Door Industry Journal - Winter 2019

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 66 THE door industry journal winter 2019 Domestic Garage Doors A Ringing Endorsement of the Value of Being a Secured by Design (SBD) Member Company from Mark McEvoy, Commercial Director, of Garage Door Systems in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The company is now producing a significant number of their ThermaRoll 77 roller garage doors every week – with around 80% of them being to SBD’s Police Preferred Specification, which requires them to be sufficiently robust to deter and reduce crime. Since the launch of the ThermaRoll garage door in February 2018, the company is approaching £2million of garage door sales with 95% of sales taking place on the UK mainland. Mark declared: “SBD has helped our business significantly and it’s proved invaluable with our customers and specialist installation companies – helping them have a positive experience when looking at our product offering.” Garage Door Systems specialises in the manufacture and distribution of roller, sectional, side hinged garage doors and personnel doors. It’s also the main service and distribution centre for LiftMaster Home Automation products in the UK and Ireland. During a recent visit to the company, National SBD Manager, Kenny McHugh, was given a tour of the factory floor and shown some of its latest equipment, such as a duo-vent extraction system that produces ‘clean’ aluminium after removing tiny filings of aluminium, known as swarf, during the manufacturing process. ThermaRoll is made from interlocking twin walled aluminium slats each with a strengthening rigid foam core. Keeping the door securely closed are a minimum of three locking straps that incorporate heavy duty direct connect linkages for maximum resistance to forced opening. Working with the physical security of the locking and strength of the door is Somfy’s remote control, which senses any attempt to force the door open by levering the bottom of the door upwards. An alarm sounds to provide an alert and deter further attempts at entry. It has been certified to STS 202 Issue 7 BR1. Garage Door Systems work with Element for its testing and certification in order to reach the high standards to achieve SBD accreditation. Mark praised their services: “Without Element’s assistance, some companies might be put off pursuing the programme – they do really hold your hand through the testing process and provide the necessary guidance.” Mark West, Door & Window Laboratory Manager at Element, Wednesbury, commented: “We were pleased to provide the testing and certification for Garage Door Systems’ ThermaRoll range, adding to its existing Certisecure certified products. STS 202 BR1 is a rigorous opportunist attack by Element’s highly skilled test engineers and when combined with our Certisecure scheme annual factory surveillance visit ensures Garage Door Systems’ customers will benefit from the confidence that comes from buying a certified product.” Garage Door Systems invests heavily in research and development and is now developing an external roller shutter for new targeted markets and industries. Likely to be the first product of its kind for Ireland, the new roller shutter project presents another exciting opportunity for Garage Door Systems Ltd. It is hoped the product will become SBD accredited to further enhance the product’s credentials and provide prospective customers with additional peace of mind. Kenny commented: “Garage Door Systems is a great example of a company that is making the most of its SBD membership and is keen to come up with ideas about how we can work together to improve the customer experience. “It is always a joy to visit their factory floor. With all its bustling production activity, it gives us the chance to see the very start of the process of how SBD works with manufacturers to create strong and robust products to meet the growing demand from the public for security-related products that help them be safe in their homes.” You can find out more about Garage Door Systems and their SBD accredited products here: http://bit.ly/SBD-GDS