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APS Aluminium Lift & Slide Patio Doors are renowned for being relatively simple to manufacture and install and this is why they are loved by fabricators and installers all over the country.  They are also a very modern and contemporary addition to any home or business.  When we called at an approved fabricator this week it was great to see another job being processed, this time for an apartment building by the sea at Portrush.  How lovely to look at the Atlantic through one of these.

We offer complete technical advice and guidance to our customers and are always on hand when they are in need of guidance during fabrication and installation of our systems.  Training on all systems is organised by Technical Manager Peter Cummins in our in-house training workshop located at Greenwood Business Park or Warehouse 5 as we familiarly call it and it is situated just across the road from headquarters .  This photo is an example and was taken recently when Peter was training a new architectural customer in fabrication of our extremely popular AP400 Lift & Slide Doors.

White Foamex PVC sheets in stock at APS.  Lightweight – easy to handle & install

• Smooth finish for all types for printing & mounting
• Acoustic & thermal
• Excellent fire performance
• Moisture resistant
• Suitable for indoor & short-term outdoor use
• Durable, flexible & versatile
• 100% recyclable

As we entered December we finished off a month of fundraising with a company coffee morning.  At the start of November five of our warehouse staff Giles, Ben, Jason, Colin and George hatched a plan to grow moustaches as is the norm in Mo-vember and along with Jonny our sales office manager started a push to raise funds for the local suicide & self harm prevention centre Emerge Counselling Services.  At the same time some of our sales office team took on a challenge to walk for Mo-vember and the group covered over 600 kilometres.

APS management agreed to match any funds raised and so most importantly the total figure raised was £1730!  The guys presented a cheque for £1500 direct to Emerge and £230 has also been donated to the Mo-vember charity.  Well done to the Warehouse staff who need to be commended for initiating the whole thing and thanks very much to everyone who donated so generously.  Hope you enjoy some of the photos.

Aluminium & Plastics Systems (APS) is celebrating 20 years in business and during those two decades we’ve survived a global recession and are now meeting the uncertainties of Brexit head on.

CEO Gary McNeill is one of the founding directors and we sat down with Gary to go over some of the highlights and biggest challenges.

COVID

Clearly, the focus for the last 12 months has been adapting to the unprecedented change in customer needs. What that’s meant is providing a product range unlike anything we’ve offered in the past.

“Since the pandemic hit, we’ve sold a lot more home improvement products like aluminium lift and slide doors, decking, PVC showers and flooring; many of which we haven’t sold before,” he said.

Listening to our customers

It’s this kind of adaptability in the market that has allowed APS to navigate its way through a challenging couple of decades in the construction industry.

“The key has been keeping up with the latest trends in the industry,” McNeill said.

“New products or new colours become popular at any given time and it’s a matter of recognising those, keeping on top of them and working closely with (or sometimes finding new) suppliers to make sure we have what our customers want.”

Brexit

Not only is the business pivoting as a result of the pandemic, but Brexit has also brought about further need for change. We’re viewing the changing political landscape as an opportunity to grow.

“We’re currently recruiting senior logistics staff to help us break further into the UK market with our aluminium systems range. With Brexit now too, we need to be more switched on with what we’re doing.

“We have products that are developed for the Irish market and we’ll need to adapt to the different trends in the UK market. That might mean making some tweaks to our existing offering, which is likely to be the focus over the next few years.

“With the planned new staff, we’re trying to improve our efficiency and delivery. That will allow us to focus on UK sales, which is when we’ll kick into gear with further product research and development.”

R&D

It’s the process of research and development and the desire to constantly move with the times that has allowed us to stay afloat during such turbulent times.

“From day one we’ve stocked a fairly basic range of products and, while a lot of our suppliers do their own research and development of their products, we’ve also done our own and it’s that development as a business that has allowed us to do bigger and bigger projects over the years.”

The beginning

McNeill admits that few of the founding staff could have predicted just how many economic, political and health challenges they would have to endure along the way. However, as events transpired in 2001, they felt the time was right to start something new.

“Fifteen of us worked for Reynolds Metal Company* which was taken over by global aluminium giant Alcoa – currently the world’s eighth largest producer of aluminium.  During that merger we all thought there were too many aluminium companies in Ireland, and some would surely have to close. So jumped ship before we were pushed.”

“We’d all been working together for 10 years at that time and we had a good customer base. We were a very small company compared to Alcoa and we didn’t think that they would want our existing business or even value it because we were tiny in comparison.

“We felt we had a good business, and it was a good fit for Northern Ireland but that it wasn’t a good fit for a multi-national.”

Our first 12 months in business was to prove a telling sign of things to come.

“When we opened APS, Alcoa tried to compete against us for 12 months, which meant trading against some of our old colleagues who used to work with us. They then decided to close the business down after a year and we then got all of their customers.

“Within 12 months, we were doing the same turnover as when we were part of Reynolds and within three years, we were doing substantially more than we ever did in the 10 years previously.

The GFC

“Then, along came the recession in 2007-08 and being in the building industry obviously hit us hard for two or three years.

“In that time, like everyone in the construction industry, we struggled. Slowly, we have emerged out of that and we’re now at sales levels well above those pre-recession. The business is running as well as it has ever done – that is before COVID came along of course.”

We’d grown to 45 staff leading into the Global Financial Crisis and it would eventually take a serious toll on the business.

“After it hit, we shrank back down to about 30 staff. We were basically in survival mode for two or three years just to find a way to get through.

“We were carrying a lot of stock and we had a lot of business across Ireland that was badly affected by it. We had a lot of bad debt at that stage, so it was a matter of building back up from there.”

Looking ahead

The many lessons learned throughout our journey has the business in a stable position and the view through the window into future is bright.

“While COVID has certainly hampered our progress, our outlook is pretty positive. Not being able to go and visit some new customers has made things difficult but hopefully after June that changes and COVID will largely be behind us.”

* Reynolds Metals Company, which was the second-largest aluminium company in the United States, and the third-largest in the world. Reynolds Metals was acquired by Alcoa in June 2000.

A very warm welcome to Philip Osbourne (right) who is our new Technical Sales Manager. He is pictured here with Architectural Sales Director Alan Denver. Philip will work alongside the rest of the Architectural team to strengthen APS’ all-Ireland sales. We wish Philip all the very best and hope he enjoys his new role with us!

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to call at the APS product launch/coffee morning on Friday 28th February to hear all about our latest product developments.  It was a very informal morning when everyone was invited to call for a chat and some refreshments.  We hope that you found the time well spent and informative. Whether you are the architect specifying our systems, the fabricator, the builder, or indeed one of our suppliers, it was great to see you and the event was a great success.

At the end of January 2020 we all got together to mark the retirement of Wilson Adams who had been employed at APS for over 15 years in the architectural accessories warehouse where he was rather an expert. We will miss him around the company and his many stories but know that he will call in to see us. The company directors presented him with a motorbike as a parting gift which left him speechless for the first time! We wish Wilson many happy years of retirement while making the most of his new found freedom with his new wheels on the highways and byways of Northern Ireland.

PVC-u windows supplied by APS approved window manufacturer, Brendan Loughran & Sons, Carrickmore, Co Tyrone have achieved PAS 24 Enhanced Security Testing with flying colours.  The standard which is required to achieve S B D is obtained by rigorous testing with windows being subjected to personnel attempting to open them with crow bars among other tools!  This standard gives the company one of the best performing windows in the market, with minimal changes from their normal window offerings.