The Aluminum Solution Provider

Reynaers Aluminium is a European developer of aluminum products for the building sector. The company, present in over 40 countries, also provides support for architects, fabricators, project developers, investors and end users.

As Country Manager Zoltán Nagy explains to Diplomacy&Trade, the company was founded in Belgium in 1965 and has grown from there. “In Hungary, Reynaers Aluminium had a presence since the mid-1990s, first as a branch. There were some major successes initially and had some nice reference buildings, but then business stalled and in 2014, the decision was made to close this branch. Thus, between 2014 and 2018, Reynaers didn't have a representative in Hungary. Then, the owners decided that – just like in the surrounding countries –, a local team, a local representation should be built up in this country. We found each other with Reynaers, and basically, I was given the noble task of building up a presence here from zero: registering the Hungarian company, renting offices, building the team, business development, building relationships, etc. That was in April 2018. Now, we're a little over four years old, and we're at the point where we have a team of five people, looking for a sixth person at the moment,” he says.

Supporting clients and partners
The company provides support to architects, project developers, investors, end users, etc. As the Country Manager highlights, “there are several players involved in a project: investor, property developer, designer, general contractor and also those who actually manufacture and install the door or window elements based on our system components. We are in contact with all of them as they all have their own interests and need a different kind of support. For instance, an architectural designer is typically looking for different technical solutions that will be aesthetically pleasing and technically appropriate. To do this, he usually seeks the help of an architectural consultant. Typically, he will ask for section drawings, junction plans, building connection designs for the different solutions so that it is technically appropriate and he can incorporate this into his building design. In general, architects like these request to be responded to very quickly, so response time is one of the important aspects here. Real estate developers also like to have the various options presented to them, so that they know what they can choose from. The manufacturing partners are looking primarily for technical support and they like a product that is simple to make, easy to manufacture, and if they have any technical questions, they can get answers quickly and efficiently. Our customer portal, for example, helps them with this, where they can register and go online and watch or download little tutorial videos, and our support engineers are there to help them.”

A green building material
At Reynaers Aluminium, the issue of sustainability is important not only in the use but also in the manufacturing of their products. Several of their product lines have a cradle-to-cradle certification that has different levels. “Some of our products are certified bronze, and on some, we are working to achieve silver level and they can be used to score LEED or BREEAM credit points, which is also a sustainability requirement framework and with these, we can contribute to the building getting the different LEED or BREEAM certifications,” Zoltán Nagy points out, stressing that well-chosen aluminum systems can add a lot of points to that. He notes that aluminum is a very green building material, 100% recyclable, with zero loss of quality, so the same quality can be produced over and over again, and more importantly, the energy required to produce recycled aluminum is only 5% of the energy required to produce primary aluminum. Thus, the higher the proportion of recycled aluminum to be integrated into the production process, the lower the environmental impact, the lower the energy consumption. However, there is a limit to the amount of reusable aluminum available in the world to cover the demand for aluminum.

Consultation and feedback
As regards client satisfaction, the Country Manager first mentions the residential line, “because we supply aluminum doors and windows not only to public buildings, commercial buildings, but also to premium family homes. At the latter, the user has a much more direct contact with the product than, say, in an office building. When building a detached house, people come in for a consultation, they look at the different corner samples, the design, the construction, the insulation and they think a lot about the colors. Color is always a cardinal issue and we can help with that as we have a big color wall of different samples and people really like that. So, the feedback is very positive when the product is finished, installed and used. It is also very important that we sell system elements, which means we have a manufacturing partner in the chain, and it is crucial that the production and installation are of good quality, because even if the system elements are good but they are not manufactured or installed properly, the end-user experience will not be the same. Therefore, we put a lot of emphasis on educating and training our manufacturing partners so that everyone is satisfied in the end. On the commercial line, in an office building, the tenant often doesn't know or even care what system the windows are made of, so this kind of emotional attachment is not usually formed.”

Corporate social responsibility
At Reynaers, social responsibility programs at the corporate level are very diverse. Zoltán Nagy explains that “these include, obviously, in addition to sustainability objectives, helping and supporting different social groups. Here in Hungary, we work primarily with Access4You, which is involved in helping people with special needs, basically mapping, assessing and rating buildings in terms of how people with special needs can use them, how they can get information about them. And part of that is a segment of the doorway, because for a person in a wheelchair, for example, it really matters how wide it is, how easy it is to open, how it is to use, how high the handle is. We can provide support in this area, and we also give them technical information on how our systems can be used to build doors and windows that meet their needs.”

Uninterrupted growth
In conclusion, the Country Manager highlights that “over these four years, we have been able to grow year on year here in the Hungarian market, with reference projects like Mol Campus, MVM Dome or the Buda Palace, so, the plan is to continue to grow our turnover and market share uninterruptedly. Obviously, this is for Hungary. In a broader sense, Hungary belongs to the Central European region. Here, too, the turnover of Reynaers is growing steadily, and we are building a new center in Poland. We are slowly outgrowing the old one, so we are going to build a brand-new logistics center there with a painting plant, an anodizing plant and an office headquarters in a EUR 40 million investment, which will be handed over in May next year.”