VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY
The UK’s Leading Glass & Glazing Newspaper
VOICE OF THE INDUSTRY
SO, HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
The long awaited FIT Show has come, and gone, and Glass News is asking how it was for you? Whether an exhibitor or visitor, a former exhibitor who gave it a miss this time but came for a look anyway or an installer who gave up valuable fitting time to see what other products were new to the market. Perhaps you are from a system house, a hardware manufacturer, a machinery company or involved in glass in some way, shape, or form. You could be from a multitude of other disciplines within the fenestration industry such as paint, adhesives, testing or even a humble PR company or journalist. Perhaps you had travelled from overseas to visit the show or happen to work just round the corner from the NEC. Whatever. We want to know about your experience at FIT 2022, how important the show is to you and your business, and what you would like to see at the next show. Did something or someone stick out in your mind when you visited or would you simply like to reinforce the message you were aiming to get over to visitors to the show? Tell us all about it!
Andy Clear COO and Co-founder, Augmented Reality Creations Thanks to significant backing from Purplex Marketing, we were privileged to showcase Augmented Reality Creations (ARC) on the leading agency’s FIT Show stand this year. Visitors loved our demos of ARC Design, our new augmented reality software that’s changing how conservatory installers do business and transforming how homeowners design and buy conservatories. The easiest and fastest design tool adds a real wow factor to sales visits and increases both sales and conversion rates. There was a great buzz the FIT Show, and if there’s one thing that was clear to me, is that installers are looking for new ways to sell – competition is fierce out there, and as a result, business owners are ready to embrace new technology and digitalisation to get ahead and bring the industry forward. To have the opportunity to showcase ARC design and to introduce industry leaders and potential customers to the software was an honour, and it was fantastic to be part of the show.
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Gareth Jones Managing Director, Solar Calibre Doors
Kurt Greatrex Sales Director, Dekko Window Systems
Bradley Gaunt Made For Trade, Managing Director
Sarah Ball Balls2 Marketing, Organiser of PiGs
The industry was obviously very ready for a live event and a lot of people were keen to exchange experiences and expectations, after the challenges of the last few years. We are all facing a market downturn, but this is where high end products that offer great margins will help avoid that pricing race to the bottom, that we so often see in this industry.
It was so good to see the FIT Show up and running again, and this year was a huge success for Dekko.
For MFT, FIT 2022 was for all intents and purposes, the ‘mighty mite’ of shows.
What a night we had! More than 250 people descended on the Certass stand for FIT Show’s Late Night Wednesday as PiGs proved the place to be – once again showing how the glazing industry can party.
We received a lot of interest in our higher end products, notably the Craftsman timber door as well as our specialist doors, and were really pleased by the reaction to our new Portium range, which we showcased at FIT. Similarly, our new Passivhaus solution was a head-turner, because of the growing demand for high performing, energy efficient products. This was something of a test bed for us, and the response endorsed our own confidence in these specialist products, as well as in our GRP and timber fire rated doors, which we are able to offer in partnership with our sister company Fire Doors by Solar.
At the show, we were showcasing the UK’s first fully seamless reverse butt welded window, which was on display at Haffner’s stand. Haffner is the sole distributor of Graf Synergy machinery in the UK, the game changing technology that we utilised in the production of our new window, and which was also on display at FIT. The new window was also on display at Kubu’s stand, thanks to a partnership with the company – so not only is it fully seamless, but it can also feature Kubu Smart Security Sensors, providing security and smart alerts through the dedicated Kubu app. I was really encouraged by the turnout at this year’s Show – after two years of uncertainty, the industry has certainly bounced back. At Dekko, we’re very much looking forward to launching our world first window and bringing the industry up to date with the latest in smart tech.
Amiss for 4 years we should have witnessed the biggest and best supported industry event on the calendar and yet the effects of a pandemic, major supply chain issues, world events and the very real risk of a recession, resulted in a slimmed down show in terms of exhibitors. This, however, was in stark contrast to the footfall we witnessed, at least on the MFT stand. The intensity and quality of the interest for our products was incredibly humbling and the positivity, especially for our new Korniche Bi-folding Door made the whole journey to develop it (twice) and take it to market, completely worth it. One USP, MFT’s new clip in bead, ‘Speedbead’, quite literally left people’s jaws hanging after they’d seen first-hand just how much time it would save on site. The Korniche Lantern is all about speed and ease of installation and this statement is also certainly true for the new door too.
With more than 1,500 drinks served up over the course of three-hour get together and a live band, guests were literally dancing in the aisles as a truly memorable evening was had by all. Balls2 Marketing is happy to organise these events for our industry and it never ceases to amaze me how much fun they are. I’d like to say a special thank you to all our wonderful sponsors whose ongoing support makes PiGs possible, and a big thanks to Certass for hosting. All sponsorship money goes towards the evening’s expenses on food, drink and entertainment. We also sold PiGs badges and slippers throughout the show to raise funds for We Mind and Kelly Matters and the glazing industry once again showed just how incredibly generous it is as we raised more than £845!
June 2022 | www.glassnews.co.uk
