Roto Inside 26 (EN)

| 11 Fehér Ablak – the origins of the Fehér Group Renovations under one roof Since 2011, for example, Fehérép Kft. has been working in the XI quarter of Budapest on the energy-saving renovation of a residential project with eight four-storey residential buildings. Six of these buildings have since been completely modernised on behalf of their respective homeowners association. The win- dows have been replaced, and all the houses have been fitted with modern heating technology and a well-insulated building shell. The solar modules on the roofs produce half of the hot water for all residents. “In these houses, we have been able to reduce resident energy costs by about 48 per cent by means of renovation,” says Péter Sipos, Managing Director of Fehér Ablak Kft., two years after completing construction and a precise evaluation of the heating costs. “And Roto NT hardware ensures minimal maintenance requirements for perfect functionality of the windows.” ■■ PVC Half an hour southwest of Budapest, the company Fehér Ablak Kft., founded in 1995, and its 85 employees, produced more than 26,000 modern PVC windows and doors last year. One of its best customers is Fehérép Kft., a sister company founded in 1998, which is involved in the energy redevelopment of buildings, among other things. Since 1995, Jenö Sipos, Miklós Kalinics and Ferenc Pásztori, founding board members of the successful window manufacturer, have created an enterprise group that has turned into one of the most successful general contractors for new construction and redevelopment in the Hungarian market. Sophisticated concepts for renovation Péter Sipos considers that part of the product range that was developed for the renovation of existing buildings to be primarily responsible for the continuous growth of Fehér Ablak: “Very early on, we started thinking through the implementation of state restoration objectives. Therefore, the Fehér Group now has efficient, sophisticated construction concepts, proper windows, façade systems and considerable heating technical knowledge as is required for renovation. Whether it be the renovation of a 12-storey residential complex for more than 100 families or the renovation of a school.” Long-term growth objectives Fehérép Kft., with its 40 employees, is now considered to be a recognised general contractor specialising in the renovation and construction of buildings. Their engineers and technicians lead construction and renovation projects in every price range and size. “We are involved in both new construction and the renovation of public buildings such as schools, nurseries, sports facilities and other community centres,” reports Péter Sipos. “Above all, façade insulation has become a high turnover field of operation for Fehérép. Specially trained employees, good logis- tics, a professional purchasing team and our own frameworks ensure that we are able to offer attractive prices and work flexi- bly. The Fehér Group is the only company in Hungary that is able to offer complete renovation of a building from a single source.” Constant investment in construction from a single source In order to further improve the performance, the shareholders of the Fehér Group recently decided in favour of the founding of the Fehér Ajtó Kft. company which is dedicated to the manu- facturing of special doors for contract business, as well as for a separate metalworking company. The Group companies made a Since 2011, Fehérép Kft. has already renovated six out of eight four-storey residential blocks in Budapest’s XI quarter on behalf of the homeowner associations. The façades were fitted with a 10-cm-thick insulation. The modern windows from Fehér Ablak prevent heat loss with a U value of 1.3 W/(m²K). Around 50 per cent of the hot water used in the house is currently generated by a solar system. On a 2,500-square-metre site in Gúttamási, Fehér Ablak produces PVC windows and doors. A large storage facility with 400 square me- tres of space is connected to it. The windows and doors fitted with Roto NT hardware are recognised high-quality products in Hungary. consolidated turnover of a total of 18 million euros in 2013. “In the next ten to 15 years, around 2.3 million residential units will be energy-renovated in Hungary, so we expect our company to continue with its good business developments. And this is why we are constantly investing. The grants for the renovation of a further 380,000 apartments in Hungary have already been approved, and it will take around six years until these apartments are renovated.” In addition, the Hungarian government is looking for a model that will create financial incentives for single-family homeowners to renovate as well. “At Fehér Ablak, we also hope that the simultaneous demands of customers for quality win- dows and insulation measures will continue to increase. After all, we want to sell high-quality products and secure our position as a good long-term partner for Hungarian investors and builders.” Péter Sipos started working for Fehér Ablak, the company founded by his father, after he finished his studies. He now leads the company with Marketing Director Miklós Kalinics and Technical Director Ferenc Pásztori. “We are proud to say that the Fehér Group is regarded as a particularly reliable partner for construction and renovation throughout Hungary today. The quality of the windows we supply made a considerable contribution towards this.” The Fehér Group is also involved in the new construction of public buildings such as this sports hall. BL Quincaillerie Over 80 years of reliability Quincaillerie Boschat was founded in 1933 in Lamballe in West- ern France by René Boschat. Today, his grandchildren run the trading firm, which is still fully owned by the family: Christophe Boschat is Chairman of the Board of Directors, his brother Patrick is the main business manager and responsible, in particular, for handling the window and door production needs of customers. “Like many trading firms, our range has expanded over the years along with the preferences of our customers. Alongside hardware and sets for doors and windows, we also carry, for ex- ample, a comprehensive range of architectural hardware, access controls, drive units for doors and gates, smoke extractors and much more,” explained Christophe Boschat. Automation continues to progress In figures: the entire range of BL Quincaillerie includes some 38,000 different products, the catalogue currently lists 14,000 of them, including the Roto product groups Tilt&Turn, Door and ■■ Dealer The trading house BL Quincaillerie boasts an excellent reputation among French window and door producers. This is mainly due to the reliability of the well- established family business: BL Quincaillerie is currently run by the third generation of the Boschat family. In addition, they employ a specialised team of more than 100 sales rep- resentatives, sales staff and consultants, with 13 locations in France and a location in Southwest Germany, as well as an ultra-modern logistics platform that ensures considerable customer proximity. Equipment. “In 2005, we combined our entire product range to- gether into a storage space of around 18,000 square metres. This central logistics platform is located in Arnage, close to Le Mans. In 2010, we then invested in a fully automated order processing system which enables delivery to our customers and our regional storage facilities within 24 to 72 hours,” explains Patrick Boschat. Well-trained customer consultants BL Quincaillerie has also become a valued contact for window and door producers thanks to their highly qualified employees. In 2005, BL Quincaillerie opened an 18,000-square-metre modern logistics centre in Arnage. Currently, 126 of them work in sales and marketing for BL Quincaillerie. They are supported by 25 colleagues at the logistics centre in Arnage and by almost 40 employees in admin- istration and purchasing. “We started investing in the skills of our employees at an early stage. They attend regular training, among other things also in the context of training programmes at Roto, and are often both consultants and development partners for their customers. When Roto introduces an innovative product, we can guarantee our customers that our employees will have all the information and details about the product at their fingertips within a short period of time.” A customer-oriented strategy that works. Even in economically difficult times, such as those recently experienced by France and many other countries in Europe, the BL Quincaillerie Group has been able to improve contrary to the market and steadily increase their turnover to, most recently, 70 million euros. An optimistic outlook on 2014 The Boschat brothers are optimistic about the future. “In 2014, we expect the French window market to stabilise and then to recover slightly in 2015. But it is still too early to speak of a sus- tainable and quick recovery of the construction sector that has suffered most over the last few years, as in many other European countries. The decision of the French government to reduce the VAT rate in 2014 to 5.5 per cent for work on improving the energy efficiency of buildings may lead to the acceleration of significant recovery in the construction industry. Just like the investment plan for housing that was launched in 2013.”

Roto Inside 26 (EN)

Overview