Samantha Hill, marketing and communications manager at Thermoseal Group, reports on a trip to Regency Glass.
Regency Glass was the first customer I visited when I joined Thermoseal Group back in 2007, so I have always enjoyed working with the team there and seeing the exponential growth of the business. So, when Steve Massey, director of sales and marketing invited me along to see their brand-new set-up, I was of course delighted to accept.
The Building itself is extremely impressive, with the interior designed for Regency’s bespoke purposes. It now houses enviable facilities for staff and fully automated high-volume production lines offering a wide variety of insulated glass sealed units, manufactured to customer specification.
Above every entrance to the factory, the words ‘Quality Starts Here’ are prominently displayed to remind all staff of the high-quality standards set across Regency’s business. Then, when walking around the factory, it’s evident that these standards are driven through every element of the site.
The new site has seen the purchase of a whole range of new equipment which, starting at the beginning of the production line, includes an automated glass warehouse system for compact storage of numerous different new glass types. The glass is automatically selected and fed onto the glass cutters by a new software system which now controls many elements of the production processes. The new glass warehouse system has increased glass storage capacity which now gives Regency a full stock complement of six to eight weeks at current volumes ensuring they can meet growing customer demand and counter any supply issues.
The additional space, coupled with the massive investment in new equipment across the whole production process, has enabled Regency to more than double the supply of units per week from what is now one of the largest sealed unit manufacturing sites in the UK – a site which is well worth a visit!
Steve Massey commented: “We reached maximum capacity at our previous site, so made the decision to upscale and drive Regency’s business forward. We pride ourselves on customer service and the fact that we’ve never had a call from customers asking where their glass is. We wanted to ensure that we can continue to offer this service whilst maintaining growth.
“This fourth move of premises has been a long-time-coming and has followed many visits to suppliers across Europe to evaluate various manufacturing layouts and machinery options. We then had to manage the move to our new site whilst maintaining our current production levels. It is with thanks to the dedication of the whole Regency team that we have completed the move. There is still a little landscaping work to do, but we’re up and running and have already increased production to meet new customers’ requirements.
“For the first time, we now have two toughening plants and can manufacture larger units than our previous production allowed. Our new streamlined set-up ensures that at any one time we can produce up to 100 different types of units of different glass patterns, thickness, airspace etc. Our new automation software also means that we can analyse our customers’ purchases and regular reports ensure that we can identify and counter any issues before they become a problem to our customers.
“When designing our new site to maximise capacity, we decided to go the extra mile and make it a great place to work for our staff. 80% of the staff at Regency have been working in the business for many years and we have taken on an additional 25 people over the past year including one mechanical engineer and one electrical engineer, which brings our total team up to 115. Our on-site engineers now have their own workshop with an array of spare parts to minimise downtime of our machinery. Our preventative maintenance program keeps us operational due to minimum machinery downtime.
“Our staff are extremely loyal to the business, many of whom are only too happy to come back into work and cover additional shifts should we need them. It’s for this reason, we’ve built fantastic break out facilities with everything they need to ensure their downtime is as comfortable as possible. We even have a canteen facility run by ‘Compassion in Action’ offering a wide range of fresh food on site,” concluded Steve.
Just in the past 12 months, we have seen a 13% increase in the purchase of Regency’s choice of warm edge spacers and accessories – including our own Thermobar warm edge range – and additional insulated glass components. This reflects the recent growth of Regency’s business which is synonymous with the growth Thermoseal Group has seen over recent years. At Thermoseal, we are delighted to see Regency take such an amazing step in driving the business forward and look forward to our continued relationship with their team.
