20 July 2016 | www.glassnews.co.uk

GLASS NEWS INTERVIEW: APEER The UK’s Leading Glass & Glazing Newspaper

Apeer is a well-known name in door manufacture and has been around for a long time, however the volume the company manufactures has been shrouded, not so much by secrecy, but by the fact that much of their output is own branded by well-known names in the fenestration industry. A visit to Ballymena in Northern Ireland and an in depth look at Apeer’s manufacturing facility, ably guided by Managing Director, Asa McGillian, gave Glass News’ Editor Chris Champion the insight he was looking for.

Ace Fixings, New World Developments, Lumi, Apeer…all names that are known but are actually part of the same stable. I always thought of the company as New World Developments that had a door product called Apeer. Is that right?

There’s a bit of history: but it’s basically right. Apeer was our own fibreglass composite door made with a Resin Transfer Moulding process. This made us different from the

Sheet Moulding Compound producers that were, and still are, manufacturing the GRP Polyurethane filled composite doors.

Was that a conscious effort to be different?

Not at all. RTM is more suited to the smaller, low volume, manufacturer and doesn’t require the heat or pressure required for SMC. People are often a bit sniffy about RTM, as if SMC is the only way to make skins but, as you can see, RTM is efficient and makes a quality skin with both great strength and grain definition.

The only real difference is that the SMC method often introduces colour to the skin and allowed the ‘through colour’ myth to be born, even though those skins are painted just as ours are.

I must admit that I haven’t seen RTM manufacture before and there is no doubt that the finished product doesn’t suffer at all. What I do find interesting is that there is no timber in the construction…

Don’t forget, we’re making a bespoke door. Every one is unique and I’m not even sure we have made two doors exactly the same size, ever! This is not a trimmable door. Virtually 100% leave here as a finished doorset, made to measure. This means that the stiles and rails are moulded from fibreglass to form the over rebate, or even double rebate, and we achieve that by ‘pultrusion’ – that is dragging fibreglass through a mould. In fact the absolute opposite to how PVCu profile is formed which is pushed through.

It strikes me that part of the process is quite basic….very labour intensive, while other parts are highly automated. Is that right?

That’s right and it’s why a large part of our workforce have joinery skills although no timber is used, whatsoever! It is skilled and very accurate work and every door carries its identification and requirements through each process. It’s a one off door in style, size, colours, glass and hardware.

Where it gets automated is in the foaming and paint processing…

The foaming station is automated and you have already commented on the density of the foam. This is a strong door and we’re very proud of the foaming and our ability to prevent voids and provide great adherence to the skins and fibreglass rails and stiles. We also have the ability to provide all sorts of additional strengtheners and do that for various customers.

Do you use timber in any of your door manufacture?

We do in the case of fire doors and, as you know, the market is very buoyant. The fire doors are 44mm and have a solid timber core, so we understand the manufacture and benefits of both polyurethane foam cored products and timber, too.

I must ask you about the paint process. Just looking at the doors, frames and cills coming out of the oven, it strikes me that every door is a different colour. How do you do that? Surely you batch colours together so you can clean out the spray guns less frequently?

No. Every door is taken in order and is sprayed to its required colour. We have a multi-head spray already loaded with colours and it takes 24 seconds to clean the system ready for the next colour. It’s very efficient.

The other question that comes up when you see the doors hanging on the rails is that these aren’t all one door. What I mean is that you have

EVOLVING DOORS... AND LUMI WINDOWS, TOO!

