Lancashire Newswire

Rayflex & Insu-flex partner up to secure market presence in cold store industry

Rayflex announce a structured partnership with Insu-flex to further extend their reach and prominent position within the cold store industry.
Insu-flex are fast becoming a market leader in the manufacture and supply of insulated strip curtains to the dominant supermarket chains and fast-food outlets. They are entirely UK based and are proud to part of Britain’s manufacturing industry. We interviewed Phillipa Taylor, a director of the company to find out why the creation of Insu-flex and the associated partnership with Rayflex had become so important.
Here Phillipa tells us more.
“Rayflex is well established business, it started trading over 45 years ago and is well recognised throughout the UK and EU as one of the largest manufacturers of PVC strip curtains, associated rubber products and flexible door systems. Rayflex is geared to supply B2B and B2C customers and supplies a vast array of industries including Food, Pharma, Industrial Manufacturing, Agriculture, Schools, Datacentres, Cleanrooms, the list goes on and on. The product range is quite large, and the business model is based on rapid turnaround of orders and mass production techniques and skill sets, it operates a wide scale distribution of goods from HQ in Warrington, Cheshire.
We noticed a gap in the market for insulated curtains, insulated doors and covers that are well manufactured in the UK. The vast majority are insulated curtains, doors and covers are currently imported and problems can arise, extended lead times and sometimes product quality is not what it should be. We toyed with the idea of Rayflex manufacturing directly but it just did not sit well within the Rayflex business model.
We set up a stand-alone company, Insu-flex. The insulated product range is purposely small and aimed solely at the cold storage market, the production techniques are highly skilled, and the output is a high end, quality product that will offer energy saving in any cold store environment. Separating the two distinct product ranges into two separate companies allowed us to focus on industry knowledge, product design and product development. Insu-flex sells via a vetted list of cold store installation companies and via Rayflex for supply only requirements.
Insu-flex will benefit from Rayflex well respected name in the industry and from its contacts within the cold store market. Between the two companies we aim to supply most flexible air containment solution that the cold storage market requires. It allows us to remain flexible and to fulfil our customer demands”.
During the current pandemic, the two companies have thrived and separating the business models proved vital. Rayflex was able to be flexible and quickly moved in acrylic sneeze screens and other screening solutions for offices and manufacturing plants it could custom design solutions for any environment within a matter of days. Whilst Insu-flex perfected the art the manufacturing insulated strips for the rapidly growing food sector. This sector was one that was magnified during the pandemic due to the massive growth of food storage requirements, supermarkets saw highest industry sales growth in a decade and online sales boomed. February alone saw the supermarket industry grow by over 10% YoY and online share reached 17% an all-time high.
PVC strip curtains and insulated curtains are used extensively in the cold store industry to create divisions between ambient and cold air whilst allowing ease of access into the cold store area. They are secondary solution to hermetically sealed doors and help to keep food and other perishable products fresh.
It is great to see a small, family run, British manufacturing company, adapting and thriving during such tough times. We trust the Rayflex, and Insu-flex will continue to grow and support the cold storage industry for years to come and we look forward to seeing their progress over the next decade.

media information https://www.piranha-solutions.com/

Established in 1975, Rayflex group have specialised and led the market in the supply and manufacture of PVC strip curtains, rubber site safety products and impact doors for both industrial and commercial use.
Rayflex Rubber Limited.
Palatine Industrial Estate, Causeway Avenue, Warrington, WA4 6QQ, UK
Phone: +44 (0)1925 638753|Email: sales@rayflexgroup.co.uk
https://www.rayflexgroup.co.uk/ https://www.pvc-strip.co.uk/