A supportive workplace, collaboration with trade partners and investment in technology are key to success, as our editor discovered when visiting the Quickslide team last month.
“We do well by trading fairly,” said Adrian Barraclough, chair of the vertical sliding window manufacturing business, Quickslide. And the business’ leaders support employees so that they can bring their authentic selves to work, he continued.
This caring approach extends to the way that the Quickslide team works with other companies: “We prefer to work with our trade partners so that we can, together, make the industry bigger and better,” added Adrian.
Customer service is another pillar of Quickslide’s ethos, which was a major contributor to the business winning the coveted ‘Fabricator of the Year’ G Award trophy last November. “If you have an issue, phone us and your call gets answered; your problem will be sorted,” said Adrian.
Quickslide’s leaders have invested £1.7m in a bespoke Schirmer machining centre that was created to the company’s exact specifications in Germany. It is hoped that the new centre will allow Quickslide to retain its pioneer status in developing affordable replacement vertical sliding sash windows, as well as to offer countless design configurations to customers.
James McArthur, Quickslide’s head of IT, explained how custom-built technology has been designed to drive performance and output while maximising labour efficiencies. “All of the screens in our factory display relevant information for that operator,” he said. “It helps us get things right first time but it also tracks a host of different things in the background.
“If someone’s not had training for a while, or they’re unhappy, the system helps to identify that, so that we can improve. The most valuable people we’ve got are the people that affect our customers. They need to be appreciated and valued. So that’s what we strive to do.”
This is a shortened version of an article from Glass and Glazing Products (GGP) Magazine. To read the full version, in the November 2023 edition of GGP, click here.
