Listers help their customers to CE clearly
Posted on 19/07/2013
CE Marking has now officially landed as the latest government law to help bring the Fenestration industry up to code with respect to professionalism and safety. As of July the 1st, manufacturers and installers will have to show that the products they are manufacturing/installing are CE compliant. CE Marking on a product is a manufacturer's declaration that the product complies with the essential requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation, in practice by many of the so-called Product Directives. CE marking was introduced by the European Commission to break down barriers to trade within the EU.
To the consumer of course, CE marking is nothing new, it appears on everything from children’s toys to kitchen appliances, but now it has moved into the window industry it’s meant a major readjustment for manufacturers and installers across the country.
Lister Trade Frames of Stoke on Trent recognised how vital it was to be compliant and so as the deadline loomed, they had already got many of the requirements in place. But they also understood that their customers would need support to understand what their responsibilities would be and so set about educating their customers.
“We’ve always gone that extra mile for our customers and we saw that some of our customers were struggling to understand how CE Marking would affect them,” said Listers Marketing Manager Daniel Shaw. “We wanted to make sure that all of our customers had a real grasp on how important CE Marking should be to them and their customers.”
With that in mind, Listers introduced CE Marking technical manuals which they had developed in-house to help guide their customers through the CE requirements. These manuals supplied easy to understand step by step instructions and included valuable information on how to create the required Declaration of Performance (DoP) certificates.
“Our support wasn’t just for customers who buy glazed frames from us but also offered to those who buy their glass and frames separately,” said Daniel. “Of course buying everything from Listers makes it easier as we’ve done all the hard work for our customers, but it’s never been our policy to exclude any of our customer base from accessing all the help we can provide.”
Listers then offered all of their customers the chance to book an appointment with their resident CE specialist to iron out any issues they may have with regards to becoming compliant.
“Our aim is to try and help, in our own small way, bring the industry up to code as quickly and painlessly as possible, “ said Quality Control Manager and resident CE expert for Listers, Ian Johnson. “Listers have always been at the forefront of change and innovation and we want our customers to be as enthusiastic about these changes as we are. And the only way to make sure they are is by offering as much support as we can manage.”
“CE Marking is not just a guideline, it’s a law and therefore we need to all be as pro-active as possible to make sure it’s monitored and delivered to the end user in an easy to understand manner,” said Ian, “and we’ll continue to do what we can to help every Listers customer stand out as exemplary companies.”
Listers have viewed CE Marking not as a hindrance but as an opportunity. “Our opinion is that CE Marking is something that is positive and should be used as a marketing tool. We’re encouraging our customers to embrace CE Marking and use it to help them stand apart from their competition,” said Daniel Shaw. “With our support, Listers customers are already reaping the benefits and we’ll continue to work with them to make the industry a more professional outfit.”
