Felder Group UK quarterly column: 2021 in review - by Chief Executive, Matthew Applegarth
Another year comes to an end and what a year it’s been! As with 2020, 2021 has proven to be interesting, challenging, exciting, and for us at The Felder Group, very busy.
In my 16 years with Felder, I’ve come to understand that our woodworking industry is built on very stable footings. Dealing with COVID in its seemly ever changing variants – I think they may run out of Greek letters in the near future – began with the health and wellbeing of our team and their families, to fulfilling the needs of our busy customers, and now dealing with the global shortage of materials and components.
Once you appear to have a good handle on things, another problem requires attention and solutions. Not only have we managed to weather the period, we’ve thrived in it, even to the extent that we’ve introduced new and innovative machinery solutions to the UK market.
PCS (Preventive Contact System) has taken the health and safety of the sliding table panel saw to a new level, and I’m pleased to confirm that the first machines have not only been delivered and installed but are functioning perfectly in some of the largest joinery producers in the UK.
Our patented glueBox system for edgebanding has proven equally successful – ask most edgebander users what their main issues are and invariably, it’s the glue pot. Our glueBox system removes the need for a glue pot while still providing a PUR, zero joint bond and edge. Both machines will be available for demonstration at our Milton Keynes HQ and Showroom in the new year.
We fully expect the industry to continue its buoyant period for quite a few years to come. We, at The Felder Group UK, will continue to grow with it. In 2021, we’ve expanded both our UK customer support help desk team as well as our field service team, with plans for further expansion next year.
Our technical sales team is also set to grow as we seek to regain the face-to-face support with our customers, which has been heavily restricted in recent times. We, as I hope with all in the woodworking industry, are very excited and looking forward to 2022 and beyond. Good health and success to all.
For more information on Felder Group UK Ltd, see www.felder-group.com/gb-en.
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