In one respect industrial doors are like forklifts: they are both bought with scant regard to their life cycle costs. A cost effective door is one that is robustly built, properly maintained, accident-friendly and backed up by a good after-sales service. Yet buyers often choose the cheapest door and neglect regular maintenance issues, especially in respect of fire doors, where between 85% and 90% of industrial buildings have no door maintenance and testing procedures in place.
The first right step to take is to decide which route to go down when choosing a door supplier. When new premises are involved it is the builders or architects who often specify the doors. While both may have all the technical specifications of the models from different door makers they will not be helpful when quality comparisons are made between the different door makes. This is crucial because it can seriously affect a door user’s lifetime costs.
Any good door manufacturer will take prospective buyers to see its doors in action at its various customer sites to obtain their feedback on all issues affecting doors, and buyers are well advised to take up such offers. Good suppliers like Union Industries and Sara Loading Bay Specialists will also offer to do energy audits to provide payback charts on the selected doors.
A visit to an existing user site will soon show up some of the problems users may have had with other makes of doors. Union Industries, for example, say that many customers come to them to replace existing, rapid-action doors, many of which have only been in operation for a relatively short period. Such visits will put to rest any fears that they may have had about jumping from the frying pan into the fire because they can compare notes and experiences with Union’s customers, not just on door quality but also maintenance and- after sales service.
Union says that their doors are not the cheapest on the market as regards initial purchase price but they claim that their records of every call-out and part purchased proves that their doors are the most cost effective in the long term. Many door buyers have experienced that buying cheap doors from the budget end of the market can turn out to be a false economy as the ongoing costs for constant call-outs, repairs and parts can be astronomical. This is not the kind of information that builders and architects would have and so it highlights the need to deal with the people who know best – the door manufacturers.
Proper respect for door maintenance issues is an area sadly lacking. Preventative maintenance is far better than reactive maintenance as it can save money later down the line. Unfortunately, there are still many companies swayed by the philosophy: ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’.
There is another problem with maintenance. There are many door companies who offer ‘service contract’ for all door types but many of these so-called ‘door maintenance’ companies do not actually carry out servicing of doors. Whereas they should change the wearing pars and service the doors as laid down in the manufacturers’ service schedule, they simply, in some cases, just inspect the doors and their moving parts and only change any components if they are damaged or are in obvious need of replacement.
No matter how good the preventative maintenance may be, however, there will always be other means to help keep down door operation costs. The biggest problem is collisions between forklifts and doors followed by external wind loadings and neglect. One car maker reported that at one stage it was paying over £50,000 a year to repair doors caused by collisions. It makes sense, therefore, to consider crash-out or knock-out facilities that allow door users to repair the doors quickly themselves. Another problem can be accidents when the leading edges of rapid roll doors descend and hit staff on their heads. Sara solves that problem with its non contact safety beam while other makes involve hitting staff before stopping.
Energy costs and unwelcome visitors like insects and vermin have driven the main trend in door selection over recent years. This is why high speed roller doors are now the most popular door. These can be activated each time a truck approaches without requiring the driver to dismount or they can be preset to operate after certain time lapses when there is no traffic movement. Such doors can also be insulated, securing the building when closed and so dispensing with the need for two types of doors. A good example is the recent launch of Hormann’s HSS door.
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