The big news yesterday was the confirmation that DW3 Products Group had indeed bought Residence 9 and Window Widgets. Two great companies who have pushed the boundaries of their particular fields. Now they are under the same wing along with one of the biggest and best single rebate composite door companies in the UK. This is going to be an explosive collaboration.
Integrating products
When DW3 Products Group announced that they were entering the acquisition trail, on the business and personnel front, I think we all had a fair idea as to who was going to be on their radar. Solidor had already been using the Radlington Cill, produced by Window Widgets. Residence 9 had already been using Solidor’s super-slab in their outer frames. So product integration had already been happening. So in one way it perhaps wasn’t too much of a surprise when the systems company it wanted was Residence 9.
The potential though between these three companies to not only integrate products, but to develop and create new products could be huge. In Residence 9 you have a popular flush timber alternative system which has really taken the market by storm. In Window Widgets you have a company that seems to have a solution for every ancillary problem. In Solidor you have the only solid timber core composite slab. Each company well placed in their own niches by their own right.
Going forward from here, the companies, under DW3 Products Group, will now combine their financial power, their R&D departments, their staff and their knowledge. How this new power will manifest itself in products is yet to be seen. But there is big potential within the group.
Planning and organisation
It goes without saying, bringing companies like Solidor, Residence 9 and Window Widgets together under one roof is going to take some organising. Questions about streamlining the companies, integrating them together, if there is going to be changes in staffing at the companies, if production methods will change, will all now be in focus.
Planning is going to be key. And if the DW3 Products Group is going to continue to expand, there really needs to be a smooth transition period. But this is why they have also been acquiring key people to help with these transitions.
Pressure to perform
The forming of this super-group is happing very much in the public eye of the industry. DW3 have been very clear and open about the aim to build a new industry force by acquiring the very best people and companies in our industry. And whilst this makes for good reporting and good reading, it does also build a high expectation.
In the coming years, as the dust settles and the industry starts to scrutinise the group, we’ll all be looking to see what they have achieved. There will be pressure to bring up new and innovative products. Pressure to raise the standard of product quality. Pressure to create the return on investment all investment companies want. All vital areas to judging the success of acquisitions. With the quality of the companies however, and providing the group is run well, there should be ticks in all these boxes.
Long term plan
As an outsider, you can see the way forward the group wants to go. A door division, a window division. Two main parts of the UK fenestration sector. Not aiming at the cheap end of the market either. They money is in the premium end, and that’s where these companies are placed.
DW3 has already made it clear that these won’t be the last acquisitions to be made this year, nor into next year too. So, all bets back on as to who is next in line to be snapped up. There’s not yet a conservatory roof solution in the group, perhaps the next area of interest?
Either way, a big well done and good luck to Gareth, Dan Gill, and all the companies involved in the group.
