No one is more acutely aware of the eye watering increase in energy costs than glass processors.

When you have to run machines at 700 degrees centigrade to carry out daily operations, optimising every single second of that energy consumption is imperative to maintain consistent product quality and protect margins.

Hills Glass in Stoke on Trent has experienced it all – this family business has been operating for 75 years supplying glass products to the home improvement, furniture and construction related industries. 11 years ago, the company invested in a Yuntong toughening furnace through Flat Glass Solutions.

“Over the years the furnace has performed consistently well, probably helped in no small part by me using my own engineering skills to keep it maintained,” said director, Simon Hill. “But we recently had an issue that demonstrates exactly why working with FGS is key to safeguarding consistent production processes – and it all comes down to communication.

“One morning recently we had an issue that went beyond my own engineering know-how. With an order book of clamouring clients and a machine that literally burns money standing idle, it was vital to understand what the problem could have been, and learn how to rectify it as quickly as possible”.

Simon was straight on the phone to Gary Dobson in the UK office who was ably supported by Catherine Li, who runs the FGS office in China. Within an hour, the problem had been identified, and a solution communicated back to Simon who was then able to implement it and get straight back to business.

“In short, FGS’ response saved me a whole load of grief,” said Simon. “At 9am I thought I was going to have a headache of a day. By 10am it was all sorted.”

“The complexity of Simon’s problem was solved swiftly and simply, and is a credit to the knowledge and open communication skills of Catherine working alongside our Chinese partners Yuntong,” added FGS managing director, Oz.

“In truth, you don’t need to have the engineering skills that Simon has at Hills Glass – the response will always be the same – swift, focused, and designed to get you back operational as quickly as possible.

“We have always been aware of the hesitancy when dealing with suppliers from across the world, and in building FGS, we are also committed to providing an after sales service that exceeds expectations. The resolution of Hills Glass’s furnace issue, which could have cost them thousands in down time is an example of how even potentially complex problems can be sorted quickly and thoroughly. No matter where we source our machinery, FGS will always apply the same level of speedy service and communication.”