Rapierstar keeps production on track

Daryl Cashmore, operations director of Nationwide Windows & Doors with Mark Calpin, technical consultant at Rapierstar.

Specialist fastener supplier, Rapierstar, has stepped in to keep production on track at Nationwide Windows and Doors after its supplier of over 20 years made the sudden announcement that it was withdrawing from the UK market.

In the space of just a week, Rapierstar says it was able to ensure supply continuity by identifying all the fastener requirements across Nationwide’s factory in Rugby and deliver new stock of the 50 different types of fasteners it uses.

The vast majority of the Rapierstar StarPVCU branded fasteners introduced were like-for-like replacements available immediately from its UK stocks, which meant a rapid transition could be made with no changes required in the way Nationwide’s team assembles its PVC-U windows and doors.

Nationwide is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and installers of windows and doors for the social housing and new build sectors, with an equally strong retail division that was the foundation of the business when it first started in 1986.

Following a management buyout in 2007, the company has grown rapidly with an annual turnover approaching £40m and a team of around 450 people across its seven-acre production, showroom and administrative sites in Rugby and seven depots strategically positioned across the UK.

The company produces around 3,500 products per week, which are manufactured using profile systems from Eurocell, with whom it has partnered with for the last 19 years.

Daryl Cashmore, operations director at Nationwide Windows and Doors said: “It was a seamless transition, which we actually thought would be difficult given how long we’d worked with our previous supplier, with Mark Calpin and the Rapierstar team responding quickly to get up to speed with what we needed.

Mark Calpin, technical consultant at Rapierstar added: “Having worked closely with Eurocell for many years, taking time to understand their profile systems inside-out and co-developing a detailed Recommended Fixings Manual (RFM), we were able to hit the ground running when we got the call from Daryl.”