Social housing fenestration specialist Total Glass invests in new machinery

Published by Kathy Wilkinson for Total Glass in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

Merseyside-based social housing fenestration specialist and trade fabricator Total Glass is gearing up for a busy 2011 having invested substantially in new processing machinery from Emmegi (UK) and Dubus for both its aluminium and PVC-U window and door production.

Investment at its 100,000 sq ft modern Liverpool factory includes the Emmegi Phantomatic CNC machining centre and a Twin Electra Sun, a twin-head cutting-off machine, plus the third Dubus machining centre in as many years, supplied by Wegoma GB.

The Emmegi machines are mainly dedicated to the production of the award-winning Total Glass high-security aluminium communal entrance door. Robust and capable of withstanding the toughest inner-city locations, this door won Product/Innovation of the Year in the 2010 Builder & Engineer Awards and has been widely praised by the social housing sector. It was also shortlisted as Product of the Year in the Housing Excellence Awards 2010.

The Emmegi machines are noticeably increasing production efficiency, enabling Total Glass to meet rising demand for the communal entrance door from Housing Associations and social housing providers throughout the UK.

Total Group Managing Director, Frank Deary comments: “This investment has been triggered by on-going product development across our aluminium operations, which has been very much led by the communal door and additions to this range. The speed, accuracy and user-friendliness of both machines have streamlined the preparation, cutting and machining processes to make us ultra-efficient and price-competitive.

“On the PVC-U side, the new Dubus centre will further improve our production output and its arrival happily coincides with confirmation of several large social housing fenestration contracts. This gives us a flying start for 2011 and beyond,” adds Frank.

Commissioned in November, the third Dubus PVC801V boosts Total’s existing PVC-U window capacity by 25% - around 500 windows a week. With a five-degree angle for vertical slider cutting, the latest Dubus spreads work across the three PVC-U machining centres for greater flexibility.

Alex Main, Managing Director of Wegoma GB, regards the investment as an ‘encouraging’ sign for the future, adding: “Total Glass has always taken a forward-thinking approach to machinery investment and sees it as vital for their business and the best way forward in the current economic climate. It is a hopeful sign of better times to come.”

For more information, contact Total Glass on 0151 549 2339 or visit the website: www.totalglass.com.