International friction stay manufacturer Cotswold Architectural Products designed and created its first specialist component solution over thirty years ago.
Fast-forward to the present day and it is still coming up with custom-made hardware solutions for the benefit of its fabricator customers.
- Iain Morgan
One of its most recent solutions is a bespoke friction stay which has been designed in collaboration with long-running customer Safestyle UK – one of the UK’s leading window and door manufacturers and suppliers.
The product solution in question is the DDS Stay; a component both companies worked together to create and which is now incorporated across Safestyle’s Duraflex Diamond Suite.
According to Steve Hill, Technical Manager at Safestyle, the DDS Stay has increased production efficiency even further in relation to the Duraflex Diamond Suite, and ensured frames are easier to fabricate.
He comments: “The previous stay we were incorporating within the fabrication of the Duraflex Diamond Suite had a tendency to deform under the weight of the frame.
“To resolve this issue we provided Cotswold with a prototype of what we wanted and worked together with them to create the DDS Stay, which is a dedicated hinge that locates first time every time and has locator legs engineered to eliminate any rocking or motion.”
Steve continues: “We understood that a product such as this can’t be designed and be with us overnight but we were kept informed at all times throughout the creation of the stay – Cotswold is undoubtedly a top supplier.”
Safestyle are enjoying their strongest year to date, breaking all sales records and installing in over a 1000 homes per week. Cotswold’s Managing Director Iain Morgan is delighted that the bespoke DDS Stay has been well-received by the team at Safestyle.
And for the Cotswold team it is another specialist solution successfully designed and brought to market.
For Iain, their ability to meet the criteria set by industry leaders such as Safestyle is in part down to Cotswold’s inclination to do ‘special things’ for fabricators and their unrivalled knowledge and expertise regarding friction stays.
He comments: “Unlike other manufacturers we don’t see friction stays just as another piece of hardware. We see it as a specialist component and we have thirty-five years’ experience of innovating and working together with fabricators to come up these specialist solutions.
“We are the UK’s only specialist friction stay manufacturer and in the last six years have developed ten bespoke and original friction stays. We work with many of the major UK fabricators, many of which have custom-made hardware from Cotswold,” Iain concludes.
For more information call Cotswold Architectural Products on 01242 233993 or visit www.cotswold-windows.co.uk
For more information on Safestyle UK, visit www.safestyle-windows.co.uk