Investment tops half a million

Mackenzie Glass’s investment programme has topped more than £half-a-million pounds in less than a year, including new laminate cutting capability, IT, fleet and processing equipment, plus the creation of new apprenticeship roles.

NSG sold its Pilkington Bristol business to Mackenzie Glass at the end of last year. Supplying more than one million square metres of flat glass a year with a turnover in excess of £5 million, the deal saw assets and employees transferred, with Mackenzie Glass also assuming new status as the first Pilkington Regional Partner.

Now approaching a year in, Mackenzie has completed a major investment programme, including significant spend on a new Boterro laminate cutting table, fire saw, CNC, specialist lorries, as well as major investment in new IT infrastructure and recruitment.

Mark Herbert, joint managing director of Mackenzie Glass, said: “It’s been a very exciting 10 or so months for us and I think we can look back as a team with a certain amount of pride in what has been achieved. The investment we have made in our IT infrastructure, machinery, vehicles and most importantly, our people, has been about putting in place the foundations for growth.

“With the refinement of our product range, we’re now in the right place to offer our customers access to a very flexible and competitive product offer and underpin that with very good and continuously improving levels of customer service.”

The new Mackenzie Bristol site supplies more than 300 tonnes of glass each month, the lion’s share of which is supplied for IGU manufacture, with Pilkington KS (soft coat) a key staple.

Its value-added products and technologies, however, are where Mackenzie Glass has placed greatest focus since its takeover. This includes: decorative ranges and the acid etched Oriel range; mirror options including OptiMirror; fire and impact rated Pilkington Pyrostop and Pyrodur, which carry Class 1 BS EN 12600 ratings; and Pilkington Optiview.