Not Foiled By Foil Disruption

A sliding patio door with a view out to sea

A shortage of foils has not foiled Aluplast's ability to get its foiled products out on time despite the disruption reported by many PVC-U companies in their supply chains.

With foil-lead times extended by a number of leading systems companies, particularly those that replicate the look of aluminium and wood, the German owned systems house says its supplies of stock foils have remained unaffected. The company added lead times on non-standard and dual colour foils - normally 15 working days or less - also for the most part remained intact.

 

 “The exponential growth in demand that the UK has seen since the easing of lockdown has put immense pressure on the supply chain – but particularly on foils.”

– Ian Cocken 

Marketing Director, Aluplast

 

Anthracite grey

“The investment we have made in our foiling capability means that we have been able to increase capacity in line with demand and maintain service levels," added Aluplast's Cocken. “This means our stock colours remain ‘in stock’ here on the ground in the UK, including anthracite grey on white and anthracite grey both sides on a grey substrate - and smooth options.”

 

Wood

Aluplast’s foil range includes more than 30 finishes, plus Woodec, the next generation foil that is designed to replicate both the aesthetics and feel of timber.

 

Output

Processing more than 150,000 tonnes of PVC-U in Europe annually, equivalent to 75 per cent of the combined UK and Irish markets, Aluplast foils over 90,000m of foiled products each day. Significant investment in new foiling lines and in CNC foiling technology at its new 13-hectare manufacturing facility, means that it can also offer a high degree of flexibility on non-standard finishes. This includes reducing the time lost from hours to minutes when compared to to the traditional, manual foiling set-up and switch over.

 

System advantage

“You can order a stock product from us and have it on your next order. It’s here in the UK and ready to go. Given the constraints being placed by some systems companies on their fabricators, that is a very distinct advantage to anyone manufacturing in our system,” added Cocken.

 

Smooth

Recently Aluplast announced that it had expanded its standard foil offering with the option for smooth anthracite grey on both interior and exterior surfaces. The new contemporary finish is available on the new Aluplast grey substrate, providing a strong match to aluminium and available across Ideal 4000, Ideal 70 and the recently launched Smart-Slide patio door.

The company also recently added Jet-Black to its range which was launched as an alternative to palisander black to offer a ‘true’ matt black finish.

 

 Growing presence

“Aluplast is a global business with a growing presence here in the UK. That scale gives us purchasing power and it gives us flexibility. That translates into a very competitive service, something which with the pressures that exist within some supply chains, is delivering new commercial opportunity to our customers,” concluded Cocken.

Picture: Aluplast's Smart-Slide door which is readily available foiled according to the company.

www.aluplast.co.uk

 

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
31st August 2020

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