Partnership in action
AluK is marking a five-year partnership with fabricator, Fentrade.
Fentrade chose AluK as its aluminium systems supplier during its early months of start-up fabrication and, after exceeding its first-year target by 15%, is said to have gone from strength to strength ever since.
It has built a reputation for precision manufacturing, reliable deliveries and helpful and intelligent customer support and, as a result, has a growing customer base, an expanding workforce, and a well-equipped, extended factory.
Based in Newport, trade manufacturer Fentrade supplies retail and commercial. From the outset, it has fabricated windows and doors in AluK’s 58BW and 58BD systems, alongside BSF70 bi-folds and BSC94 inline and lift and slide patios. Latterly, these ranges have been extended with the thermally efficient HI range of profiles.
It has recently added the new SL52 curtain walling system to its offering and is gearing up for the new AluK S140 lift and slide patio door and the Quik Clip clip in bead.
While this product range has helped Fentrade grow over the past five years, it is the service and support that AluK provides which is said to have really underpinned the partnership.
Chris Reeks, Fentrade’s founder and MD, commented: “The customer service and technical teams at AluK are particularly helpful to us. We get great communication from the customer service team so we can always keep our customers informed and up to date, and the technical team provides a fantastic resource for answers to any design and manufacturing queries.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve worked more closely with AluK’s projects team as well, and they have helped us secure some significant new contracts and supported our move into commercial work.”
Russell Yates, AluK’s MD, added: “Fentrade is a great example of how a fabricator can leverage maximum benefit from their partnership with us. From free training for their fabrication team to access to our design studio to demonstrate AluK products to their customers, they have made full use of the resources we offer.
“In marketing terms, they have also aligned themselves firmly with AluK and that has helped them win business from installers who like and trust our products.”
Chris Reeks added: “From an installer’s perspective, Fentrade is an easy company to do business with. For instance, we check every single order and query anything that doesn’t look right before it becomes a problem, we deliver on time and in full and we keep customers informed every step of the way. The support we get from AluK helps to make that possible and we have the confidence of knowing that they will go on supporting us as we continue to grow.”