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Team Mila are heading into 2024 with a huge amount of enthusiasm and anticipation.
Starting in January, we’ve got the most ambitious new product pipeline we’ve probably ever had – including something very exciting for composite doors and a big new initiative in stainless steel. And that’s on the back of a really successful brand launch in October for Advance™ – our new range of precision engineered products developed specifically for aluminium.
Advance™ represents Mila’s first real ‘advance’ into aluminium and, as the name suggests, we’re bringing something new and forward-thinking to this part of the hardware market.
We demonstrated that from the outset with our first Advance™ products – which are clever new Magnets for holding open bi-fold doors. These feature patent pending self-aligning pivot technology on both sections which allows them to move up to 30° from side to side so that they achieve 100% face-to-face contact as soon as they come within reach of each other – unlike current ones which only make the optimum connection when the doors are consciously opened fully by the user.
We’ve already had a great response from the market to AdvanceTM especially because we’ve made it clear that the value proposition underpinning these products directly challenges the preconception that aluminium hardware has to be premium priced to deliver premium levels of innovation and quality.
Existing customers who fabricate in aluminium as well as PVC-U have told us that they love the idea that they will be able to buy more products from Mila – with our proven guarantees on service, stock and customer support, and we will be rolling out further Advance TM innovations early in 2024.
There’s no doubting that market conditions are tough for many though – and will be for much of next year, particularly in the mainstream PVC-U sector.
The Safestyle volumes will obviously be picked up elsewhere which will give a boost to some of the larger fabricators – including other Mila customers, and I think we’ll see further diversification into aluminium as companies look to target new growth areas.
Personally, I was saddened to see the demise of Safestyle, and not just because they were one of our most loyal and long-standing customers. We worked very closely with the whole team at Safestyle for many years, and the best practice processes and protocols they pioneered and demanded – from ethical trading commitments to innovations in sustainable packaging – constantly drove both our businesses forward.
In fact, I firmly believe that Mila continues to win and retain business partly because of the continual improvements we delivered together.
Mila remains in very good shape for 2024 and we’re looking forward to the opportunities – and the challenges it will bring.
