I Believe The Window Industry Is Now In Crisis

It would be fair to say that since the beginning of the year, I have been inundated with conversations, complaints and general conversation about the dire state of fabrication from various installers. I have also been party conversations with fabricators about the problems they are having with their systems companies too.

The rate at which I am having these types of discussions is at a frequency I have never experienced up until now. In short, I have never seen the industry struggle with issues like customer service and product quality like this before.

The skills shortage is here and I fully believe that the industry at most, if not all levels is now in crisis.

Problems coming home to roost

Many moons ago, I felt like I was one of only few who was trying to raise what I thought to be a valid point about the extreme lack of young blood coming into the industry. As the older generation of talent left our industry or retired, I didn’t believe there was much talent waiting in the wings to replace those who had served our industry well.

Then the Great Recession struck. Business levels fell which meant staffing levels at installers, fabricators and systems companies fell too. For the time being, the skills shortage issue was put on the back burner.

And then we recovered. Perhaps quicker than our industry thought it might. Armed with an array of new and innovative products designed to tempt home owners into new home improvement purchases, our sector was on the road to recovery in no time. Problem was, as sales recovered and business grew, the rush to re-hire never came. Instead, businesses at all levels have been trying to do more business on lower staffing levels. Some re-hiring has been done, but the pace of growth has far outrun the pace of hiring.

Companies have been keen to “streamline” their operations, which basically means less people doing more things. Well, that’s all well and good but there is a limit and I think we’re at that limit now. Secondly, even if we all wanted to hire more people and reduce the workload, I don’t think there is a significant enough talent pool for us to go to. The whole of construction in general is so far behind the curve when it comes to recruitment that I don’t actually think we’ll ever recover to normal levels.

To add to the problems, I believe our industry is now over-diversified. During the recession we were all encouraged to branch out into new products to help find new revenue streams. There’s no doubting we’ve done that. But we haven’t taken the foot off the gas. Suppliers have been in a constant race to out-innovate each other, where I think we’re now at a point where installers are now overloaded with products, not enough information to go with those products and fabricators who are split across so many different product ranges that quality is now starting to suffer.

These are problems that have been years in the making and they’re now starting to hit home.

Has it ever been this bad?

I have only been in the industry for 12 years, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t all that long. But during my time in this industry I cannot remember a time where customer service and quality across all areas of the supply chain has been this bad. If it has been worse, please tell me when in the comments section below.

I believe that a combination of under-staffing, over supply of products and a strained workforce have all combined to leave us in the situation we now find ourselves. The sad fact of the matter is I don’t think it’s going to get better any time soon.

Consider this: the general tone of the conversation and the general perception of industry service right now is that it’s in the gutter. We’re only into April, not our busiest period. We’re going to get busier and busier as an industry over the coming months, which is only going to put further strain on our supply chain. It’s going to get worse.

There needs to be some radical changes in many parts of the industry right now. To begin with, those in the systems company and fabricator levels need to start hiring more and better quality people. If what comes out of their doors is poor, then it will be fitted poorly at installer level, leaving the installer with the problem and the home owner unhappy. Get hiring and get hiring now.

Next, scale back the product innovation. In comparison to ten years ago our industry’s product portfolio is massive. But we need to take a minute to consolidate where we’re at. Do we really need every single new product and innovation possible. Is it not time to assess which products are selling and which ones aren’t and cut them from the picture? It would save fabricators time and effort in prep for these products, and it will help installers become that little bit clearer as to what is and what isn’t available to sell to home owners.

Finally, pay some attention to the existing workforce. My bet is many of them are exhausted and stressed due to the increases workload over the past few years. A happy workforce is one that fabricates and installs well. An unhappy workforce, which I believe is what we have right now, is the exact opposite. The guys and girls on the shop floor, on deliveries, on the phones are the most important people in our businesses. They have to feel valued and be paid well if their efforts deserve it.

We really do need to start addressing these problems now. I foresee things only getting worse in our industry if we don’t, and we’re about to head into a busy summer period. I sense that the window industry isn’t that fun to be in right now.

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