Response to Edgetech: A Popular Misconception (Glass on Web, 0ctober 14 2010)

October 1st has passed and our primary concern should be to ensure companies are compliant with the new regulations in the UK and able to take advantage of the opportunities.  Swisspacer products are a simple and fast way for companies to move towards these goals. Whether choosing WERs or the U-value route, switching from aluminium spacer bar to Swisspacer is a simple change that helps companies achieve the values they need. It needs no investment in application machinery and potentially no need to re-test to EN1279, so there are no delays.



Edgetech conveniently omits to mention some key facts:



There are two distinctly different products in our range: the top performing Swisspacer V, which enables the best ratings to be achieved, and the solidly performing and considerably cheaper Swisspacer. Both are available and selling well in the UK and Irish markets.



A significant part of the market already cut and corner keys spacer bars and in some areas of the UK this is a growing, customer-driven requirement, even in standard aluminium bar.



There are a range of automated solutions readily available for Swisspacer products and in use by sealed unit manufacturers, not as Edgetech would have you believe “a prototype bar bender, only one of which has been sold anywhere in the world!”



It is worth examining the timing of Edgetech’s attack on Swisspacer and myself. Swisspacer has been promoting its ‘no investment needed’ benefits very strongly now for three years in advertising and PR (remember the 'DON'T' campaign of early 2008?). We believe that what prompted Edgetech to launch this attack is the wide publicity given to Swisspacer's meteoric sales and market share growth in the UK and Ireland. Many of the largest IGU manufacturers in the UK and Ireland now use Swisspacer. This dramatic growth and strong position has been achieved in the last three years and it now makes us Swisspacer's second largest market, with a 20% share of global sales. That is a fact that is no doubt hard for Edgetech to stomach. In addition, lots of people tell me they simply prefer to use a rigid spacer bar rather than a floppy spacer.



If customers want the facts about Swisspacer products, ignore the spin and misleading or blatantly false information from our competitors and talk to me or one of our distribution partners: DGS/Solutions UK, Magden, and National Seal in Ireland.



Kathryn Dalgleish

Marketing and Sales Manager (UK and Ireland)

Swisspacer

Vetrotech Saint-Gobain (International) AG

Mob: 07717 518 524