The last few years in this industry of ours has demonstrated very neatly the importance of moving forward. There are those that have had the energy and forethought to keep R&D busy and innovate and create new products to keep the market fresh and the new business coming in. Then there have been those that have been very happy to rest on their laurels and fall way behind the rest of the competition, all the while losing customers with some eventually closing their doors.
Progress is vital, not just in double glazing but in any industry. Just look at technology for example. Samsung, Google and Apple all seem to bring out a new range of devices every few months, because they know that the minute one of them stands still, the competition will steam ahead and they will find it very hard to get that ground back. Just look at what has happened to BlackBerry. They were pioneers of the smartphone. Yet, they stood still, thinking that their share of the market was safe. Then along came Apple and Samsung, as well as HTC and a raft of others and totally smashed their share of the phone market to bits. That is the price you pay for not paying enough attention to the future.
It’s always nice bringing a new product to market after so much time and effort has been spent to develop it. But as nice it is to think about having a bit of down time to recuperate, attention must then focus to what will come next. You have ask yourself: “how can I make this door better?” “How can I improve the energy efficiency of these windows?” Failure to do so will mean that others will look at what you’re doing and work out how to beat you.
It’s a very cut throat industry we work in at the moment. There are many great manufacturers doing many great things. In fact the rate of development and introduction of new products to the market is probably at it’s highest it has ever been. But there is no race to the line as there is no finish, just a dash to the next peak in fenestration excellence!
