It’s rare for a product manufacturer to produce every component they supply. If, however, they work with trusted partners - who can prove their own quality processes - to provide a complete system solution, the system supplier can confidently offer a wide variety of options.

Why is it best to specify a system of components from one source?

When specifying building envelope solutions, sourcing components from multiple manufacturers significantly increases the workload for the specifier, and significantly decreases certainty about the suitability of components working together as needed.

Dealing with individual component manufacturers and obtaining confirmation from each that they support the proposed design, is time consuming. There is also the risk that, if the design fails, none of the component manufacturers involved will accept their product is responsible. They’ll ask questions of the surrounding components.

While that can be seen as buck-passing, it’s also an acknowledgement that everything depends on everything else. That’s why a system approach works, and why obtaining all the components from a specified supply chain is preferable.

What are the advantages of greater supply chain control?

A system supplier has control of their production process and product performance by using consistent material supply routes from raw materials to finished product. They also have control over which component manufacturers they work with, and which components they offer as part of their system solutions.

The traceability of materials and products through the process gives specifiers and building owners the confidence they need. That’s in contrast to, say, importing a component from halfway around the world, where it’s harder on a practical level to be sure of compatible quality standards - whatever reassurances the component manufacturer may give.

The system supplier, using responsibly sourced materials, can then put their solutions through third-party testing, which gives them complete faith in their offering. It’s much more reassuring if the system supplier offers design and specification advice based on components they know will work as expected in the as-built project.

Of course, it’s much easier to then offer a multi-decade guarantee as well, like the Platinum^® Plus guarantee offered by Tata Steel on our building envelope system solutions. Use our online specification tool for your projects, or read more about the benefits of specifying a system back by Platinum^® Plus here.