After a relaxing break over the Christmas period, the team here at Donwood Glass are hitting the ground running in 2017.
We’re finding that after the well-deserved downtime, January is, as always, a good opportunity for us to look to the year ahead and assess the outlook for the next 12 months. How the industry is set to perform is something we all need to seriously consider, as this is something that will affect us all.
More generally, the UK and North East manufacturing industry is looking strong which is fantastic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said manufacturing output increased by 1.3pc month-on-month in November 2016, indicating upwards trends.
Plus, the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 56.1 in December from 53.6 the month before. This means it reached a two year high as a figure above 50 indicates expansion.
It’s great to be starting 2017 on such a strong footing with trends going in the right direction, hopefully this will give organisations the boost they need to start the year with an upbeat attitude that will help drive business success.
Talking with customers, clients and suppliers we’re also finding people closer to home are taking an optimistic mind-set to 2017. In the glass trade press too, we’ve also seen a lot of businesses continuing to grow, expand and even mergers and acquisitions to aid further development. Considering the political landscape of the previous year, it’s very uplifting to read these good news stories.
Having confidence in the industry and approaching the year with a positive standpoint can count for a lot. Henry Ford even said “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right”. As an industry, we all have a responsibility for driving growth and output in order to benefit the wider sector, as well as ourselves, employees, suppliers and customers. Taking a bullish approach is better for business for everyone.
For us at Donwood, we have a lot of activity in the pipeline for 2017 and we hope it will allow us to build on the success of the last 12 months. With the addition of new technology and equipment, growth within the team and our new personnel block, we’re proud to say we’re in a strong position to continue have a positive impact and support the North East and UK economy.
Christmas is almost here and the end of 2016 is fast approaching!
We’ve had a very busy 12 months and we’d like to thank our customers and suppliers for helping to make it such an exciting year for us all here at Donwood Glass…
In the first half of the year we were able to acquire a brand new CNC machining centre to help us to improve the wide-range of quality glass products we can offer. Not only that but throughout the year we’ve also been able to create a dozen new jobs!
This fantastic news and growth of Donwood meant that we had to expand and develop a personnel block which has been a great change for the team – this way we can make sure our team has a positive working environment, so we can keep delivering on our guarantee of top customer service.
As December has drawn in, we’ve been looking ahead to the New Year and we have some exciting developments and improvements in the pipeline. We hope these will benefit you and every one of our customers. After all, we wouldn’t be true to our origins of a second generation family-run business if we didn’t keep investing in Donwood, to continue boosting standards of service and products.
Finally, and most importantly, we would like to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thank you to all of our customers from the past year, and we hope you have merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
Donwood will be closing over the Christmas period, from 1pm 21st December and re-opening at 8am Thursday 5th January 2017.
Sir Dave Brailsford is well known for masterminding Team GB’s multiple successes in the Olympic Games track cycling arena. More, recently as supremo of Team Sky Pro Cycling, Dave Brailsford, has become synonymous with Tour de France success by delivering four British wins in the last five years. One of his great mantras has been to demonstrate how the “aggregation of marginal gains” can lead to unrivalled performance. In essence, excellence can only be achieved by paying equal attention to smaller details as well as the more obvious areas.
Donwood Glass continues to strive to deliver excellence both in our levels of quality and service plus several improvements in our systems have been implemented in 2016 whilst others are coming to fruition soon. Some of these are relatively minor (or you might even say marginal) and some are more significant. The combined effect allows us to deliver on our promise of providing you with the best possible service and products.
Recently, we’ve upgraded the quality of our edge tape and we now tape three sides of all toughened units (previously only two) as well as continuing to tape all four sides of annealed IGUs to help protect the units and improve handling
This is a great example of how a relatively small change in our manufacturing process can improve use for customers and fitters alike. What’s more, this small change has resulted in a tidier, cleaner finish to the edge of our units.
In 2016 we embarked on a programme of refurbishment of our army of glass storage trolleys. These are being superbly restored with new hard wearing sleeves, dividers and flooring. It may appear small but all of this is done for one reason only – to ensure that the finished product is transported from our production lines to our fleet of delivery vehicles and then to you, our customer, in the best possible shape. It’s easy to see in this case how marginal gains and seemingly small improvements have a big impact.
Another way we’ve been working hard to boost the quality of our finished products is through being aware and proactive when it comes to personal protective equipment. It’s crucial for protecting our employees and we purchase only the best quality cut resistant clothing and gloves to ensure Donwood is a safe environment. However, oily residue, dirt and grime can all build up on handling gloves and this can easily transfer itself to glass. By actively encouraging our employees to replace gloves before they are worn through, we ensure that their hands are kept safe and our glass is cleaner.
Looking ahead to 2017, our deionised water system is to be expanded to more machines than ever– this will ensure that glass is washed in high quality water at all relevant stages of the toughening and manufacturing process so our customers receive products that have been crafted to the highest standards throughout.
As a BSI audited ISO9001 company continuous improvement is a prerequisite at Donwood Glass. As these improvements demonstrate, we have worked hard to incorporate philosophy of “marginal gains”, and maintaining a strong attention to detail and we will continue to do so, all for the benefit of our customers.
