Until recently in the industrial door market it was the initial price tag which dominated the decision-buying exercise but now customers are looking well beyond that by considering the lifetime costs, much as was the case in the forklift industry. But more than that now customers are looking at energy conservation and closed loop solutions where everything from a building can be reused for refurbishment in years to come, says door specialist, Hormann. Concomitant with that is the buyers’ realisation that maintenance is highly important, a healthy and long-overdue sentiment change given that the door and loading bay industry has been seriously neglected over maintenance issues. As the distribution industry copes with the seismic change over to e-commerce that demands reliable delivery times, door breakdowns could carry an even higher price than before owing to the prospect of permanently lost business, boosting even more the need for adequate maintenance.
A good example of sustainability is sara LBS’s renovation of over 40 loading bays at a vacant food distribution centre in Leicestershire. Part of the work was to help protect the thermal efficiency of the building. This involved the retrofitting of new dock shelters to each different loading bay design but sara had to convince the client that replacement would be more cost-effective than on-site repairs, which they were able to do because the newer shelters were more efficient models.
Doubtless, some of the greater concern evinced by buyers is driven by environmental legislation to cut energy costs in particular, which in turn is spurring innovations from door manufacturers. One such example is Hormann’s popular ThermoFrame product to combat heat and cold issues with sectional doors. It is a simple thermal break between the frame and the brickwork which provides up to 21% improved insulation.
Fast action PVC roller doors have been around for several decades and they are favoured mostly for their energy savings, labour efficiency and pest barriers, particularly important for food producers, but they can also be valuable in production areas. If doors are slow to open and close and awkward to operate they can disrupt the momentum of production and cause bottlenecks at vital areas. Such choke points can slow down production as well as pose a health risk. This is because a bottleneck creates an area of increased traffic so that machinery and people are bunching together, in a hurry to get to where they are going. Thus, it is at these bottlenecks where accidents are more likely to occur. But a word of caution on fast-acting doors. Maintenance and servicing costs could negate much of the savings from lower operating costs and higher productivity so product reliability is essential. Many fast doors achieve their speeds at the cost of mechanical sympathy, quickly damaging the curtains and springs with sudden shock loading on every cycle. Choosing leading door manufacturers should ensure long-lasting reliability but that does not mean maintenance should be skimped.
Savings on maintenance can be made if the door manufacturers train customers’ own personnel, particularly if the doors are relatively simple in nature. And as always, it can pay to seek a clutch of quotes because door supplier prices can vary by up to 50% and the cheaper models do not necessarily mean more costly operating problems in the long run.
Doors, of course, should not be considered in isolation if costly repairs are to be avoided. Good safety practices and house keeping, particularly on the loading bay, will ensure far fewer collisions between trucks and doors, one of the most common causes of repairs.
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