Partnership pays dividends

  • Posted On - 27/02/2020
  • Posted By - Glass Times Web

Fentrade Aluminium has exceeded its target growth by more than 15% in the first year of its partnership with Aluk.

The Newport-based company was founded at the end of 2018 by Chris Reeks, and targeted retail and small commercial installers with a portfolio of Aluk products including casements, bifolds and shopfronts.

Key to its impressive success so far has been the support it has received from Aluk, the company said.

“We chose Aluk as our systems partner primarily because we wanted to align ourselves with one of the biggest brands in the industry, supplying a range of products which we know trade customers really like,” Chris said. “Our experience of actually working with them though has revealed that there is much more to Aluk than either the products or the brand and, as a new business, that has been particularly valuable to us. We’ve benefited from expert technical advice at every stage and have been able to access useful and free training. We have also used the impressive showroom and design studio at Chepstow for ourselves and our customers and that has undoubtedly helped us win business.”

Aluk’s national sales manager Neil Smith said: “The whole team at Fentrade are making the most of the entire Aluk customer support package and clearly they are reaping the benefits.”

Chris Reeks said: “The launch of the 58BW flush with 70mm or 46mm sightlines is potentially very good news for us.  We can start manufacturing it with just three new flush profiles and no changes to our existing fabrication set up, so it’s a risk-free way for us to enter the fast-growing flush window market.”

In its first year, Fentrade has become a member of the Council for Aluminium in Building, expanded its workforce, and invested in new machinery and additional delivery vehicles to keep pace with demand.

It has plans for further growth as it expands into new premises and adds further Aluk products to its range. Fentrade is also looking at introducing its own apprenticeship scheme so that it can develop its own workforce.