Condensation can be an issue at this time of year as temperatures start to fall. Depending on where the condensation occurs, it may be completely normal and nothing to worry about or in some cases it is worth investigating. As autumn gets into full swing, some people grow particularly concerned about its appearance on more advanced glass products and insulated glass units.
Why does condensation form on windows?
Condensation forms when the limit to the amount of water vapour the atmosphere can hold is reached. The higher the temperature the more water vapour can be absorbed. That’s why in places where it’s colder such as close to windows, condensation forms, as less vapour is needed for the atmosphere there to become saturated.
Compared to the past, we now have warmer rooms thanks to improved living conditions but that has also meant reduced ventilation. Water vapour is produced by normal living activities such as breathing, cooking and washing up. The vapour has often nowhere to go which results in rooms having a naturally higher level of humidity. This can therefore lead to the formation of condensation on windows when the temperatures are cooler.
Low-E glass
Low-E glass has a microscopically thin, transparent coating which reflects heat – improving the energy efficiency of a building, helping keep the interior warm and energy bills down. It also reflects infrared rays from the sun to maintain a comfortable internal temperature without any impact on light in hotter months.
The coating limits heat exchange across the space between the two panes of glass in an insulated glass unit, helping to keep the inner pane of glass warmer, decreasing the instances when condensation can form.
Condensation on Low-E glass
Surface condensation on the outside of glazing is a phenomenon that is occasionally seen at night and in early to mid-morning hours on well-insulated glass. It is caused by heat loss to the sky.
This occurs when clear, windless weather conditions are prevailing. When these conditions combine with significant temperature fluctuations, usually occurring in spring and autumn, the effect is at its most pronounced. In other words, it occurs when mild temperatures can drop significantly to a much cooler level as night falls and dawn arrives. It is less likely to be seen in summer and winter as the temperatures are either warm or cold and are less prone to fluctuate.
It is important that the phenomenon of external condensation is not considered to represent poor quality double glazed units. Rather, it is proof of very good thermal insulation and that your windows are working as they should. Providing condensation is external to the insulated glass unit and not contained within the cavity then there is nothing to be concerned about.
If you want to make sure the glass used in your project or home is high-quality then get in touch and our expert team can recommend the best flat glass products and insulated glass units for you.
We’re moving…well, some of us are!
There’s been a lot going on at Donwood headquarters recently, from improved technology to new team members. As the organisation and as our as team has expanded, we’ve reassessed the space we have here at Donwood Glass and created a new personnel block to make better use of the units we have.
We’ve decided to transform one unit which was mainly used as storage unit into a brand new personnel block.
The new development has office space for over a dozen people plus a brand new conference and meeting area which will all be in-keeping with the Donwood brand. We wanted an improved environment for our team and we think it’s going to be a great space for us to all continue working hard.
Not only that, but we now have a place where our customers and visitors are able to get a good idea of who we are and what we’re all about when they visit us, and we think this revamped unit will give us just that.
To make sure the team has the best working environment possible, we’ve refreshed our IT equipment too. The hope is that access to newer IT resources will boost our efficiency as a team so we’re able to work in a more streamlined way. We want to continue meeting our customers’ expectations with quotes and queries dealt with swiftly and effectively so we can keep delivering high quality products with competitive lead times.
We hope the new personnel block will be a much more accessible and comfortable working space for the team, plus a great meeting space of our customers who want to visit us in the future.
Due to ever increasing demand for Donwood’s range of flat glass products, we are delighted to announce the creation of 12 new jobs at our Gateshead production facility. We’ve been able to take on more team members, 12 in the last 18 months to be exact, due to increasing sales here at Donwood.
We’re thrilled with the successes that this year has delivered so far. Being able to create new jobs within the business is particularly rewarding. As a family-run business which originated here in the North East, we’re dedicated to making sure we reinvest in the local economy and people here in Gateshead and across the wider region.
To ensure we can continue to play our part in the local economy, we’re always looking for ways to adapt to market changes and diversify. In doing this we are able to support growth to allow us to expand and improve our offer for our clients and customers.
The rise in sales here over the last 12 months has been driven in part by recent investment by the company, with an additional state-of-the-art production line added to our manufacturing facility in Gateshead in order to boost capacity, helping us offer our customers even more efficient lead times. Additional contract wins as well as repeat custom has further supported our growth over the past year.
Something we pride ourselves on is being able to offer competitive lead times and delivery of our high quality products. The combination of additional staff members and new production line allows us to continue to meet both customer’s high expectation and increased demand for our products.
Even now we are still looking to fill further roles within the business to help us continue providing our quality products to customers across the North East and Cumbria.
We anticipate that growth will continue into the third and fourth quarters of 2016 and we’re looking forward to seeing where the expansion of our on-site technology, equipment and of course, investment in the Donwood team will take us.
Donwood Glass is very pleased to announce the acquistion of a new Master 33 CNC Machining Centre to further strengthen our wide range of glass processing facilities. The machine is equipped with the very latest in CNC cutting technology and we hope to do a photo feature soon showcasing some of the fantastic finished products produced by our operators using the Master 33.