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Kawneer, Glazing glory

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer
Published : July 2002

Kawneer is a leader in architectural aluminium systems, with a proven record of accomplishment in innovation and design. Jeremy Young reports

Francis Plym, who recognised the long lasting and flexible nature of using metal glazing for window frames, founded Kawneer in 1906. The legacy of Plym’s innovation can be seen in high streets and shop fronts across the world. Before this, the common design for shop fronts was the ‘walk-in’ but Plym’s revolutionary designs meant that the frame could hold larger panes of glass. This change also allowed for a more architectural style of design and was seen at the time as leading the way for the modernist style of the early 20th century, which reached its high point in the Bauhaus movement in Germany.

The company is now part of the Alcoa group, the world’s largest producer of aluminium and alumina. The merger in June 1998 provided the company with increased opportunity for customer support and brought it to the forefront of the global market for architectural glazing. Today the group employs a workforce of over 100,000, with over 250 offices and manu-facturing facilities in 30 countries.

Kawneer has had a presence in Europe since 1963 and has continued to build on the spirit of innovation instilled by Plym. The business has expanded its range of products to include windows, doors, shop fronts and curtain walls.

The aim is to provide architects and specifiers with a comprehensive range of integrated, versatile products to achieve the aesthetic, structural and performance requirements of their design visions, providing clients and developers with precision engineered, high quality aluminium fenestration and façades.

In the UK, Kawneer is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of architectural aluminium systems for the commercial construction industry. Based in Runcorn, Cheshire, Kawneer UK has a turnover of £35 million and operates a nationwide network of fully trained, authorised installers, which fabricate and install its curtain walling, framing, windows and door systems. The installer network is supported by a dedicated project engineering team which also works directly with architects to provide bespoke technical and design support to meet the needs of any building project, large or small.

Kawneer operates very much at the high end of the market, undertaking contracts for such prestige projects as the new terminal at Bristol International Airport, the new Motorola headquarters in Swindon and the refurbishment by Foster and Partners of the London School of Economics. These projects are seen by the commissioning companies as a mark of their forward thinking and commitment to the future and therefore require a high quality engineered solution to meet the standards expected.

The company has met this challenge in two ways. Firstly, it has invested heavily in the latest computer controlled cutting and fabrication machinery. Secondly, and related to this investment, are its state-of-the-art CAD design systems.

Kawneer employs KaluCAD for the designing of the products. The system is a fully integrated design tool which offers not only the ability to produce accurate drawings but it also calculates the price, generates materials and production schedules, automatically estimates the production time, is tied into the CNC fabrication machinery and reports directly in the groups European product database.

This sharing of information is a significant part of the group’s activity and one of the main strengths offered by its global position. As a group, the company operates to the ISO 9001 standard for management control. This protocol means the company can offer customers across Europe a standardised product backed by the full experience and expertise of the group.

The other major change within the company is the development of a lean manufacturing policy. Despite the investment in machinery, the development in lean manufacturing is not such a straightforward business in a market such as glazing because of the craft element of the manufacturing process. The cutting and fabrication of the frames can be largely automated but the cutting of glass offers particular challenges that Kawneer works hard to overcome. The change to lean manufacturing is an inevitable part of the building industry where cost and project overruns are increasingly a thing of the past. Indeed many contracts now include penalty clauses for suppliers.

The company has recognised that the best way round fixed costs is not to simply go for reductions within the manufacturing process, but to invest in research and development (R&D), offer fresh and innovative solutions, and to create the extra on the margins by offering new products and services that increase turnover. Clearly the global pool of practical solutions and the brain power offered by working in diverse environments plays a large role in this ancillary range of products.

The innovative design philosophy inherent through the group is clearly shown in the design of the company’s doors. To many, a door is simply something that we never think about, but door design is a very exact and demanding discipline. The company offers a full range from commercial design for heavy traffic right through to sliding and domestic patio and front doors.

Dealing with such a wide range of products means that standard design, a usual part of the lean manufacturing process, becomes a problem. Kawneer has found a way round this by employing engineering solutions to ensure high standards of performance through the lifetime of the door. Its door systems are available in five permanodic anodised finishes and a complete range of permacover and metallic paint finishes. And Kawneer backs up this robust design philosophy by being the only company to offer a lifetime warranty on welded door corner construction.

It is this commitment to design, quality and customer needs that will ensure the company remains at the forefront of architectural glazing.

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