With Alan Richardson, contracts manager at Newcastle upon Tyne-based Hart Door Systems (HDS) heading off for the Gulf and Hart’s sales manager Julian Britnell going to South America, it is clear that HDS is taking its export opportunities extremely seriously.

“Our business in the UK remains healthy but with a shrinking manufacturing sector and a construction sector struggling through a lack projects coming online we have always taken the view that a balance between UK business and exports has to be the way forward,” says HDS managing director, Doug Hart.

As a private company with a track record stretching back 75 years, Doug Hart is the son of the founder and Nick Hart, HDS’s technical director, is the grandson of the founder. “Yes it’s a family business but stemming from this is a very focused approach with decisions made here with no recourse to a distant office somewhere else.”

A landmark in the company’s history was the development of a high speed door product some 25 years ago. Called ‘Speedor’ it has become an international known brand being used in 15 countries worldwide.

“…efficiency and reducing heat loss…”

“Looking at typical manufacturing situations involving materials movement and finished goods being stored in adjoining warehousing just about every industrial door was left open,” explains Doug Hart. “The result is loss of heated air and an in-rush of cold air. I designed a door that had an automatic opening/closing cycle so an approaching forklift truck could move through efficiently and greatly reduce the loss of expensively heated air.”

The ‘Speedor’ brand has been developed into a range of products to suit a very wide range of applications – from automatic doors required on conveyor systems, to doors for cold rooms, clean rooms and huge doors for the like of power stations.

But moving abroad Hart has used other door products to gain a substantial foothold abroad, most recently over the last five years or so in the Gulf region. Here HDS has been extremely busy on the Dubai Metro project supplying dozens of fire and security shutters for many of the project’s depots. This is in addition to Speedors and fire shutters exported to the new IFFCO development, also in Dubai.

Most recently has been the installation of Speedors at the new Cairo National Museum for Egyptian Civilization, following on from HDS installations for the Kuwait Oil Company.

Other examples of exports include the Bermuda emissions control testing station, the Falklands where a Hurricane-proof shutter that could withstand wind speeds of up to 250mph was installed and the Lufthansa Technik Malta maintenance facility, Malta International airport.

“…reliable, well-engineered, door products…”

Behind this success has been a deliberate policy of delivering quality, engineered, door systems that comply with all necessary standards such as the ISO 9001:2008 quality standard and, most recently accreditation with NFPA 80 American fire requirement standards, in parallel to the British& European standards, The UL listing is the only European door manufacturer to achieve this standard for roller shutter fire doors.

Doug Hart explains that his company has built on the Tyneside tradition for innovative engineering that requires continual product improvement through design, prototyping and testing through a dedicated, in-house, facility to develop technical solutions for specific clients’ needs.

“…T5, an example of Hart’s R&D…”

An example of how this R & D facility works is the design of an automatic high-speed smoke/fire/security screen that was just 2m wide x 1.5 m high for use in over 58 very busy check-in facilities at Terminal 5, Heathrow.

Not only were high-speed, automatic open/close cycles required but each door had to provide a seal for 60 minutes in the event of fire. The doors were tested to 3 million cycles in prototype form. This successful Hart contract was part of a complex baggage handling system that was designed to handle 6,000 bags per hour involving conveyors transporting automatically suitcases over a multi level airport complex.

In addition to the 58 check-in desk installations, Hart also installed a mixed package of fire & security roller shutter doors in the lower ground service area and fire shutters on the Tube access tunnels leading directly to Terminal 5.

Other high-profile projects include St.Pancras International and the main athletics arena for the 2012 Olympics, London. Here Hart manufactured shutters for the main entrances shutters measuring 11.5m wide x 6m high.

More locally, at the Egger production plant, Hexham, Northumberland, HDS designed a counterbalance system to reduce loads on door drive systems allowing for much increased size of high-speed door installation, above 6m x 6m  in size, for a busy production area within a major manufacturing facility.

This R&D facility has proved to be a very useful investment with one test-rig generating 150,000 cycles projected life time test required for the Dubai Metro project. Reliable, well-engineered, door products with exceptional installation and service back-up is what HDS stands for.

“...continual product development...”

By supporting the policy of continual product improvement through design, prototyping and testing through a dedicated facility, HDS has been able to take on technologically challenging contracts by painstakingly developing technical solutions to specific clients’ needs all controlled within the ISO 9001:2008 quality programme.

Behind this success is a management system based on UK/European quality systems. As Doug Hart explains: “We regularly review our management procedures and supporting documentation which require checklists that are simpler and easier to understand. As a result we are able to demonstrate to our clients that we operate a good reliable system of which they will approve.

“All documents used by the current system are intended to reflect what we do and what is important to record. This demonstrates control through the manufacturing process and provides an information trail for analysis which allows both ourselves and our customers authentic records.”

As for the future Doug Hart says it’s a case of ‘more of the same’. We plan an office extension adjoining our Westerhope factory and will continue to invest prudently. The global economic situation continues to be shrouded in uncertainty but that said we will continue to develop opportunities to take the business forward based on the knowledge that we have the skills and determination to do so.

“ Manufacturing is what made Britain great and an expansion of manufacturing in the UK will significantly assist the resolution of the UK’s current crisis. We should all support British manufactured product allowing them to develop their markets profitably to ensure their investment strategies for future development are securely funded.”