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Roman Sandulyak: Interview for Window Technologies Magazine

WinStyle — A Strong System Player in the Insulating Glass Components Market

By 2018, it had become clear that many companies operating in the insulating glass components sector—from manufacturers of individual components to suppliers and distributors—had significantly increased their activity in the Ukrainian window market.

Some of these companies do not even have a representative office in Ukraine. However, they clearly understand that the modern energy-efficient technologies already widely adopted across Europe also hold great potential for the Ukrainian market. As a result, they closely monitor market developments and the activities of the industry’s key players.

This raised an important question: is it possible to successfully manage a manufacturing business while simultaneously developing a thriving trading company in such a specialized niche? The answer is certainly yes.

We discussed this in detail with Roman Sandulyak, Co-Founder of the trading company WinStyle, as well as Director and Co-Founder of the manufacturing company Gran Polychem.

R.S.: My journey began at Bravo Glass back in 2001. It was the first and only company where I worked as an employee. I joined the company at a time when the market for insulating glass unit (IGU) components was only beginning to take shape. We actively studied and developed this business segment despite the fact that the market was still relatively small.

I remained with the company until 2008. During that time, I progressed from Sales Manager to General Director and left the company at the peak of its development, with a team of more than 200 employees and nine branches. According to our estimates, we held approximately 30% of the Ukrainian market for insulating glass components at that time.

WT: What led to your decision to leave the company? Was it a sign that it was time to start your own business?

R.S.: There was only one reason. At a certain point, I realized that I had gained enough knowledge and experience to build my own business. While working at the company, I also completed an Executive MBA (EMBA) program, which gave me additional confidence in my abilities. At the same time, certain differences in vision began to emerge between the company’s owners and myself. But, as they say, everything happens for the best.

Eventually, I made the decision to establish my own business and register the WinStyle trademark. For more than ten years now, we have remained at the forefront of the window industry, specializing in components for insulating glass unit manufacturing.

WT: What is WinStyle today? How is the company structured?

R.S.: Over the past decade, we have faced numerous challenges—currency fluctuations, changes in suppliers, market restructuring, and many others. However, today I can confidently say that WinStyle has become a strong trading company with a well-balanced portfolio of products for the insulating glass manufacturing industry.

We do not sell window profile systems, hardware, or glass. Instead, we specialize in understanding the needs of companies that manufacture insulating glass units. As we all know, besides glass itself, an insulating glass unit consists of many equally important components, including sealants, spacer bars, molecular sieves (desiccants), connectors, corner keys, decorative inserts, and various accessories.

WinStyle offers a comprehensive range of both primary and auxiliary products for manufacturers of all sizes. Our portfolio includes essential production materials such as cleaning paper, cork pads, technical fluids, hand tools, and many other consumables.

In addition, we provide our customers with complete solutions for sourcing, purchasing, and commissioning insulating glass manufacturing equipment. We place particular emphasis on secondary sealing extruders used for processing and applying the JOD-32 polyurethane sealant.

WT: Which brands have you ultimately chosen to represent?

R.S.: The market is constantly evolving and developing at a rapid pace. To grow alongside it, remain competitive, and meet our customers’ expectations, we continuously search for new products, technologies, and innovative solutions.

Drawing on many years of experience, we have built a portfolio of key brands that we are successfully developing in the Ukrainian market today:

Sealants: Gran Polychem (JOD-32), Tigerm, WS-PS, TKK, Erpasan, GP 900, GP 1000, WinSil.

Spacer Bars: Winspacer, Profilglass, Swisspacer, Chromatech Ultra (Alu Pro).

Molecular Sieves (Desiccants): Zibo Natergy, Winmol.

These products form the foundation of our portfolio today. Some of them are supplied under our own private label. Before carrying the WinStyle trademark, every product undergoes extensive testing and years of quality verification to ensure it meets our standards.

WT: Our magazine recently featured an advertisement for your new product with the intriguing name JOD-32. Could you tell us more about it?

R.S.: Oh, I have quite a romantic story connected with this product (laughs). At least, that’s how it began.

About five years ago, on a beautiful spring day—March 8th—we met someone in Lviv who introduced us to a sealant produced by a little-known company at the time. After testing the product, we were pleasantly surprised by its quality.

It turned out to be manufactured by Gran Polychem, a newly established Polish factory built virtually from the ground up with European investment and based on modern European technologies. The plant produced a completely new sealant using an innovative mercury-free formulation.

We became one of Gran Polychem’s first partners and introduced the product to the Ukrainian market. Over the years, we worked closely with the manufacturer and our customers to continuously improve the sealant, refining its performance until it reached the highest standards. We spent hundreds of hours in production facilities perfecting the product, and our efforts paid off.

The result was a truly high-quality sealant.

In 2017, new European regulations banning the use of mercury in sealant production came into force. As a result, manufacturers across the industry were required to adapt their products to comply with the new standards. Fortunately, we were already one step ahead, as we had been working with mercury-free technology from the very beginning. This allowed us to secure a significant position in the secondary polyurethane sealant market with JOD-32, while substantially increasing our sales.

Within just two years, we captured a considerable share of the polyurethane sealant market.

Everything was progressing successfully until the factory’s investors encountered financial difficulties beyond our control, forcing the production facility to cease operations.

What do you do when you have a proven formula, established relationships with raw material suppliers, and complete manufacturing expertise—but no production facility of your own?

The answer was obvious: build our own factory.

As a result, Gran Polychem officially launched its manufacturing facility in Ukraine in September 2018.

