A Danish business adventure
Idealcombi was founded in 1973 by the brothers Bent and Henning Søgaard in their parent’s barn in Hurup on the Danish west coast. The business quickly grew bigger, and, in 1981, it was transformed into the public limited company Ideal Vinduet A/S with 20 employees. Only a few years later – in 1984 – the two brothers opened a new 3.500 sqm window factory in Hurup where the revolutionary window system known as CombiFrame was established in 1988, in a business partnership with KPK Døre og Vinduer under the name CombiFrame A/S. A few years later, all of CombiFrame A/S was taken over by IdealVinduet A/S.
First with the latest
As the first window manufacturer in Denmark, Ideal Vinduet started in 1998 to quality-optimise and finger joint heartwood (removing the knots in the wood) using a new high-technology system. That marked the beginning of further expansion of the company, which, in a merger between Ideal Vinduet A/S and CombiFrame A/S in 2002 under the name of Idealcombi A/S, opened a sales department and agencies in London, Ireland, Scotland and Iceland. For four consecutive years, from 2002 to 2005, Idealcombi made it to Berlingske Nyhedsmagasin’s annual Gold1000 list of Denmark’s biggest companies and occupied a well-earned position among the elite companies in the Danish corporate sector. By 2004, the total production area exceeded 56,000 m2 and the London sales office also moved into a new and bigger premises.
Throughout the years, the Søgaard brothers’ flair for innovation and product development has been the engine of the fact that Idealcombi is the first in the market to introduce the latest technology and is several steps ahead in terms of interpreting market demands and needs. In 2005, Idealcombi was the first to introduce the innovative Warm Edge spacer bars as standard in all windows and doors (a thermoplastic spacer in double-glazed windows, which minimises the risk of condensation forming at the edge of the pane).
In 2007-08, Idealcombi invested in another 17,000 sqm factory equipped with a state-of-the-art high-technology production system in the industry at a time when other businesses, due to the recession triggered by the financial crisis, decided to cut back and not make any new investments.
The brothers’ flair for market trends and foresight as to future energy requirements led to the development of idealcore™ and the launch of a completely unique new low-energy window by the name of Futura+ in the late summer of 2010. Right from the beginning, the product was a tremendous success and has since been followed by Futura+i which, in concert with Futura+, represented Idealcombi’s low-energy products.
Futura+ and Futura+i was in 2015 joined by Frame IC and Nation IC that also benefit from the idealcore™ technology for reduced maintenance, better energy performance and a longer lifespan.
The future is safe
In just over 50 years, Idealcombi has succeeded in developing from a two-man business in a barn in Hurup into Denmark’s largest independent window manufacturer with a production area of 100,000 m² and more than 600 employees, who, on Danish ground, develop and manufacture some of the best and most energy-efficient windows and doors in the world. A true Danish business adventure.
The two cousins and sons of the founders, Martin & Mikael have now taken over the management of the company, and continue striving for quality and innovation on the wet and windy west coast.
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