June/July 2020

Reinforcement
HOW STRONG IS YOUR CHAIN?
Components in ‘normal’ trading conditions can be over-looked, but in the post-lockdown era
steel renforcement specialist Anglo European says the integrity and reliability of your supply
chain in its entirety assumes critical new importance...
The threat to business, according to
analysts, was never lockdown in itself.
The government furlough scheme and the
pausing of orders allowed companies to keep a
lid on overheads. It’s coming out of it which has
proven and continues to pose the greatest risk –
and that extends throughout the supply chain as
a whole.
“We’ve seen announcements and failures in
national retail, systems companies in aluminium
and PVC-U, some very high-profile fabricators
have gone and question marks remain over many
others – that’s at a time when installers can’t
keep up with demand!” says Lee Marriott, group
business development director, Anglo European.
“It’s not about market demand, right now it’s about
cash flow. Coming out of lockdown costs and if a
single element of your supply chain doesn’t stand
up, you can’t ship product and you can’t invoice –
and that is going to crucify your cashflow.”
Lockdown impact on component supply
Supply chain integrity has proved a challenge
in some areas of the window and door industry
already. With IGU manufacturers holding off the
restart of their operations for sufficient volume
to switch toughening plants back on, glass
supply became problematic for a large number of
installers in the early days of the return to work.
Lee, however, argues that now extends to other
areas including many other components critical to
fabricators’ ability to supply their customer base.
“Bay poles, bay pole trims – can you believe it?
They’re in short supply and holding up orders.
There are also some challenges in supply in steel
reinforcement because of later restarts.
“We came back with our customers and that’s
been really important in supporting our own
cashflow but also that of our customers, by
allowing them to complete jobs”, Lee adds.
Returning to work from start of May following
temporary closure in response to government
guidance on Covid-19, Anglo has seen customer
demand exceed its forecasts.
This, the steel reinforcement specialist attributes
to the delayed restart of some of its competitors
and increased market demand – but also
the complexities associated with the steel
reinforcement supply chain.
UK steel reinforcement stock-outs
“We buy British made steel, we roll-it, we load
it onto skids in 6m bar length or cut-it-to-size
Continued on page 50
48 T F JUNE/JULY 2020 CONNECTING THE WINDOW, DOOR & ROOF FABRICATION SUPPLY CHAIN