designed by Bohle, the hinge combines aesthetics and functionality with quality.

“The initial R&D stage for Juna involved us studying existing hinges, alongside customer feedback, and brainstorming how we could better the designs currently on the market,” said Daniel.

“We decided that our major challenges were to build a hinge with an attractive, sleek aesthetic that hides all the technical solutions inside, whilst still being simple for installers to use.

“As a result of our intensive R&D process, we managed to develop a seamless hinge, where the end-user can see no screws, that only requires one tool for the glass clamping as well as for the zero point adjustment.”

The Juna shower hinge was just one of a number of products on show at Bohle’s recent customer day, at its UK headquarters in Dukinfield. New opportunities for growth were showcased with a range of product and training demonstrations, fuelled by the ongoing investment in Bohle’s product development and infrastructure.

For Daniel, collaboration throughout Bohle is one of the key contributors to the company’s success in manufacturing.

“Because we control our entire operations, from R&D to delivery, we have numerous opportunities to engage with the various departments within Bohle to get their feedback on products.

“That is what we do at Bohle – we look at existing answers, and for every detail, we find better solutions.”