Dear reader

I’m pleased to be sending you the latest issue of the Guthrie Douglas newsletter in its new email format. Every two months we’ll be answering our customers’ questions, and sharing information about our products and the industry with you.

In this issue we explain how our new Safedrive® Fi drive system can save you time and money. We answer an emergency call from the fire service and we introduce members of our technical sales team who could help you with selecting hazardous area equipment.

If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email your ideas to guthriedouglas@guthriedouglas.com.

Andrew Collett Sales Director 01926 452452

PS Please take a minute to add our email address to your list of ‘safe’ addresses so that our next issue in December lands safely in your inbox.

Safedrive® Fi

Installing non-balanced high-speed rolling shutter and fabric doors just got dramatically simpler.

Our new Safedrive® Fi is, we believe, the first drive for non-balanced doors with a built-on frequency inverter. It will greatly reduce the need for on-site wiring and speed up commissioning too.

How? Let’s look at wiring first. Because the inverter and drive is pre-assembled, it’s ready to be simply plugged in on-site to one of our standard TS control panels.

Compare that with conventional products, where the control and frequency inverter are housed together and the drive is separate. The power supply and motor leads must be laid separately to prevent interference and are hard wired.

Commissioning is simplified too. Pre-assembly means that parameters for motor voltage, frequency, etc are factory set for you. There’s no fiddling around setting door speeds either – simply enter the required drive rpm. Acceleration and deceleration can be set just as easily.

And of course, you get all the standard features of using a TS control panel. Effortless, fast programming and the ability to set drive limits at floor level, keeping installers safe and reducing access equipment hire.

To find out more about Safedrive® Fi call 01926 452452 or download the datasheet here.

Our products are helping firefighters at a number of fire stations respond quickly and safely to 999 calls.

A regular customer asked for our expertise on a high profile and complex project to install high-speed sectional doors for one of the UK’s Fire & Rescue Services.

Our sales team visited stations with the door manufacturer to assess conditions first-hand and make recommendations. The team also helped with commissioning on the first few sites.

Door speed and safety were the priorities. The station doors had to be fully open as the fire engines were ready to leave. A specific lighting sequence was needed to show the door status, and traffic lights were needed to indicate when the engine could proceed because of limited headroom between the top of the engine and the bottom of the fully open door.

Our Ranger 91RDU drive and TS981 control panel met all the requirements. Not only that, but, like all Guthrie Douglas products, they are technically first-rate, safe and reliable too. Perfect for must-not-fail projects.

To find out more about the Ranger 91RDU and TS981 call 01926 452452 or visit www.guthriedouglas.com.

To give you added confidence when supplying doors for use in hazardous areas, we’re expanding training across our technical sales team.

Any electrical equipment used in areas where fumes, vapour and/or dust are at risk of ignition must conform to the ATEX equipment directive. And it’s the door supplier’s responsibility to make sure it does.

But our technical team are on hand to help you. Robert Booth is already qualified in the selection and use of electrical equipment in potentially hazardous areas. Paul Marshall will complete his training in November.

They’ll help you understand the differing levels of risk and to select the correct drives and controls for your needs. They can also advise on the right questions to ask your customers about how areas will be used.

Robert has advised on equipment for everywhere from refineries to aircraft workshops and painting installations. Anywhere where fuel, solvents and alcohol may be present. One customer supplied doors to a whisky distillery where alcohol vapour is released from casks during the ageing process.

As well as ATEX, our technical sales team are up to date on all the latest regulations. So if there’s something you’re not sure about, just give us a call on 01926 452452.

Our move this year to a larger factory has given us capacity for future growth and is helping us give you better training and service.

Located just down the road from our old site, the new factory has floor space of 16,000 sq ft. With more room to store stock, we can be more efficient and better meet our delivery target of 24 hours.

The new site also has a larger, better-equipped training suite. It can accommodate up to 60 people and holds demonstration products. You can call on Guthrie Douglas for tailored training sessions for your sales teams and/or installers.

You are also welcome to use the room for your own purposes. Our central location, just off the M40 at Warwick, makes it a perfect base for you to hold regional meetings.

To talk to us about training for your team, to book our training room, or simply to have a tour of our facilities, call 01926 452452.

I was encouraged to see an article in Warehouse & Logistics News highlighting the false economy of buying cheap doors.

It argues that cheap doors cost buyers more in the long run because of constant call-outs, and the price of repairs and parts. The article also talks about the importance of preventative maintenance.

Read it – it may give you some ammunition to sell-up to your customers.

I attended the Door & Hardware Federation AGM on 25 September and was proud to be made vice-chairman of the organisation. I hope that in my new role I will be able to assist the new chairman, Bob Perry, in his mission. The new strap line for the DHF is ‘raising standards’ and it is my intention to work with suppliers and door manufacturers to do just that, and make the DHF a force in the market.

The new DFH website has just been launched. On there is a free guide for members and non-members that gives useful recommendations for restraining roller shutter barrels. It was produced following a number of incidents, one fatal, where roller shutter barrels became detached from their end plates and fell down after being hit by a vehicle.

A. No you don’t.

Other devices that will stop the door falling can be used. However, they must be proven to prevent a door dropping and to sustain the out-of-balance load that arises when one or more balancing springs break.

Our own Ranger series of sectional door drives do just that. They are rated to sustain different door weights according to the number of springs and the drum diameter.

Of equal importance is the manual override, which must not allow the door to fall back when engaged. All of the Ranger drives with rapid hand chain have this ability and provide the complete solution for driving sectional doors.

Using a Ranger therefore saves you the cost of the spring break device, and of wiring in the switch to detect if the device has been operated, and simplifies both the manufacture and installation of the door.

Talk to our technical sales team on 01926 452452 for honest guidance on the right product for your needs.

Q. When you choose a drives and controls supplier, how important is it to you that they operate in an environmentally friendly way?

A. Is it-

Very important?
Important?
Quite important?
Not important?
Or, is it now becoming commercially necessary to use environmentally aware suppliers?

Send us your answer and comments by replying to this email. We’ll summarise the results in our December newsletter.