The best windows are made in Bytów. DRUTEX – a statement of its own.

With 5,000 windows produced per day, an export rate of 70% and an annual turnover of 130 Million Euros DRUTEX is a success story – which it writes together with LiSEC.   

Bytów, a city in the North of Poland, less than 100 kilometers south of Gdansk, may as well be called the European Mecca for windows. It is the home base of DRUTEX, a company that has built up its reputation in the windows industry by consistent investment in state of the art engineering and technology. Until 1994 the company’s main area of business was metal processing for wires and fence nets. In 1994 the company installed its first production line for PVC windows and one for laminated glass. In the year 1999 DRUTEX started the production of aluminum doors, windows and facades. Three years later it launched the production of wooden windows and doors, and in 2007 the production of pvc profiles using its own mixing plant. Today more than 2,000 employees contribute to and realize DRUTEX’ ambitious goals. 

The cooperation between DRUTEX and LiSEC started in 2000 as DRUTEX bought its first production line for insulating glass. “All five LiSEC machines we have in our plant run like a clockwork. They are all precise and of high quality“, says Grzegorz Płaksa, Production Manager, as he shows me the impressive production facilities. DRUTEX is equipped with the most modern glass processing solutions from LiSEC including software tools like GPS.prod for dynamic production optimization and a full software package that enables interaction and communication between machines. In total DRUTEX has five LiSEC insulating glass production lines.

Ambitious goals, ambitious brand ambassadors

The latest investment made by DRUTEX is proof of its eagerness to grow and to drastically expand its business. The company has just finished the first phase of a huge and multi-million project called the European Woodwork Centre. Through this investment, DRUTEX will double its production capacity at a stroke and estimated 1.000 new jobs will be created in the region. The 28,000 square meters production hall was finished in July this year. Bogdan Gierszewski, Production Director: “The new hall is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery for the manufacturing of pvc windows and also with lines and machines for glass processing and tempering. Also here we opted for LiSEC glass processing machines and software.” The LiSEC lines and machines installed include a FlyOver loading system, which can move diagonally above the storage racks when empty. This process allows minimum cycle times, as the suction cup bridge does not have to move out from in between the racks after each cycle. Further LiSEC machines installed include a washing machine, sealing machines and glass cutting tables. The LiSEC solution is designed to handle large size glass sheets of up to 5000 x 2500 mm and include the newest machines - DRUTEX thus setting the pace within the industry. 

The DRUTEX growth program is supported by a multi-channel marketing campaign in which soccer players like Lahm, Pirlo and Blaszczykowski become brand ambassadors. With TV spots and advertisements in industry magazines DRUTEX targets the German, Italian and Polish markets.

Trends are a matter of reaction time and speed.

Bogdan Gierszewski is convinced: “Trends on today’s building elements market are set by customers, their needs and their preferences.” Every manufacturer who wants to grow needs to reply to these trends accordingly. “However, only a few are flexible enough to react in time and can even exceed expectations”, he adds. The major trends according to DRUTEX are energy efficiency and sound proof technology, investors and individual customers paying a lot of attention to both these issues. “That is why high quality glass is so important and why we invest more and more in technological solutions and equipment. I am sure that through the intense cooperation with partners like LiSEC we can learn from each other, expand our mutual knowledge in modern glazing technology and thus provide customers with products that exceed their expectations”. 

“What we appreciate most about LiSEC is their dynamics in development and their ability to respond to customers’ needs. DRUTEX is well-known for its reliability and speed of action which is a result of strong and fast management, own modern transport fleet and therefore also the shortest delivery periods of our goods. We deliver products in only 7 days within Europe whereas the standard is 30 or 60 days! In our case we also talk about a pro-investment policy which enables the development of solutions and technologies that are crucial for the production of windows,” explains Leszek Gierszewski, Chairman of the Board at DRUTEX.