Drawing on more than 30 years of glazing industry experience, Mark Towers Head of Operations for DoorCo, shares his insights and predictions with GGP Magazine.
What first attracted you to the industry?
I joined the window & door industry as a local works manager 30 years ago and have been here ever since! At the time, I was working as a production manager in a printing and adhesives company and looking to earn a bit more money. A job came up in a window business and I went for it. It was really as simple as that!
Was there another career path you could have pursued?
I think I would have always ended up working in manufacturing. The whole world of it really interests me, from interacting with people on the shop floor to the processes we put in place. I have worked in local and global businesses, and even after all these years, there is still much to learn. I understand traditional manufacturing and what it takes to make a product, but with the level of innovation and automation available now, we need to be adept at understanding both sides. We have a young team at DoorCo who are embracing the automation, robotics and big data analytics that improve productivity, efficiency and our overall capabilities, and it is great to be able to support the team in developing these advances with understanding of how it all needs to happen and where we need to end up.
Tell us about DoorCo’s latest improvements, and what you’re looking forward to.
DoorCo is always moving, but currently, our main focus is to continue to enhance our products – everything from the branding and marketing to improving thermal efficiency results.
We launched GRiPCORE technology, a hybrid composite door option that looks great and offers exceptional tolerance and security. It doesn’t twist, it’s a solid, secure product. That’s our big talking point for now, but as I say, DoorCo doesn’t keep still for long and there are lots of projects bubbling away.
There’s definitely a lot of variety here. It’s a dynamic, growing business and this naturally attracts young, ambitious people. I particularly enjoy mentoring them and watching them develop, adding value to the business all the time. We’ve just been accredited with the ‘We invest in apprentices Silver’ award which means we have an excellent framework in place to support both future apprentices coming into the business and training all our staff, going forward. This is great to be a part of and really fulfilling.
Has the industry got better or worse over the years?
It has definitely got better. There are so many different products available now, and the quality and huge variations on product and finish has vastly improved. In the past two years, sales of doors and windows have been phenomenal and the innovation we’re seeing as an industry is great.
It’s more than just offering choice. Collectively, we are driving legislation changes to improve the standards of our products and we have made great strides in renewing our reputation of old, where cowboys made a lot of money one month, then disappeared the next and became a phoenix company. This has all but disappeared because of better management of businesses.
What do you think the future holds for the industry?
That’s a difficult question at this moment in time. We’re still really busy but the past two years have been challenging and we hit some really hard peaks last year. From a market point of view, I think there will still be growth, but it will be limited compared to what we’ve seen in the past two years. There are still issues with material supply chains, especially from Asia, as well as pricing and energy issues, which add costs to the industry.
But consumers still want to spend money on their homes. The new build market will continue to build around 200,000 to 250,000 houses a year. Social housing providers will still need to maintain their properties. The retail market is the one that currently looks most uncertain. It will either stay at existing levels, or spending will change as people revert to going on holiday. We also have to consider the rising cost of living and where this is going to take us. However, the 3 housing markets often fluctuate but essentially balance each other out and therefore, although the retail market is uncertain, the numbers are likely to continue to stay at current levels when you take them all into account.
With this in mind, for DoorCo, this year is all about consolidation. Serving customers is critical, along with controlling our costs so we can be competitive but profitable.
Proudest achievement?
Launching FLiP, which, in the last two or three years, went from being an embryonic concept through to an exclusive door glazing cassette system. It was the second glazing system that I’d worked on from its infancy to where it is today. I was involved in the development, concept and design stages, as well as the cost justifications and seeing it through to the product testing and manufacturing here in the UK.
A small number of us continued to work on the FLiP project during the Pandemic, hoping there would be an industry to come back to. It was a strange time but in the end, we were able to launch it earlier than anticipated to save a failing supply chain and get doors out to customers, in full.
Although FLiP stands out for me, there have been some other significant improvements to the business structure and shape that I’ve been involved with. Having sound knowledge of departments’ needs means you can support all areas of the business. For example, in 3-6 months DoorCo went from being 100% reliant on third party transport suppliers to 95% of our doors being delivered by our in-house fleet. And, in reaction to the supply chain challenges we faced in the shipping crisis, we quickly mobilised an offsite storage facility to accommodate the massive investments we were making in stock just to keep moving. This took DoorCo from a single to multi-site business overnight – potentially a logistical nightmare, but with thoughtful planning, a practical approach and teamwork, the new site was seamlessly, and in fact remains, integrated into our production process.
When you have worked in an industry for over 30 years, you have seen a lot but this gives you the opportunity to share this knowledge/ experience with those around you, and learn something back from them. The key is to keep evolving.
