Within this issue of Building and Facilities News, we have selected Reflex Winkelmann GmbH as our Building Services Solution Provider of the Year, for its ongoing commitment to the building services sector.
Reflex Winkelmann was established in 1898 by Heinrich Winkelmann and Casper Pannhoff. From the beginning the company has been located in Ahlen, where it continues to maintain its head office. The company also has a selection of production facilities in different countries such as Germany, Poland and Turkey which provides a selection of subsidiaries throughout the globe, including the UK, based in Manchester.
The Winkelmann Group is split into three divisions: Automotive, MSR technology, and Reflex Winkelmann’s focus; building and industry.
Originally specialising in metal forming, Reflex Winkelmann GmbH has seen significant growth since its inception and is now a well-established leading manufacturer of solutions for the building services sector and is one of the leading international solutions providers for the development and maintenance of water-bearing systems for building and supply technology.
“Reflex Winkelmann GmbH is one of the leading manufacturers of solutions for the building services sector with a substantial portfolio of innovative products designed for an ever changing market,“ said Tim Williams, Country Manager for UK and Ireland.
Reflex Winkelmann has provided building solutions for a varied range of customers and maintains an impressive portfolio of solutions for residential, commercial and industrial sectors.
“We consider the Reflex Winkelmann brand as more than component manufacturers and, using the RSP tool, hope to bring the benefits of ‘Thinking Solutions’ to almost every business sector including residential, commercial and industrial applications,” said Tim.
After what many have perceived as an extremely difficult and challenging 12 months, we caught up with Tim and asked him about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the company.
“Honestly speaking, the past 12 months have been extremely challenging for the business having to deal with both the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit disruptions.” Tim continued, “We did however, manage to keep all production facilities operational throughout and like every other business, adapted the way in which we work in order to keep the business moving forward.”
Rising to the challenges in front them, the business took the opportunity very early on in the pandemic to accelerate a number of projects in order to strengthen the business in the future again.
Tim explained, “This proved really valuable for my team’s motivation as they all brought additional value to the business during extremely challenging times. One of the projects was the launch of the new Reflex Solutions Pro (RSP) which is an online selection tool for every Reflex product. Other projects included the successful implementation of SAP in all our production facilities and a number of new product developments.”
Reflex Solutions Pro (RSP) has proven to be a huge success which helps the user to select the correct solution for their application. RSP is the first available solution that can be used to design and combine all Reflex product groups. With flexibility to suit all project sizes, RSP provides solutions from single-family homes to residential construction and the industrial sector. With an easy to use and accessed via. the following link, RSP quickly and accurately determines the appropriate configuration. RSP then provides all relative information including product data, tender texts and BIM data, which can then be downloaded.
“Access to RSP is via the following link and is free to register using either the reflex website at: www.reflex-winkelmann.com/en/ or https://rsp.reflex.de/en. We are even carrying out a number of live webinars in order for new users to increase their knowledge on the RSP system. Spaces are available and can be booked directly via the Reflex4Experts section on the Reflex website,” mentioned Tim.
Maintaining a strong stance on constant improvement, Reflex Winkelmann has made a great deal of investment into improving its processes, skill set of its employees and product development, which the company considers essential to the future of the business.
“SAP has been implemented in all the Winkelmann production facilities and the efficiency of this is already being realised. Serious investment in the Reflex Training Centre (RTC) was made in 2019 and the result is a state of the art training facility which is open to all of our customers & colleagues.” Tim explained, “‘Reflex4Experts’ has been created for our customers and colleagues and, due to the current restrictions, host a number of webinars on a variety of subjects; all of which can be arranged via the website.”
With many exciting new developments lined up, the company has consistently listened and responded to the needs of its customers, employees and market. Reflex Winkelmann also have two (soon to be three) CIBSE approved CPDs which have proven to be a hit over the past 18 months.
In terms of the company’s future, Reflex Winkelmann will continue its product development for an ever changing market and is placing an emphasis on looking at improving the energy efficiency of every building. In addition to product development, the company is also focusing on the changes in customers behaviour with a growing appetite for knowledge.
“Reflex4Experts will surely evolve into a fully interactive platform however, in the meantime, digitalisation of the company and product data is already freely available and QR codes on products are starting to appear, making it easier for the end user to access information easily,” Tim explained.
After a challenging year, Reflex Winkelmann has demonstrated its wealth of expertise and industry leading solutions, making the company, indeed a worthy recipient of our Company of the Year Award.
We asked Tim about how the company feels about being selected. He stated that, “We feel that the platform Building and Facilities News gives manufacturers such as Reflex Winkelmann is really important and are extremely grateful to Building and Facilities News for this award.”
For any further information, please see the details below.
T 0161 266 1043
sales@reflexuk.co.uk
www.reflex-winkelmann.com