Date: 2 June 2020
Supertuff has been active in the glass industry for 20 years now. It all started with glazing and tempering. In the course of time, the company has continually expanded its product portfolio. Today Supertuff offers a wide range of products, from glass processing to architectural glass and commercial glazing.
A large product portfolio and many exciting projects
Supertuff was founded in 1999. In the beginning they only had one cutting table and one furnace. Now they have three furnaces and four cutting tables in operation, but it is still a family business. Supertuff's base is in London, where about 150 people work and from where the company supplies the majority of England. Supertuff also has a subsidiary called Super Sealed, which specialises in household glazing and laminating and is located in Dunstable. About 100 people work there.
Supertuff can be particularly proud of the exceptional projects they have completed over the years, including Kew Gardens and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The company also manufactured glass for the Avengers film "Infinity Wars" and James Bond "Skyfall". Furthermore, most of the glass in Pinewood Studios films is made by Supertuff and the glass dome at Harrods was also made by Supertuff.
However, the company also offers glass for household use, such as splash guards, table tops and glass stairs. "It's a whole range of things we do. We do a lot of custom work, but we also have mass production - a little bit of everything," says Managing Director Amit Patel about Supertuff's product portfolio.
He emphasizes that quality is the most important thing for Supertuff: "Customers who come to Supertuff come because of the quality - as with LiSEC. We believe in quality and this is reflected in the machines we buy. That is the ethos of our company. We want to offer the customer good customer service and a good product. That is ultimately our goal and that is what we do."
Supertuff attaches great importance to investment and is courageously moving forward. They were one of the first to invest in the LiSEC WSL - a vertical water jet glass cutting machine. Also with the investment in the LiSEC KBF - an edge processing machine - Supertuff was the first to show the right nose.
A successful cooperation for 20 years
Supertuff and LiSEC have been working together for 20 years now. Amit Patel explains: "We started with LiSEC, so the entire basic infrastructure of our plant is LiSEC. The machines, the software, the automatic loading system - everything is LiSEC. We have built on this and because we made these decisions then, we are where we are today. And in the case of LiSEC, it is true that you get what you pay for. We have to if we want to provide glass of a higher quality to our customers, which in turn is only possible if our machines make it possible - and with our LiSEC machines we have the perfect for this".
"The LiSEC machines are always very clever," emphasizes Amit Patel. But what is even more important to him: The LiSEC machines last: "A LiSEC machine we have is 15 years old. The LiSEC WSL. And we have processed millions of meters of glass there. It's about much more than just the service life of the machine. Normally you have to scrap a machine after ten years. We have had our LiSEC machine for 15 years now - and it still runs! If a machine lasts 15 years, which should only last ten years, and you run it more intensively than you should, then that says it all." He reports that the LiSEC WSL is in operation at their company 24 hours a day, five days a week.
LiSEC solutions for Supertuffs challenges
In Great Britain, Supertuff was the first company to invest in the LiSEC SplitFin - a laminated glass line with water jet technology. "The LiSEC SplitFin is our latest plant. We believe it will allow us to be faster and give us an advantage over the rest of the market," says Amit Patel.
He notes that LiSEC gives customers what they need, not what they think they need: "When you get a LiSEC machine, there are always little things that you see and think to yourself: 'This is clever. We never thought of that.‘ Also now at the LiSEC SplitFin. LiSEC has understood the problems we have and found clever and simple solutions to them".
According to him, understanding customers' problems exactly and thinking about all the little things is what makes LiSEC unique. "This is important because you invest a lot of money when you buy a new LiSEC machine. You want to be sure that the designers have thought about what the customer needs and how the machine will provide that solution - that is definitely the case with LiSEC".
Reliability and personal contact - the cornerstones of successful cooperation
Amit emphasizes that LiSEC listens when they have problems and quickly finds solutions. "If something goes wrong, you know they are there. Even if you call in the middle of the night or on a Friday evening, there is someone in Austria to help you. LiSEC is very reliable. Machines must be reliable. If a machine does something good but always fails, it's not good. Reliability is the best word to describe LiSEC. They keep their promises - that's important in the market."
Amit is particularly convinced of LiSEC UK: "We deal with them every day and they are always very accommodating. The LiSEC engineers talk to our engineers, listen to them and work with them - it feels more like a partnership than a supplier relationship. We are not LiSEC's biggest customer, we know that, but they make an effort and make us feel important. That makes a big contribution to building trust. We can rely on LiSEC and we have a lot of confidence in the direction they are taking the company. We believe that we can do many great things together in the future."
Ged Smith, Managing Director of LiSEC Software UK Limited, also appreciates the cooperation: “The partnership between Supertuff and Lisec goes back a very very long time in both machinery and total software solutions. High quality innovative machinery and software working together perfectly naturally gives superior results and efficiency. We have been their software supplier for ERP and production control and product tracking for all this time, and our system has both grown with them and enabled their growth over the years. Amit has described very well the aims and goals of Lisec – quality, innovation and a reliable business partner – we try to understand the customer and his needs and strive to be there for them when they need us. We look forward to many more years of working side by side for success in the future.”
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