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The Way Forward for Us is to Launch Our Aluminum Range

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Please tell us about your company SIEGENIA India Pvt. Ltd. and about yourself? How long the company has been in this business in the Indian market?

SIEGENIA India Pvt. Ltd. was established on the 1st of June in 2017 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIEGENIA GROUP, Germany which, in turn, is over a century old company. We have our office and warehouse in Gurugram.

SIEGENIA GROUP develops solutions that bring spaces to life. With an innovative and wide-ranging product portfolio for modern window systems, door systems and comfort systems. KFV Karl Fliether GmbH & Co. KG (a SIEGENIA GROUP company) covers the entire field of modern locking systems for doors.

I have been associated with the façade & fenestration industry for the last 15 years. I joined SIEGENIA India Pvt. Ltd. as the M.D. on the 1st of September, 2020. My prior assignment was with Reynaers Aluminium Pvt. Ltd. I am based in Pune.

Tell us briefly about your journey with the company, also about your company’s major success stories in India?

I am fairly new in the company. Been here for the last year. I am one of those cases who underwent online onboarding. Also, I had to be in touch with my team members online in the initial days. I must say that it went on very well. It was a new scenario for all of us and despite the special circumstances and the social distance that we had to maintain, it actually brought us closer together as a team.

The initial months were invested in process correction and now the focus is on new customer acquisition. To date, our major focus was servicing uPVC window fabricators. The way forward for us is to launch our aluminium range. This will be done soon. In the past years, I must say that we have been successful in having many key accounts.

What are the product categories offered by SIEGENIA India Pvt Ltd.?

Our product categories are majorly divided into three broadheads viz., window systems, door systems & comfort systems. Window system: inward opening Turn & Tilt, Turn in casement, Turn out casement, Sliding systems. Door System: Lift & Slide, Parallel Slide, Tilt & Slide, ECO SLIDE, Fold & Slide, Normal Sliding, Casement Doors, Exterior doors. Comfort System: It is all about smart control of door/ window elements through motorisation and access control. We offer motors and related accessories to achieve the same. This broadhead also includes ventilation devices which are categorised as wall-mounted, window-mounted and façade ventilators.

Please tell us about your company’s facilities and structure?

In India, we have a warehouse in Gurugram managed by a 3PL company. Our office is also located in Gurugram. Apart from this, we have a full-fledged team to service our clients here in India and neighbouring countries.

We have in total 6 manufacturing plants. 4 in Germany, 1 in Poland and 1 in China and 16 Sales Locations worldwide. Besides this, we have a training centre and a testing centre in Germany. Our testing centre is approved by IFT Rosenheim. We have a total of 2800 employees with a turnover of over 400 Mio Euro and almost 100% growth in the last 20 years.

The company is owned by Mr Wieland Frank who is a fourth-generation owner and under his able leadership, we have truly become an MNC.

How do you see the fenestration industry and the architectural hardware industry evolving in India?

Modern buildings are putting to test the offerings of every company which is in this business. The demand for new/bespoke design, functionality and adherence to norms are making products evolve faster than before.

Our buildings in India have evolved too. We see the effect of this in the fenestration industry. The benchmark has been upped and now you see end-users willing to put different kinds of windows in his/her space to achieve the desired functionality and comfort. I will also like to say that as a hardware company we need to put more effort into educating our customers in order to give the best value to them which makes them happy customers.

In the coming days, I believe that interest in “smart windows” would grow. It will be the next dimension in comfort. As SIEGENIA we already have solutions.

What has been your or your organization’s contribution to bringing about the current revolution in the fenestration sector?

We were the first company and the market leader in in-room comfort. We bring spaces to life so that people feel comfortable in them.

With Lift and Slide doors we can offer uninterrupted view / connect with the outside world, barrier-free thresholds take away even the smallest obstacles and a soft close mechanism offer safety against any hard closing of the door / accidental crushing of fingers.

While burglar-resistant windows and doors provide security and energy-efficient systems create a healthy living environment that you can even breathe and feel: then it’s SIEGENIA room comfort. This is in every window and in every door and it has been so with us for over 100 years.

Every single product coming out of our manufacturing unit has to prove its contribution to the SIEGENIA dimension of Room Comfort.

Also, for the fabricators, we provide special services and products like “Comfort Units” which are ready-to-assemble kits on the site. Everything is trimmed, pre-drilled and pre-assembled. This has been accepted very well in Europe. Probably this can also work in India in future.

Our TITAN product range is purely designed to provide easy and logical installation to the fabricator, multiple adjustments options for the installer and most possible comfort to the end-user.

Please tell us about a few of your iconic and innovative products?

One of the many iconic SIEGENIA products is TITAN comfort mushroom cam. A cam with automatic tolerance compensation and continuous height adjustment. It equalises airgap tolerances and independently changes framework conditions such as temperature fluctuation and simplifies installation. It offers maximum ease of use due to an optimally adjusted, smooth running and durable locking system at all times. And on top, it offers a maximum safety level not only against wind load but also security against burglary

As per your view, how important is the role of the right hardware in façade and fenestration?

It is extremely important. With the right hardware, you achieve the functionality that you desire and the stability that the project requires.

With the right application of the hardware, the window can last very long till you decide to renovate. In the end, it makes your project cost-effective also.

How well aware do you think the decision-makers are in general about the availability of the hardware products for fenestration, their functionality & categories, standards, testing, etc? And how do they gauge the quality and functionality of the same?

I can say that it is much better than before and we as a responsible company can contribute a lot to increase this awareness. Competition has in fact helped in increasing awareness. Each end-user is serviced by some company or the other. Various other companies like façade consultancy have also made the decision-maker very aware of the same.

But still, as the importance of high-quality hardware for the long-term and comfortable function of a window element is not yet fully known, we have to continue our efforts for education and information.

What is the emphasis laid on R&D, especially for the Indian market?

I would say very honestly that it is at a very nascent stage. Spend on R & D is something that is also fuelled by sales volume and the presence of allied infrastructure like testing centres etc. Eventually, it will happen when our own designers start introducing products that are made for India. I already see this getting traction.

What do you see as the main challenges faced by the architectural hardware industry?

The main challenge is that we do not differentiate between door furniture (handles etc) from the hardware. This results in a wrong decision many a time. Also, the shopfloor people need to follow the rule book. This will solve a lot of issues faced due to improper assembly of hardware.

Tell us about your channel expansion strategies in the market.

Well, we do have an elaborate plan and we are looking actively for distributors. The plan can be discussed when we roll it out. I will keep it to myself as of now.

What keeps your company ahead of its competitors in terms of services offered?

We maintain our own warehouse that takes care of supply chain-related challenges. Being a wholly-owned subsidiary, we are fairly in control of our processes that make us respond fast. We did face challenges in the past but we are ironing it out.

We offer a wide range of solutions for timber, uPVC and Aluminium. So we are like a one-stop solution for all types of windows.

How do you see the architectural hardware industry evolving over the next 5 years?

We will definitely see an increased competition leading to few companies go for localisation, which in fact is good. Adherence to norms would be a definitive criterion. There will also be a lot of emphasis on product differentiation on parameters other than price. I also see that automation would gain traction in the coming days.