A partnership between SFS and the Birtley Group has improved the performance, quality and reliability of the company’s doors and hinges
Over a decade ago, Bowater Doors, which is now part of the Birtley Group, were producing over-rebated doors and wanted to extend their range to include composite flush doors. At that time, SFS were supplying them with the Dynamic 2D hinge for heavy over-rebated doors and since this hinge ticked all the boxes for technical abilities, reliability and aesthetics since it could be manufactured in a range of colours to match other hardware, SFS were asked to develop and produce a new hinge for Bowater’s extended door range.
Nigel Wood, Director of Sales – Hinge and Fastening Technology at SFS, commented: “As a manufacturer of high-performance hinges, we were delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Bowater to develop a new hinge. We worked closely with Bowater’s Technical Manager, which included making several prototypes to test at Bowater’s testing facilities. This enabled us to run several tests to check hinge performance and ease of installation.
“This testing revealed that offsetting the screws, rather than aligning them, increased the stability and durability of the hinge significantly. Despite it being a development project that wasn’t without its challenges, it took just a matter of a few weeks to test our prototypes and then finalise designs to start manufacturing the Dynamic 2DF as the perfect solution for Bowater’s composite flush door range with Veka-Halo profiles. With its optimum performance, which included meeting all PAS24 regulations, the development of Dynamic 2DF in conjunction with Bowater allowed us to improve the performance, quality and reliability of the door and hinges.”
Ian Glenister, Door Technical Manager at Birtley Group, said: “The new range of doors from Bowater by Birtley provides options for all budgets, all styles of properties and all building requirements, but the thing they all have in common is quality. Every element of the doors’ design is tailored to give end users the very best and hardware is an important part of the mix.
“The development of SFS Dynamic 2DF hinge was key to evolving Bowater’s products and introducing the new range of composite doors. Not only were SFS very open to discussing solutions and coordinating prototypes with their factory in Italy but once we launched our new range, they provided all the aftermarket support needed to ensure an excellent supply and customer service level.”
The Birtley Group recently relaunched the Bowater brand at the FIT Show in May 2017, highlighting their brand colours to maximum effect on their stand with all doors showing SFS hinges.
Nigel Wood remarks: “The Bowater brand is renowned in the industry for representing superb quality and SFS also has a great reputation for durable, high performance hinges. These synergies between the two companies can only be advantageous for further development projects.
“SFS is keen to partner with customers to develop and evolve other innovative products, in particular to explore the development of our Dynamic 2D-C hinge for a flush application. We firmly believe that working in partnership with customers helps us to evolve our product range and provide the best solutions possible.”
Find out more at www.sfsintec.co.uk
Joanna Chew
Marketing Manager
SFS
Tel: +44 (0)113 2085 500
Twitter: @SFSintec
Please note: this is a commercial profile.
