Managing Director of Ampteam Limited
Sometimes a spark of clarity will result in a “eureka” or “light bulb” moment and an idea will evolve into a unique product.
I don’t know how many people get such moments but it is certainly not uncommon as it is one of the things that makes us Human, our inventiveness!
Such was the case many years ago when the idea for the Unifold® hinge was born, only I called it my “beer mat” moment, because at the time I was bending a beer mat and you can probably guess where I was when I was doing it!
Since those early days of trials, tests, disappointments and triumphs, Unifold® has become a complete system and this has been achieved through an evolutionary process more by necessity than design, most often encountering a problem on site and returning to the factory and solving it in the workshop, employing fabrication techniques and whatever tests were necessary to prove the solution.
Most of the fabricated components which are vital to the Unifold® system were designed in the early years of product development and we had many “light bulb” moments in that process along the way, such as the patented Clip Joint used for difficult and narrow applications.
We learned the use of our hinge principle in so many ways to aid the fabrication process and to produce components which would be impossible any other way. From the outset this produced fabricated components fit for purpose and of exemplary quality.
We also realised early on that site working inside a gutter cavity could often be very difficult and to expect site operatives to “cut and carve” and then effectively seal a lining system was too much to ask, so our intention was and has been throughout for us to provide all fabrication, factory manufactured with simple gutter joints so the installation is constant and repetitive and as easy as we can make it.
We became a “single product company” concentrating on providing product and service excellence.
The system has proven to be entirely versatile with the ability to correctly line almost any existing system whether it is a level gutter or laid to falls.
Some of our fabricated components are corners, tees, side boxes, sumps and expansion joints and these are just a few! In fact there are solutions for any circumstances however difficult or complex.
For quite some time now we have insisted that anyone who installs Unifold must be trained to install the system. This is to ensure conformity and continuity of the system quality on site.
This supports our 25 year comprehensive guarantee that includes the installation as well as quality of materials and manufacture. An industry first in gutter lining applications.
It is also without doubt that Unifold® is a technical product which the following photographs clearly demonstrate.
This first photograph shows part of a fabrication that was probably one of our most complex and certainly one of our largest.
And this is the complete fabrication in situ, 18 pieces in total! And five gutters entering a single space! Not easy, and not a common occurrence, but if you are going to “set your stall” to line gutters then the ability to cope with such circumstances is elemental and vital.
This is a two piece corner detail with an intruding pier section.
This photograph shows a sump unit with two coned outlets and demonstrating that each end is a gutter section for ease of installation. Can you imagine attempting the manufacture of this on site?
The message is clear, any lining system must be able to cope with whatever the site conditions dictate and if a 25 year guarantee is offered then this must warranty that the system is going to work, without leaking, for that period of time and beyond.
Our quality and fabrication expertise means we are content with our promises.
