Twelve years of the shutter plant, in the order things were built

The BössDoor line opened in 2010 and the plant has been rebuilt around three changes since: the multipoint lock in 2013, phone control and the automatic powder line in 2015, and a slat range that now runs from single-skin to 10.5 m spans.

The BössDoor shutter line opened in 2010 at the northern plant, on a little over 3,000 m² of floor. What it made then was one thing: a vented aluminium slat, cut and assembled to order. Everything since has been added around that.

The first addition, in 2013, was the lock. A shutter is only as good as the point where the bottom rail meets the floor, and a barrel bolt is the part a thief goes for. The multipoint lock replaced it, and felt and rubber seals went into the guides at the same time — not for weather, but because a slat running dry against an aluminium guide is the loudest part of the door.

In 2015 two things happened that still set how the plant works. A trial put shutter control on a phone, with fault alerts going to the owner rather than waiting to be noticed. And the powder line went in: one automatic coating plant for every slat the factory makes, rather than finishing bought in from outside. Coating in house is what lets a colour be held across a repeat order two years apart.

The range now splits three ways. Single-skin curtains are rolled from wide sheet with no joint between slats, which is what a garage or a lock-up shop wants. Vented slats carry oval, rectangular or elliptical perforations, so a closed shutter still passes light and air. Wide-span slats in 6063-T5 and T6 close warehouse and factory openings up to 10.5 m, where the load is no longer the curtain but the wind behind it.

Sections are set at the plant rather than on site, which is the point of making the whole set in one place: the fitter is hanging parts that were measured against each other, not matching a slat to a guide from two suppliers.