zenronline.eu
EN
Platform on sun and daylight control, shutters, patio covers and closures
That, plus the fact that the Z&R jury is very diverse, means that the outcome of the Z&R Product of the Year Award is often very surprising. This year was no exception, with the winner being... the Child Safety tassel from Copahome.
This time, it is not a complete product, such as the blackout roof awning from VELUX that won in 2020, or a concept, such as the Q-series from Rainbowsol that won the award in 2019. This time, the winner is a Gyro Gearloose invention from Copahome. The BREL HOME BZE45-40 WiFi motor and the weinor modern basics blue® fabric collection finished in second and third place.
To prevent children from becoming entangled in the operating cords or chains of window decorations, Europe has had Child Safety legislation in place since 2014. This stipulates that the distance from the floor to the bottom of the cord or chain must be at least 150 cm. In addition, cords or chains must be secured to the wall or must detach when a certain amount of force is applied, in order to prevent serious accidents.
“Copahome has taken these rules very seriously from the outset,” says CEO Patrick Vervisch. “We have never wanted to get away with a cheap solution and have always put functionality and safety first.” Experience shows that poor solutions sometimes provoke the wrong reactions from end users. In desperation, safety features are then disabled, for example by covering a breakaway connector with transparent tape. “For us, that was the signal to get serious about developing a smart and safe alternative.”
The Copahome design team, led by Product Manager Marnik Dejonckheere, tackled this task with enthusiasm. The result is impressive, according to the jury of the Z&R Product of the Year Award. We asked the Product Manager a few questions to put the winning Child Safety Tassel into perspective.
“Absolutely. Our tassel isn't the first on the market, but it is the first that delivers on its safety promise and does what it was designed to do.”
“We have prioritized the needs of our customers and the safety of their children. Our technical staff are trained in technical matters, but they have also listened very carefully to what end users have to say. We picked up on the annoyances and dissatisfaction with the cords and chains of indoor blinds and then set to work with our team to come up with a solution.”
“The product development took two years. We set the bar high and took our time until everything was perfect. When it comes to child safety, you can't compromise! The result is impressive, because with our patented Child Safety tassel, we far exceed European safety requirements.”
“Tests showed that many of the existing child safety solutions would fail when it really mattered. That was unacceptable to us. Our child-safe solution only activates when it is really necessary, not when someone simply pulls hard on the cord. Only when a child becomes entangled in the cord does the tassel break open, without any small parts falling on the floor!”
“We are delighted that Z&R has now rewarded our years of hard work, but we are even happier with the responses from our customers and the reassuring feeling that their children are safe. That is ultimately why we do it. Peace of mind is in Copahome's DNA.”
It doesn't look like this Z&R Product of the Year Award will be the end of it. Copahome has too much ambition for that. The company has a production facility in Serbia and is developing from a Belgian to a European player. “The mix of experience and youthful energy—the average age in our company in Serbia is around 35—has given Copahome a boost,” says Patrick Vervisch. “We feel like a 70-year-old start-up! And we have to, because changes are happening faster and faster. The days when a collection lasted five years or so are long gone.”
Youthful enthusiasm is therefore necessary to keep up with these developments. “It is important to serve the customer well,” says sales and marketing manager Edward Vervisch (the son of). “We pay a lot of attention to upselling. It is up to the dealer to respond to this. One aspect of this is that there is growing interest in motorization and home automation solutions.”
“For the motorization of indoor sun protection, we work a lot with BREL,” Marnik Dejonckheere adds. “They are leaders in motors for indoor sun protection and their products are undergoing a lot of development. For the control system, they work with a versatile open source system.”
“Internally, we talk a lot about a complete partnership with our customers,” says Patrick Vervisch. “We are looking for intensive cooperation,” adds his son Edward. “We need feedback from our customers to help us develop further. Whereas in the past it was more a question of buying and selling, we are now looking for added value for all parties, not least for the end customer. We need to distinguish ourselves from online retailers and demonstrate the added value of customization and personal advice. Many of our dealers are already responding to this.”
In order to achieve this goal for every budget, Copahome is differentiating its collection into a Basic, a Comfort, and a Design collection. “We started with our collection of roller blinds and want to expand this concept to all collections over time.”
Ease of installation is also an important aspect, according to Patrick Vervisch. “Installation is increasingly being outsourced, which means that real professional and product knowledge is lacking. Installation-friendly products are naturally an advantage in this situation. Developments such as these have led us to evolve from an assembly company into a company with its own product development. We do recognize that this takes time: it has to be done properly.” Copahome takes a broad view of product development. “We involve many people, including dealers, because they know the market like no other. We then try to think from the end customer's perspective. In addition, legal energy and safety requirements are an important source of inspiration for product development. The end result will be that we will have renewed no fewer than twelve collections in two years. In doing so, we pay a lot of attention to functional properties such as insulation, fire resistance, durability, and so on.”
To give substance to its future actions, Copahome drew up a manifesto in 2020. “In fact, it answers the question of why a dealer would want to do business with Copahome,” says Patrick Vervisch. “In the 2021 version, we added an extra paragraph on sustainability, because that is becoming an increasingly important issue in our society.”
And then it's time for the formalities, because the Z&R delegation has, of course, traveled to Kortrijk for a reason. “We have received a large number of entries,” said magazine manager Ronald Klein with satisfaction. It is difficult to determine to what extent R+T digital has influenced this. In any case, it is very impressive that Copahome's Child Safety Tassel made it to first place among all the competition. It is a useful and functional product, because it serves child safety, it is innovative, and it is beautifully designed, all characteristics that the jury took into account in its assessment. With the Z&R Product of the Year Award 2021 as a well-deserved result!”
The BREL HOME BZE45-40 WiFi motor finished second, just three points behind the winner. It is not often that a motor finishes so high in the Z&R Product of the Year Award. This shows that this is a special product that pushes the boundaries in the field of drives and controls.
The weinor modern basics blue® fabric collection from weinor came in third place. Sustainability is the guiding principle behind this fabric collection, as these fabrics are made from recycled PET for no less than 85%. This is an important factor in this day and age of – rightly – growing concern for the environment.
The voting for the Z&R Product of the Year Award 2021 is now closed. The year 2022 will once again see a physical R+T trade fair, which usually serves as inspiration for product development. Expectations for next year are therefore high. The hope is that the number of 22 entries can even be exceeded. After all, innovation remains important for the industry to continue to develop.