Glass toughening plant

IGUs for Apeer’s own consumption

Asa McGillian, Managing Director, Apeer Doors

Decorative glass studio

21www.glassnews.co.uk | July 2016

GLASS NEWS INTERVIEW: APEERThe UK’s Leading Glass & Glazing Newspaper

your untrimmable, bespoke door next to a 44mm GRP composite. Can we look through your product portfolio because the different doors, glazing cassette systems, and snap on coverings seems bewildering…

Ah! Now we’re getting to the nitty gritty! Our product range is much larger than most people realise. For instance, we are still making PVCu panels and, yes, there is still a demand and our customers won’t let us stop making them. As you’ve noticed, we have the 44mm Capstone GRP composite door and we are continuing to bring in containers from the Far East and using the ODL Trisys glazing cassette. Moving on, we have our Traditional 70mm, double rebate, door, which includes French style double doors and our stable door, which is hugely popular because it is rebated as a traditional timber door would be. Then we have the 70mm Contemporary range and Modo, our modern door, complete with stainless steel trims and furniture. To be honest, you either have to play with our door builder on our website or download the pdf brochure because the options in colours, styles, furniture and glass, is vast. 24 standard colours and bespoke with any RAL colour and, of course, our decorative glass range.

Glass. I’m glad you’ve brought that up because the last thing I expected

to see was your own glass line, toughening plant and decorative glass studio. Are you making insulated glass units for the trade?

No, it’s purely for our own consumption and, with the demand for larger expanses of glass in bi-folds and sliding doors, we shall be adding a larger toughening plant, soon.

And this is, presumably driven by Lumi? The triple glazed units you are using for the Lumi range are very impressive. Can you tell us why you have, effectively, designed a whole new ultra-modern window system when you are known as a door manufacturer?

A window system for the 21st century sounds a bit hackneyed considering we are now as far as 2016! But I always felt there was a demand for a completely new system that went upmarket of PVCu and had a style and architectural approach.

Our knowledge of ‘pultrusion’ has allowed us to produce an ultra strong window, or door, frame and we found that its adherent properties was perfect for Renolit foils. This meant the interior of the frame could match

or contrast with interior design, while the bonding properties of the fibreglass profile meant that we could, literally, glue the triple glazed unit to the frame such that only 23mm of the frame would be seen, externally. This gives a unique and modern look ideal for new build properties and even commercial application.

Unkindly, someone…..a friend, actually….said, when I was describing Lumi: “So you stuck the glass on the front of a window frame.” I had to say that that was pretty much it! However, what it gives you is fully customisable, matching frameless windows, bi-folds and doors. I really can’t improve on how we describe Lumi on the website.

“Hidden under the ceramic colour lies the secret to Lumi’s strength - energy efficient triple glazing that has been structurally bonded to an internal core of high strength, glass-fibre reinforced profiles. This intelligent piece of engineering is the first of its kind on the market, bringing all the design benefits of frameless glazing with all the strength, security and internal styling of more traditional windows and doors.”

There is no doubt that the whole Apeer product range is stunning to look at and beautifully made and what you have done with Lumi is not only a brave investment but deserves the success I’m sure it will enjoy. I presume that, in the time honoured way, anyone wanting to know about Lumi or the other Apeer products should go to the website?

The website is a good starting point although we like to talk to people face to face – we’re sociable and, after all, we’re Irish! Having said that, we have four staff based in England and Scotland.

We’re a long standing company formed by my father and mother and we’ve been around since 1977 with a company named Ace Fixings which still exists and New World Developments that was formed in 1996. We are constantly investing both in manufacturing space, people and products. We take great pride in working with our partners and providing training and very detailed manuals and collateral.

A ‘phone call to 084 56 729 333 or an email to sales@apeer.co.uk might just be the start of a new product range to offer the customer.

READER ENQUIRY NO: 0716/0029

Fibreglass cloths are laid to form the door skins

Sub-frame is laid out to the unique door specification

Doors and accessories exit the paint line

Aluminium bi-fold doors are tested in a jig

Resin Transfer Moulded press forms the skin

Pultruded fibreglass sub-frame is bonded together

Every door gets a final inspection

Machining centre prepares the pultruded fibreglass sub- frame for the Apeer door

Skin is bonded to the sub-frame

Care at every stage as every door and doorset is unique

Dense polyurethane foam fills the door blank