History
1965 – 1979 The early years
In 1965 Jan Reynaers created an aluminium construction company in Duffel (Belgium). He produced windows and doors using the Classic system, an aluminium system he designed. This new high-quality system was easy to process, resulting in other aluminium joiners buying from him.
In 1969 Reynaers Aluminium was converted into a public limited company and the company built a new plant at 266 Oude Liersebaan in Duffel. In the same year Jan Reynaers, together with the Dutchman Harry Siroo, founded Siral bv in Schijndel (the Netherlands). The first steps were made outside Belgian borders.
On 20 September 1973 Jan Reynaers died. His family took over control of the company. Together with a team of creative employees it further developed a successful organisation.
In the mid-70s energy-saving and thermal insulation became important key words. In 1978 Reynaers started developing a thermal break profile series.
1980 - 1992 The growth years
The success of the thermal break profile series
Thermo system led to the creation of NV Erap, its own production company for the insulation of profiles.
In 1982 Reynaers started its activities in Ireland, followed in 1983 by Germany with the creation of Dynal GmbH (parent Reynaers GmbH), in 1985 the French subsidiary was opened and in 1989 it was the UK’s turn.
Exceptional export results were crowned with an “Export Oscar” presented by the Belgian Foreign Trade Service.
In the early 90s Reynaers headed east. After Poland, sales activities were started up in the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Baltic States, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
1993 - 2003 The expansion years
With the takeover in 1993 of the Spanish system company Aluminios del Vallès the number of employees in the Reynaers group increased to 322. In the same year the company was one of the first companies in the building sector to receive the ISO 9001 quality certification.
In 1995 new sales offices were opened in the Swiss Frauenfeld and the Hungarian capital Budapest. The splitting up of the former Czechoslovakia led to the creation of a subsidiary in Prague, next to the existing office in Bratislava.
In that same year a cooperation agreement was signed in China with the Donglin Group in Yingkou. With the takeover in 1996 of Alunion, a subsidiary of the Pechiney Bâtiment group, Reynaers considerably increased its market share in France.
In 1998 a new Central European distribution centre was opened in Piaseczno near Warsaw.
In early 1999 Reynaers launched the innovative modular three-chamber
Concept system.
With the takeover in 2000 of the Dutch Roval specialising in aluminium roof profiles, further expanding the product offer. Reynaers opened an office in Turkey.
The integration of Alunion and Reynaers France was completed in 2001 with the opening of new headquarters in Lieusaint near Paris.
In 2003 the company launched the innovative CW 86 "cassette façade system”, the CR 120 conservatory system and the BS shading systems. The Shanghai office was also opened.
2004 - 2008 Globalisation and sustainable innovation
Globalisation
At the end of 2004 Reynaers Middle East was founded in Bahrain in the form of a joint venture.
The same year managing director Martine Reynaers was elected Manager of the Year in Belgium
With the acquisition in 2005 of Somalu, Reynaers strengthened its position on the French finished module market. An office was also opened in Vienna.
In the summer of 2005 Reynaers took over the Italian aluminium system company Compostella Alluminio.
In 2006 Reynaers Iran and Reynaers India were established.
In January 2008 Reynaers Aluminium announced their acquisition of Alupol SA, a prominent provider of aluminium systems in Portugal, paving the way into markets in Portuguese-speaking countries globally.
In october 2008, Reynaers announced the opening of offices in Mongolia, Thailand, Australia and Israel. The African continent is an important step in the geographical expansion strategy of Reynaers. In this perspective, Reynaers started to promote
Its solutions through offices in Egypt and Algeria.
Innovation at the edge
In February 2004 the Reynaers Institute was inaugurated in Duffel. This Institute is a new step in the development of Reynaers and a knowledge center for all our partners. In addition to the existing 44,000 m² of offices and warehouses, this new building project provides 3,900 m² of extra floor space.
Extra offices for our workers have been laid out on different levels and a large part of the area is occupied by a training centre, test zone and demonstration area.
The demonstrations will focus on the latest developments and opportunities in the automated processing of aluminium profiles. Moreover, we have set out 2 showrooms: “Reynaers Project”, for architects in particular, and “Reynaers@” which employs the very latest techniques for demonstrating e-business and new software applications.
A new generation of high-performance sliding systems was marketed: CP 50 – CP 96 and CP 155 to meet the demands of much larger dimension of glass applications.
Sustainable development is an important innovation theme for Reynaers Aluminium. Recent ecological and energy-efficient innovations comprise aluminium profiles with high thermal insulation values like the CW 50 HI, CS 77 HI and CS 86 HI, external sunscreening that enable more energy-efficient management of buildings and double-façade solutions
In January 2006 the new Eco system for doors and windows was launched.
In 2007 Reynaers introduced the BS 40 and BS 100 Brise Soleil, providing solutions to control the amount of incoming sunlight and manipulating heat levels in buildings naturally.
Released early in 2008, the CW 86-EF/HI subsystem significantly improved the insulation of buildings with curtain walls, further enhancing the use of solar energy and the reduction of energy emissions in buildings.
Teaming up with Siegenia-Aubi of Germany, Reynaers developed the new –SE application that triggers a process in time to channel smoke and heat through natural airflows to exit the building, creating valuable time for emergency evacuations to be done safely and for potential damage to buildings to be minimised.
To cope with the company’s rapid growth, Reynaers Aluminium expanded its worldwide distribution centre in Duffel with 40%. In April 2008 the company formally opened this new warehouse, sporting 3 072 photovoltaic sun panels on 10.000 m² of its roof of 16 000 m². The panels generate 500 000 Kwh solar energy per annum, preventing the emission of 278 tons C02 per year.
At the same time, the Reynaers Institute expanded to one
one of the largest private testing facilities in the industry which includes a new air-wind-water testing rig, new cyclic and mechanical testing machines and state-of-the art acoustic chamber.
However Reynaers does not limit the use of solar energy for its own facilities. With the introduction of CW 60 Solar, Reynaers allows its customers to integrate Photovoltaic panels in its curtain walls.
In September 2008 Reynaers launched a new range of fireproof solutions. The new CW 50-FP now extends the time factor to safely evacuate buildings from 30 to 60 minutes. The CS 77-FP60, developed on the basis of the existing CS 77 profiles and accessories for windows and doors, now offers a 60 minute fireproofing time span. This enables the sub-division of buildings into separate fireproof sections that are interconnected by fireproof escape routes and fire exits.