Bio

Find out how our Schüco partners have successfully developed their businesses with our Digital Expert Bio stories.

DFF Aluminum AB

Simple & Special Solutions

In our continuing Bio series we're heading to Stockholm, Sweden to speak with our friends at DFF Aluminium AB. Drawing on over 40 years experience in the field, DFF continually challenges themselves in finding innovative solutions for demanding projects.

DFF Aluminium has their entire workflow under one roof, combining both aluminum and steel production, providing them both flexibility and efficiency. Their vision is to be the most attractive total supplier, and employer, in glass and metal construction.

Derks & zn.

IT’S TIME FOR PROGRESS

Nowadays it is important to make progress in order to be at the cutting edge of technology. There is no time to lose. It is important to keep up to date and rethink on how you can adapt your professional management to these changes.

The metal construction industry is always looking for progress for its business and new ways to improve quality, time management and costs.

The Schüco partner and metal construction company of Henry Derks in Holland is constantly developing and looking for solutions to improve and advance the work. The CEO of the company places great emphasis on the quality of its products by using innovative and technologically advanced products and machinery. Ten years ago, the company bought its first Schüco machine, the AF 300, at which time the Schüco partner was the first company in the whole of Holland to own such a machine and was thus able to take its skills to a new level. But now it is time to serve the window, door and façade market with the Schüco AF 500 machine and to take advantage of the advantageous position it has created in the market.

Check out the video and find out why the company decided to use Schüco machines and the influence the machines have in connection with the use of the Schüco Fabrication Data Center in everyday business.

Investing in the future, today

KG Constructions for more than 13 years has been developing aluminum system facade solutions and modernizing the look and feel of various cities across Europe. They apply the latest technologies and working methods in their production of aluminum-glass structures. With their head office located on the outskirts of Vilnius, their focus markets cover the Scandinavian region as well as their home country of Lithuania. Producing approx. 100,000 m² a year, they offer clients a range of services through several project phases from consulting to warranty service.

With a current team of 409 employees, there’s no shortage of manpower to be found on site at the KG Constructions offices or workshop floor. The energy that fills the halls is that of a well-oiled machine. While touring the different production areas there’s a sense of space that is both vast and at the same time almost needing more with all of the moving bodies, hard-working machinery and massive partly assembled products. It’s here in the production halls that the management teams have applied so much of their focus.

In the past few years, management believed that investing in optimization and efficiency was the way forward for the entire company. Managing projects through spreadsheets had become cumbersome, tracking progress was handled with too many individual factors and the production had been hampered by a lack of standardization. That’s where ERP and Lean processes came in to the picture for KG Constructions.

ERP, an acronym for Enterprise resource planning, was a solution that was brought in over two years ago into the company’s ecosystem to develop standards across the board. This software helped the company create a unified directory for all projects, track their progress and allows for future functionality and integration such as stock management, digital invoicing, etc. Although the implementation time was far from overnight, the results are impressive in how it has systematically unified the company’s handling of projects & production for the future.

Lean implementation, on the other hand, has been a sequence of various steps toward new standards. The Japanese workplace method of 5S(seiri, seiton, seisō, seiketsu, and shitsuke) was introduced to create workspaces on the production floor that were the most conducive to workers and helped avoid time-wasting bad habits. Other ideas such as daily morning meetings and an employee-idea-submission system have become staples and contribute into the high level of productivity the company has become accustomed to.

The pairing of these two concepts, combined with a robust machine park full of Schüco solutions, has created not just new standards but also new horizons. With even machinery upgrades expected in the near future and a brand new production space expected next year, the future is bright at KG Constructions.

Idex Gluggar

SchüCal in the land of the Vikings

The Idex name is prestigious in Iceland, with over 30 years of history on the Icelandic construction market. They are known for their quality products and service.

Here in a country with a population of less than 400,000 Idex has forged a successful aluminum production company specializing in doors, windows and façades. Currently owned by Helga Margrét Jóhannsdóttir and Ragnar Jóhannsson, they purchased the entire operation of Idex ehf. Reykjavik and Idex A / S Denmark Idex ehf in 2004. And in 2009 they took over almost all product distributions and aluminum window production from Formaco ehf. and founded the new Idex gluggar.

The story of Idex is one of hard work and perseverance, but not without a little help from Schüco. The Idex Bio film showcases the impact our core digital solution, SchüCal, has had on their production and everyday workflow. With some ingenuity and third party fabrication machinery, they’ve developed a winning strategy for their market.

With a mission statement to service the construction industry with quality products at affordable prices, Idex is poised for success now and in the future to come.

Watch their Bio film now to discover what our Icelandic partners have to say for themselves.

Oberland goes Digital

Digitalization seems to be the trending buzzword of the day - sometimes with euphoric expectations, and at other times with discouraging or unideal scenarios. Digitalization is not waiting in the distant future, but is instead happening right now: the digital transformation is in full swing and is changing our way of life and work at an immeasurable rate.

Schüco partner Oberland Fassadensysteme GmbH in Schwanstetten is a great example of how digital processes in combination with technical optimization lead to significantly improved efficiency, near paperless processes and immediate up-to-date information for the status of every order, at the touch of a button.

Managing Director Marc Pröchel has deeply ingrained the use of digital tools and processes, which Schüco has actively shaped and supported through both hard- and software.

Check out the video now to get a sense of how our partner Oberland Façade Systems is consistently implementing digitization and find out in their own words why it’s important to invest in the future today.

Berlings Glas

A journey from 1909 into the future

It’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and innovations. 110-year-old Berlings Glas, a Swedish company located in the southern province of Halland, has manufactured Schüco systems for more than 20 years and is well aware of this fact. In a globalized market, Berlings Glas does not only compete against other Swedish companies but also stiff competition from abroad when it comes to both large and small projects. In 2015, the company found itself at a crossroad - increase their turnover or fold. This became the start of an ongoing effort towards efficiency and optimization that has yet to lose steam.

Approximately 4 years ago, Berlings' journey towards digitalization made considerable progress through an in-depth collaboration with Schüco. Their workshop layout was revised, processes were reevaluated and the administration revitalized. Existing competences were inventoried and the market segments analyzed. The work resulted in an action plan with clear guidelines to lead the company successfully to their growth goals. The management decided to bet on the future and invested in two new CNC machines, 8 workshop terminals and a new business system. Today, sales have since increased, the staff is thriving more than ever and it has in turn become much easier to recruit new talent. With the right processes in place and a new rational organization, Berlings Glas now wins bigger jobs and has turned their former losses into profit.

Make your own journey towards digitalization. It doesn't require expensive investments in hardware or software. The best investment is ultimately in your own competence.