Window and Door June/July 2012 : Page 23
Above: Stürtz is looking for some vinyl window manufacturers to start investing in new machinery to be better prepared as the market continues its rebound. Left: Wood window and door makers are investing in new tooling to upgrade and expand product lines, according to Rangate. ing and refurbishment have been the main story for equip-ment suppliers for the past three years. It’s still part of the business, but it’s becoming less important. “More manufac-turers,” he asserts, “are ready to invest in the new.” NEW PRODUCTS “The majority of new investments are coming from fabricators that are introducing new products to the market,” suggests Chris Cooper, senior sales engineer at Joseph Machine Co. He describes the overall market as fragile still, but points to a strong first quarter in 2012. Specifically, Cooper sees more companies buying new machines to produce vinyl windows and doors for the commercial market. Greg Godbout of Rangate Inc. reports that wood window and door makers are not in a mode to buy new machinery, but many are looking at new tooling. The in-vestments they are making in cutting tools are “a sign that the market is in first stages of growth,” he says. “Compa-nies are willing to invest in developing new products.” Both Cooper and Godbout suggest at least some of the new windows and doors under development are designed to meet or exceed more stringent performance criteria. Shaheen also points to new codes and product criteria—most specifically upcoming changes in Energy Star--impacting product demand, and eventually im-pacting machinery demand (see sidebar). “We’re seeing people looking at designs that give them the option for triple glazing.” Not many companies are ready to embrace triples fully yet, at least in the U.S., but a real change will come when Energy Star requires triples, he predicts. www.WindowandDoor.com 23 REFURBISHMENT There is some demand and some capital available, Sha-heen continues, but much of that is going into refurbish-ing and rebuilding machines. “Many manufacturers have equipment that’s sitting on the sidelines. They’re starting to develop new product lines, but they want to adapt and retool machines where they can.” “One of the challenges in the equipment market today is the unfortunate, numerous plant closures across the country,” Campbell agrees. “This has resulted in manu-facturers consolidating existing equipment and a surplus of used equipment in the market. Obviously, this has an impact on selling new machines.” “Retrofits and rebuilds continue to be the bulk of the volume we are seeing,” Biffl reports. “Equipment orders are somewhat limited to replacement of old, worn out machines.” “Looking at the U.S. market for the next several years, we don’t see that situation changing too much,” Shaheen says. “When manufacturers set up new lines, it’s likely that we’ll see scenarios where there will be a mix of refur-bished and new machines to complete the lines.” Donohue, however, sees the situation changing. Retool-
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