EJOT UK has created one of the country’s most extensive R&D, testing and training facilities of its kind in its recently expanded Applitec Centre. But what exactly is it and how does it help those working in the roofing and façade supply chain? Robert Hardstaff, Managing Director of EJOT UK explains.
Continuous innovation in fastening technology plays a crucial role in ensuring building envelopes can be designed to perform to ever higher standards, and be installed with greater efficiency and safety. But being innovative and developing new products is just one of the functions of our Applitec Centre, a state-of-the-art technical centre within the EJOT UK headquarters and manufacturing facility near Leeds.
This purpose built technical centre is focused on helping OEMs, designers and installers maximise the benefits of using EJOT products – supporting them to apply the numerous fasteners and fastening systems we offer in the best possible way. Hence why the facility is named ‘Applitec’, a short version of ‘application technology’.
The Applitec Centre has evolved over four decades and today it is more comprehensive than ever. Our original facility tripled in size as part of our site expansion programme in 2021 and significant investment is continually made to equip it to world-class standards.
Today’s Applitec Centre facilitates testing in a number of areas, principally associated with the mechanical properties of fasteners, materials science and environmental performance. The facility supports EJOT customers in both the construction and industrial sectors, with the latter including premium car manufacturers who rely on our fastening technology to achieve their ongoing remit to design lighter and build stronger.
EJOT UK’s vision was always to serve these very different markets in a single progressive environment given the similarity of the challenges facing designers and OEMs in both sectors, and enable easy knowledge-sharing between engineers in the two. As a result, the Applitec Centre includes advanced technology and equipment of a standard that is normally only associated with academic research laboratories.
The purpose of the Applitec Centre, however, is much broader than R&D – it is also about training and helping everyone in the sector understand how to get the most from EJOT fasteners. For this reason, the facility also includes a large test rig to demonstrate how EJOT fasteners work in practice when fixing roofing and cladding panels to purlins, for example. It also supports OEMs in their development of new products and systems by enabling real world fastening application to be confirmed before their launch.
Installers can also use the rig to hone their skills and learn new techniques when working with EJOT fasteners. And the rig is used for internal staff training, which includes providing every member of the EJOT UK team with the opportunity to understand the principles of how to install a roof, as well as expert level training for members of the CFA (Construction Fixings Association).
The technology and equipment within the Applitec Centre is also central to our quality control processes. The quality control team works closely with the technical team and utilises some of Applitec’s resources to monitor products being manufactured, as well as to check incoming raw materials.
How does all this feed into support for building envelope designers and installers? Firstly, the facilities and technologies we have available mean we can regularly check and confirm that EJOT fastener products perform as we declare on our datasheets, as well as the European Technical Assessments and FM Approvals that apply to many of our products.
This confirmed performance helps to give designers complete confidence when specifying EJOT products – and for installers that means the EJOT brand can be trusted to deliver. But more importantly for many installers and contractors, Applitec helps us to support them in their personal development and to gain new skills.
It is an outstanding facility for training, providing a resource for installers who are looking to develop their knowledge of fasteners and how best to use them. We have also used the facility to develop our best practice resources, including the video guidance for using self-drilling fasteners and our flat roof fastener plus tube-washer combinations, so anyone who has seen those will be familiar with the quality of the Applitec Centre.
