What is the relationship between SKAN and SCHOTT?
SKAN is an independent company, that was founded on the core principle of representing SCHOTT here in the UK.

50 years on, both SKAN and SCHOTT are still very much together, having used this time to develop these agreements further, and assign certain exclusivities for SKAN, especially in those areas requiring high levels of technical applications knowledge such as optical glass and temperature resistant glass for the UK room heater market.

Today, SCHOTT and SKAN together provide a truly seamless supply into the UK market for these technical products, with co-operation on pricing and sharing of market knowledge / trends.

SKAN has technical experts employed which are at your service, and being UK based, we can meet your needs quickly and effectively.

Our stockholding in the UK, can also impact positively on lowering both your bought-in costs and corporate carbon footprint (see below).
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What other glass do you stock?
Over the 50+ years, SKAN has a developed an impressive UK stock-holding capability of many of the familiar (and not so familiar) optical glass and technical flat glass materials, from SCHOTT, as well as other specialty glasses/materials from some of our other key suppliers.

The SKAN product and applications knowledge is broad, resulting in stocks of standard / specialist  / niche materials available, right here in the UK. Stocklists for our optical glass materials are freely available on our downloads page.

Right from the highest specification zero thermal expansion ceramic glasses used in astronomical applications through to 2mm anti-glare picture framing glass for the art market... We are always looking for new materials and applications and would be happy to provide quotations for the more exotic as well as standard glass materials.
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I have been buying glass from another supplier for years but we want to change to SKAN. However I am concerned how my customers will react to the change, how can we make sure that our customers don't suffer during the switch-over period?
Having been ISO9001:2000 accredited for almost 10 years now, we have all of the necessary internal systems that will ensure that products /processes are "prior" approved and full traceability ensured during the supply lifetime. Working alongside our customers, we have already developed robust systems that can be individually tailored, from the provision of documentary evidence ("Certificates of Conformity"), right through to highly developed "phase-in" strategies, working at all levels within your organisation.
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Will you offer glass stockholding?
SKAN's 50 years of success has comes through the holding of strategic "buffer stocks" of OUR customers' key product lines. Working with our customers' build schedules, our commercial/logistics team already successfully manage 1000's of stock movements direct to line.

On a slightly broader point, if in the somewhat unlikely event that we do not currently stock the base glass type that you require, please let us know, as we're always re-evaluating our stocked product portfolio, and will consider holding stock for you.
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What sort of delivery timescales can I expect?
We endeavour to ship all ex-stock items within 48hrs of receipt of your order and / or payment being received. For non-stock line items, we always aim to deliver within 4wks. It is interesting to note that some glass melting campaigns only occurring once every 4 or 5 years, so this clearly underlines the need for excellent communications / technical understanding right at the point of enquiry!
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Ref technical expertise- do you charge for consultations?
We always endeavour to provide "free advice" at the time you call. However, certain products /designs that we get involved with, and that require high levels of development / engineering time, we do charge for, either in the form of an amortisation charge (a proportion within the unit price) or a design + development charge (levied separately). Please be assured that unless we agree a fee with you upfront, you can assume there will be no charge for the advice you receive.
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I have to develop a specialist product for my company, using glass, but we've never worked with glass before - what support can you give us?
Designing with glass can be a daunting task. SKAN has over 50 years experience of designing with glass. Throughout this time, we reckon we've seen the majority of the problems faced by glass users - and played a part in resolving a lot of them!

Our clients tell us they feel they are in safe hands with SKAN.  See our Case Studies section for some practical examples of how we have worked together with our key customers.

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What guarantees do you have on your products?
Guarantees on glass products often are limited to dimensional conformance to drawing ONLY.

However, with over 50 years of successful trading, SKAN warrant not only the delivery being of satisfactory quality, but also that the services SKAN provide, will be actioned with reasonable care and skill.

Analysing our customer comments / feedback over several years, if there has ever been a problem, almost all are for minor issues of scratches and chips in the glass. Utillising on-site visits to validate handling mechanisms coupled to detailed on-site applications engineering to make the product more "robust" and "future-proofed", most issues are quickly dealt with and swiftly engineered-out.

To ensure we get it as RIGHT FIRST TIME as we can possibly make it, we take great care in asking as many targeted questions UPFRONT, to uncover as many aspects of the project as possible, to create as FULL a SPECIFICATION as possible! Although our initial detailed technical questioning may therefore appear fastidious at first, it is our way to "uncover" as much detail of the requirement as we can, BEFORE any glass recommendation / commercial quotation, is ever given!
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I need a total turnkey solution with warehousing andJIT deliveries. Is this possible?
With your local UK SKAN team on-hand and 17,000 employed at SCHOTT, we take significant pride in being able to take concepts through to JIT delivery! With proven examples, we let our actions and our customers speak louder than our words...
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Can you help with components and assemblies?
SKAN and SCHOTT together recognised very early on, the need to bring together different technologies to glass, to make the product easier to work with at all levels... With proven metalwork supply chains, dedicated assembly areas (with the possibility of clean-room assembly also), SKAN are well placed to accept orders for composite glass/metal assemblies, and can offer a fully boxed solution!
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We have to meet stringent standards set by our customers. What can you do to help?
Both SKAN and SCHOTT are ISO9001:2000 approved. With proven systems and procedures in place, we are open to customer audits and actively encourage total supply chain discussions.
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Why do you insist that we register to gain technical information?
SKAN has an active interest in providing the best level of service we can to our customers. Through newsletters / information forums / editorial / exhibitions / visits, we strive to include as many interested parties as is possible. By screening our client list, we can "tailor" our communication to you and provide you with updates as and when they happen, keeping you up-to-date, whilst not flooding you with incessant / unwanted email shots...
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