Pioneering solar protection solutions Harol

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PIONEERING SOLAR PROTECTION SOLUTIONS

Harol is a market leader in the design and manufacture of sun protection systems, roller shutters, garage doors and outdoor living solutions. Philip Yorke talked to Marc Van den Berg, the company’s commercial director, about its recent investment programme and focus on new export markets.

Harol was founded in Belgium in 1946 and remains a privately owned, family run business. This year the company celebrates 70 years of trading and continues to invest in new technology and digital systems, and recently implemented an entirely new ERP system. Today Harol employs more than 250 people and in 2015 recorded sales of over €35 million.

Innovation driving sales

Harol has always placed a high priority on innovation and its highquality manufacturing processes; as a result it sets the standards for many others in the marketplace. A good example of this is the SC900 sun screen, which represents a major step forward towards combining solar shading with high-value insulation.

This screen combines modern styling with unrivalled acoustic and thermal insulation. This high-tech product represents a new generation of screens that unobtrusively and effectively meet the full requirements of the European EPB standard.

This is a ‘built-on’ screen that effectively blocks over 90 per cent of the solar radiation before it reaches the glass. This in turn makes it an affordable and attractive solution for achieving maximum comfort levels in both summer and winter. The unique benefits of the SC900 make it a revolutionary design that offers a wind resistance class 3 rating and high acoustic insulation, and a thermal insulation figure of only 1.3W/m2K. The screen is equipped with an electric drive as standard and is available in a broad range of colours.

Van den Berg said, “We like to see ourselves as a specialist in solar management, it is the smart management of solar energy and daylight that will form an integral part of the buildings of the future. It improves the comfort, health and productivity of residents and users. Our innovative solar management solutions also prevent overheating in our increasingly well-insulated houses and buildings.

“At Harol we have one of the largest product ranges for vertical solar solutions, we not only offer a complete range of screens and roller shutters, but also outdoor venetian blinds and pivot-arm awnings. For the project market we also offer a huge range of solar architectural products such as fixed and adjustable sun blinds, horizontal and vertical fixed and adjustable slats, sliding panels and folding shutters.”

Van den Berg added, “Another innovation which we introduced earlier this year is our new sun protection concept which offers a solution for every conceivable situation. Our new VZ080-zip is a multifunctional sun protection system for conservatories, sky-lights and roof-lights. It can be fitted sideways, top-down, bottom-up, surface

Kingspan Door Components

Kingspan Door Components based in Belgium, is part of the Kingspan Group, a global leader in high performance insulation building fabric, and solar integrated building envelopes.

Kingspan Door Components leads the way with innovative insulated sectional door panels and hardware solutions for residential and industrial buildings. The continuous work within the R&D facility ensures that Kingspan Door Components has the best thermal performance in the market, and has exceptional fire performance. Technical and customer service excellence within the business is key, ensuring the customers’ needs are met as quickly as possible.

Contact: Kingspan Door Components S.A. Zone Industrielle de l’Europe 1A 7900 Leuze-en-Hainaut, Belgium

Tel: +32 (0)69 86 82 22 - Fax: +32 (0)69 86 82 20 info.kdc@kingspan.com

mounted or built-in. It has an integrated zip system, is a beautiful design and offers smart solutions for easy maintenance and after sales service.”

The next phase in this concept will be the big conservatory awning, extended as a standing terrace solution. The last phase will be an all-weather terrace awning with built-in LED lighting, integrated screens and water drainage.

Expanding global reach

Traditionally the company has focused on its domestic market and the other Benelux countries. However, Belgium still remains its biggest European market, followed by France, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany. In addition to its new focus on its domestic ‘project’ market, the company has defined three clear regions of interest for future development, these are Scandinavia, the German speaking countries otherwise known as the ‘Dach countries’, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as the UK. Harol already has a sales office in Sweden to cover the Scandinavian market and is currently recruiting staff for its expansion programme in the Nordic region.

Van den Berg commented, “We will focus on specific countries for development as we see our future growth coming from export sales and now is the time to concentrate on developing our international strength. We will develop it organically, but of course you can’t exclude mergers if the right opportunity presents itself.”

Valued partners

As a family owned business the company values its customers and sees them as partners and part of the extended Harol family. The company also tries to be as flexible as possible in order to support its clients in the most effective ways possible. This means not only supporting them with sales and marketing campaigns but also helping them to set up a production facility for specific products.

As far as export markets are concerned, Harol not only sells finished products, but also components to assemblers and other manufacturers. In some cases a client may wish to launch a new product range and then the company will assist them with their extensive know how and technical expertise. “Our main customer base is made up of specialist installers of sun protection products, roller shutters and garage doors for consumer use,” said Van den Berg. n