How a specialist in aluminum door panel manufacturing conquers market

As the only Dutch manufacturer of high-quality aluminum door panels, Wipaco is gaining a firm foothold. "This is mainly because we do what we promise, deliver the best quality and put the customer first," says Mitchel Weekers, business developer at Wipaco.

Although the company itself has not been around very long, clients such as architects, facade builders and window frame manufacturers can count on some 25 years of experience and knowledge within Wipaco. "We like to be closely involved, ask further, think along and then deliver reliable, complete and transparent advice. For almost every challenge, we have a solution where we relieve our customers from request to delivery." Mitchel emphasizes that this includes project-based, repetitive work as well as customized specials.

Growing in abundance

After Wipaco was featured at Gevel 2022 (the Dutch trade fair for building envelope design & engineering) and Polyclose 2022 (the trade fair in window, door, shading, facade, and access technology in Belgium), both brand awareness and customer numbers have increased. "There is an increasing growth of different types of customers," Mitchel says and continues: "Both the large frame fabricators who need large numbers of doors for large (social housing) projects, and villa builders who want more exclusive door panels in a smaller edition: they know how to find us better and better. And of course everyone is served by us in the best possible way."

Modern production site

The modern, efficiently equipped production site in the Netherlands enables Wipaco to produce both large and small orders. "This allows us to quickly deliver large numbers with consistent quality, but we also have the knowledge and know-how in-house to think along with you about possibilities for delivering aesthetically pleasing custom specials. It is even possible for us to develop a complete own door model line, or to take over (part of) the door production for our customers. In doing so, we can offer a fully streamlined process, including calculating and providing the right advice on applying special powders for an optimal end result." 

Innovation is our driving force

Thanks to years of practical experience and continued product development, unique features have been added to the Wipaco door panels. "Think of the unique drainage concept, the glass support and the interchangeable glazing with SKG^**-certificate," says Mitchel. "And when limited space for the door panel must be taken into account and all insulation requirements must still be met, the door panel can be implemented with a 40 mm innovative VIP insulation material. In this way you achieve the highest possible insulation value with a minimum panel thickness with an Rc value of 5.6 m² K/W and a U-value of 0.17 in accordance with the requirements of the Building Code." Wipaco is also Dow and Bostik certified to bond panels to the door leaf and to perform door panels in European Fire Class B and A2. Plug-in door panels can be fire-resistant for up to 60 minutes. "It goes without saying that all our panels are produced according to the VMRG requirements for the Dutch market and the FAC requirements for the Belgian market," adds Mitchel.

Plate machining capabilities

In terms of both functionality and design, you've come to the right place at Wipaco. "We are the only one in the Netherlands that offers four plate processing options for door panels: powder coating, anodizing, sublimation and the application of foils. On our new website you can find all possibilities and the complete range of doors: the Comfort Line, the Exclusive Line and the Custom Line. With the latter, all special customer wishes in terms of design and functionality can be translated into a custom door panel." Mitchel concludes by saying that Wipaco regularly provides training for (potential) customers in order to provide more insight and feeling into the world of (door) panels. "We want to make our customers' lives as easy as possible and in this we go much further than just answering a customer question."