Automatic welding and cleaning lines have been one of the state of the art must haves for front runners in uPVC window and door production for several years now but these expensive lines have had to take a back seat in the current climate and no new ones have been sold in 2009 until now.
Leading Kommerling fabricator Everglade of Perivale, Middlesex have recently signed an order for the very latest Stürtz welding and cleaning line. This line has an eight head horizontal combination welder feeding into a two head corner and transom cleaner and employs the very latest technology.
With the facility to introduce frames welded offline to the cleaner, fast change Teflon heater plates, reinforcing introduction cycle and automatic switching between different weld restrictions this line is truly at the leading edge of welding and cleaning technology. It is also fully driven by barcode technology to remove as much of the human element as possible.
Everglade Managing Director Vinod Gopal spent many months researching automatic welding and cleaning lines before choosing Stürtz as his new partner with a deal brokered by Steve Haines of Stuga Machinery, the exclusive UK agent for all Stürtz products. With Rotox and Urban being better known for these lines in this market Vinod had to try to see through the general disinformation he came across and eventually realised that Stürtz was the ideal partner for this expensive and important project.
Vinod quickly discovered that while Stürtz had not really exploited the UK market for this equipment they were actually world leaders in it and therefore must be seriously considered. On visiting Stürtz state of the art factory near Cologne together with fabricators using their machines in Germany and the Netherlands it became obvious that Stürtz had the wherewithal required to be a serious potential partner for the new line.
While at Stürtz Vinod met Matthew Sadr from Window City one of the major uPVC window and door fabricators in Canada and was highly impressed with the level of automation Stürtz had achieved for that company which is one of the most highly automated plants in the North American window market.
Stürtz automatic welding and cleaning machinery has been making eighty percent of all Windows at Anglian Windows in Norwich for fifteen years now and the equipment would still be considered leading edge even today. A & B Glass also has a total turnkey plant which was installed in 2002 and includes Stürtz automatic cutting & prepping and welding and cleaning throughout.
One of Vinod’s big questions was whether or not Stürtz understood British windows and had the machinery to deal with internally glazed windows with multiple transoms etc. Once he realised what was happening at Anglian and A & B Glass and saw that companies in Germany and the Netherlands also make these types of windows his mind was put at rest and he realised that he had been given a huge amount of disinformation by Stürtz’s competition in the market.
Everglade will enjoy the benefit of back-up directly from Stürtz and from Stuga at all times. Stürtz is a German machine tool builder founded over sixty years ago that saw a turnover last year of 39 million Euros in uPVC fabrication machinery and whilst the current year will certainly be down due to the global climate Stürtz still have some considerably good deals on the books for all levels of automation.
Everglade as a fabricator have seen consistent levels of business throughout the recession which can be attributed to good marketing, an excellent product, perfect service, class customer base and sheer quality across the whole business. With new innovations a constant feature the company is enjoying a strong order book and feels the time is right for further investment in automation in order to protect quality and margins for the future. What better partners could they have than Stürtz and Stuga?