| |
Research and Development
Centor has had a long held passion for Research and Development since the
Company’s formation in 1951. The Company’ s founder Frank Spork,
a German Engineer, was dedicated to continually improving our systems and
was very keen to incorporate suggestions from customers.
We understand that there can be many people involved in the specification,
design, production and installation of windows and doors that use our
hardware systems and each of these has different requirements, for
example;
- An Architect wants a system which is flexible enough to allow
design creativity yet needs to be quick to specify and reliably delivered
to site.
- A Joiner assembling a custom window appreciates having all
the components clearly laid out ready to use in the carton.
- An Installer
needs to be able to quickly hang the opening yet be able to re-adjust
a sash if the building settles over time
- The homeowner wants the window
or door to still be light and smooth to operate even with some dirt
or sand in the floor channel
We have since distilled our driving goals
in R&D to a simple phrase;
whatever we design must be easy to install and a delight to use.
Easy to install includes product features that help product installation
in the factory and on-site such as adjusting screws but also includes
manufacturing aids such as dedicated drill jigs, doorcalc software
and profile matched router bits.
Delight to use not only means that we make high quality, well functioning
product but that the offering is itself compelling to the consumer;
folding door systems that open up a house, in-wall sliders that create
living space, dropbolts that add style as well as a feeling of security
are all examples.
One of the techniques we use to ensure that our products are able to
meet these tests is called “Voice of the Customer”. When
we commence a new product design, our Design Engineers travel to leading
Architects, Specifiers, Joiners and Window and Door Companies and interview
key staff. We talk to people in a variety of roles such as Designers,
Sales Managers, Service people and Production staff. We try and get
as close a possible to the action to get unfiltered information of
the real issues. We have even been known to interview our own spouses!
There are strict rules as to how we conduct the interview process and
a word-by-word transcript is taken off the digital recording. We analyse
these using formal techniques to arrive at a definitive idea of how
a great product should work and then set to designing in the required
function.
|
select the region
This text is replaced by the Flash movie.
|
|
