Past, present and future
During a centenary year, it is not just about celebrating the past, it is about planning for the future, explains Dave Broxton, MD at Bohle.
Bohle was founded in 1923 by Josef Bohle, which makes 2023 the glass consumables supplier’s centenary year. Bohle’s MD Dave Broxton believes the company’s strength is not just its longevity, but its ability to keep reinventing itself and remaining relevant for its customers.
Prospering
“Right now, I think the key challenges for the UK glass processing industry is purely and simply the economic situation,” Dave says. “I think we’re at a time when inflation is high, GDP growth is nominal, and everyone is trying to hang on to market share.
“And the danger is that we will find ourselves in a race to the bottom. But – I can speak with 40 years’ experience under my belt – it is the companies that diversify, and those that stay at the quality end of the marketplace, which survive when the conditions become difficult.”
Dave says that staying calm, controlling costs, and maintaining high levels of quality and service are what leads to success.
“It’s not the centenary, or the longevity of the business that makes the business great, it’s all the stuff that has led to Bohle remaining in business and thriving, prospering, growing over all those years – that’s what defines us as a business.
“That’s very much down to the people that run the business, and the people that work within the business. We are a company that is about knowledge sharing – we don’t just sell you a product, we will give you training on that product for free. And we have a great field sales team who can come out and teach you in your own premises.”
In return, this investment in people, Dave says, leads to customer-led product development and the agility to adapt the business according to the needs of the industry.
Progress
“Today, we are not just a distributor of glass hardware,” he says. “We are now a manufacturer of glass hardware with our own brands, our own R&D, and our own designs.”
Developed and designed by Bohle, the Juna shower door hinge combines aesthetics and functionality with quality. Minimum shut lines and concealed screws emphasize the supreme aesthetics of this swinging shower door hinge. In terms of performance, this premium hinge is made of brass and stainless steel. Juna also guarantees a long service life with 100,000 test cycles to DIN EN 14428 and a load capacity up to 50kg.
In May 2023, Bohle attended the FIT Show, where it targeted home improvement companies with a range of easy-to-install products, including: its new Juliet Balcony System, Lyon; the FrameTec 2.0 internal glass partitioning system; and the MasterTrack FT high-end sliding door system.
“We really feel confident that the Bohle business will still be here in 100 years’ time,” Dave says. “It may be very different because I think in the 14 years that I’ve been at Bohle, I’ve noticed a number of changes. We used to be very dependent on the turnover in machinery, but the machinery market has moved on and we’ve moved on. Now we are much more about glass hardware.
“But we can still give you expert advice on things like UV bonding, suction lifters, glass cutting. Customers trust Bohle because we always give them the best advice. They can call, speak to anyone and know that the answer that they will get to any question will be accurate and in that way they can progress their business, too.”
In that regard, Dave concludes, much has stayed the same: investing in people, focusing on customer support, and promoting quality and professionalism.
“We are rightly proud of the history and the legacy of Bohle,” Dave concludes. “But Bohle is a business that is always looking to the future. Our strategy – and everything that we do – is geared to moving the company forward, which in turn creates new opportunities for our customers.”
