In my last blog, I mentioned that I was heading east to visit the Fenestration China exhibition in Beijing and to see some of Mila’s key suppliers in the Far East.  Now that I’m back from the exhibition, I thought I’d post my thoughts on the trip.

Essentially, Fenestration China reminded me a lot of Glassex in its heyday – a big, buzzy show with lots of interesting new products, lots of people networking and above all, lots of business being done.

It reminded me what of what we’re currently missing in the UK market and made me just a little bit nostalgic for the old days at the NEC.

As was always the case at Glassex, a few innovative new products caught my eye – one particularly interesting one was a new concealed door hinge which operated a little like a concealed tilt and turn window hinge and I’m hoping to explore that a bit more now that I’m back here.

Before the exhibition, I also spent some time with Mila’s key suppliers in China – making sure that all the bulk orders are secured which will ensure supply to our customers is not disrupted by the shutdown there for Chinese New Year at the end of January, and monitoring the quality control checks on some really big orders which we have placed for both our best selling and bespoke products.

Although we do have our own teams working in China, there is nothing quite like being there and seeing things for yourself.

This was really brought home to me during the trip when I met a potential supplier who ticked all the boxes for Mila and whose promises sounded almost too good to be true.

Needless to say, when I visited their facility, it was clear that they would never have been able to meet Mila’s requirements in terms of product quality, reliability, deliveries, health and safety or workforce welfare.

It’s a cliché of course, but it reminded me of an early lesson I learnt in this industry, when you are offered something which looks too good to be true, then rest assured, it probably is.

Richard