I can tick another factory tour off the list. Today I went over the hill (northern reference) to Clitheroe to go see the guys at Ultraframe for their training session for the new Loggia glass extensions.

It was a useful visit in the end. I was skeptical at first as I thought it was mostly going to be a day where we just covered old ground. But myself, the old man and our surveyor all went and we didn’t waste a day in the end. After a brief introduction to the product again just to refresh our memories, we quickly went in to the construction of the products, all of the options available and a very detailed installations guide.

Then we had lunch! Which my stomach was very much appreciative of as anyone who knows me knows I like my food. To anyone that cares, lunch was a range of Subway sandwiches, cookies, crisps, biscuits, teas and coffee!

The second half was probably the most useful. We had a tour around the manufacturing facility to see exactly how the Loggia is made. It’s almost all put together by hand which is something I quite liked. Most of what we sell is all made by machines now and the last little bits put together by hand. Where as the Loggia is put together by hand and very little of it has machine-run parts.

What we also found useful was the demonstration room where a simplified model of both the Loggia and the Livin Room roof was dismantled and put back together again. It allowed us to fully understand the presentations we had seen earlier. It made everything that bit clearer.

One thing that did irritate me a bit was the way other people that were there to try and learn about the product tried their very best to pick holes in every area of the product. I understand that it’s a new product and surveyors and MD’s will want to know about potential issues, but these guys were really making an effort to trash-talk almost everything they saw with Loggia. It’s something that annoys me about our industry. A company brings out a new product, invites everyone to come see it, learn all about it, feed and water them, yet there are many of us who make life hard for the companies trying to bring in new innovations. It annoys me.

I still think that the key to this product succeeding is for Loggia’s to be put into people’s showrooms. Loggia is a product that requires it to be seen by people in order for it to be sold. Get it in showrooms, back it up with easy pricing structures and good marketing literature, then on the right properties, Loggia will hopefully be a success.

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