In the previous issue of your magazine, we already introduced our flagship product in detail—the JOD-32 secondary polyurethane sealant for insulating glass units, featuring an enhanced formula.

WT: To conclude our interview, how would you describe 2018 for WinStyle, and what were your expectations for 2019?

R.S.: 2018 was both a challenging and a milestone year for our company.

It was the year we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the WinStyle brand, welcomed new customers, increased our sales volumes, and further strengthened our position in the market.

In our industry, a comprehensive approach is essential. Customers expect not only high-quality products but also a complete range of related materials and services. Since we had to temporarily suspend sales of our secondary polyurethane sealant, some customers inevitably turned to alternative suppliers. However, we firmly believe this is only temporary. When a product truly delivers superior quality, customers always come back—and we will do everything possible to earn that trust once again.

According to our estimates, the Ukrainian market produces approximately 12 million square meters of insulating glass units annually. Based on various industry assessments, the market declined by around 10–15% in 2018 compared with 2017. Therefore, we did not expect any significant market growth in 2019.

As for WinStyle, we are very satisfied with the results we achieved in 2018 and entered 2019 with ambitious plans for further growth and development.

Contact us in a way convenient for you.

Kyiv, Kostiantynivska str. 75, office 305
Warehouse: Kyiv, Naberezhno-Lugova str. 8
+380687077441 +380637066285 +380931936330 +380974592453
sales@winstyle.kiev.ua
Lviv region, Pustomytivskyi district, Sokilnyky village, 19a Sheptytskoho street.
+380677247359
nataly.k@winstyle.kiev.ua

Please fill in the fields below so that we can contact you

Spacer bar

Spacer bar is a welded aluminium profile of set configuration two-row perforation which is used as a ridgepole between individual parts of glass in an insulated glass.

Winstyle company offers aluminium spacers Profilglass (Italy) and its own make Winspacer produced in China on high-tech equipment from quality raw material supervised by us. The reason of choosing this very producer is our clients who work with a huge variety of prices for their insulated glasses. Both companies Profilglass and Winspacer are leaders in their regions and have proved to be reliable suppliers.

Types of aluminium spacers:

  • - spacers for ripping
  • - «econom» with thickness of the wall - 0,21 mm
  • - «-standart» with thickness of the wall - 0,23-0,28 mm
  • - spacers for workbenches with flexible shaft
  • - «econom» with thickness of the wall - 0,31-0,33 mm
  • - «standart» with thickness of the wall - 0,35-0,45 mm

Spacers also can vary with its length (5-6 m) and width (6-27 mm)

Spacer bar has regular geometry which ensures dense closing with glass. It provides minimal application of primary sealant and also clean edges which guarantee the necessary adhesion with sealants. Spacer bar is covered with paper and strengthened with couplings in each package that doesn’t allow any friction scratches.

WinStyle offers a spacer from the following manufacturers:

Profilglass (Italy) It’s a famous European producer of aluminium products from 1982 year.

The company offers all the types of aluminium spacers for insulated glasses in different price segments. Moreover, the company offers painted spacers and application of a client’s logo on it.

WINSPACER (Китай)

Its output is represented on the Ukrainian market in two price segments: «econom» and «standard». The spacer has being delivered by Winstyle from 2018 year. The spacer is standardized and follows all technical parameters.

Secondary sealant

Secondary sealant is to protect a contour of primary sealing from mechanical, static pressure and damage because later insulated glass endures different pressure, atmospheric influence and vibration. Thus the main characteristics for secondary sealants are long term elasticity, perfect adhesion to glass, spacer, tenacity to atmospheric influence and aging.

Certainly secondary sealants are represented in the form of two-component and one-component raw material masses. The differentiation lets use the most appropriate sealant suiting consumers’ specifics.

1. Two-component sealants.

Such sealants consist of 2 components: A and B (basis and hardener). Their offset happens on condition of some proportion with the help of extruder. These sealants also can be divided into two types according to the main component: polysulfide and polyurethane.

The main advantage of polysulfide sealants is high rate of adhesion to glass and aluminium, low gas permeability and ease of maintenance of extruders. Rheological properties of this product make it appropriate for manual and automated processing.

In turn polyurethane sealants have almost the same characteristics as polysulfide ones. The main differences are used raw materials and formula also a bit more attention for producing of an extruder. However all these factors are not quite important looking at the price of an polyurethane sealant which lower that the polysulfide one’s (not modified).

Winstyle company offers next polysulfide and polyurethane sealants to its consumers:

Gran Polychem™ (Ukraine) - JOD-32

Winstyle company is an exclusive representative of Gran Polychem™ in Ukraine.

Polyurethane sealant JOD-32 is innovative two-component sealant based on polyurethane polymer which is absolutely new offer on the market of sealants for insulated glass production. The sealant is relevant to the highest technical and ecological norms thanks to using raw materials form the range of green chemistry (proved by the results of compliance tests with DIN EN 1279. The product doesn’t include any light substances and solvents there are no harmful fumes. Polyurethane sealant JOD-32 has balanced thixotropy index, dynamic viscosity, adhesion to glass and spacer, shrinkage after curing, deformation resistance and polymerization time. It has low indexes of vapor and gas permeability, stable to aging from the influence of UV. All these characteristics demonstrate the ability to use it on all the types of manual and automated equipment for application of secondary sealant.

Tightness: A component (1780 ± 5) kg/m3, B component (1080 ± 5) kg/m3

Set (А+В) – 220л

Detailed information: www.granpolychem.eu

Polysulphide Encapsulant

ТКК (Slovenia) – TIOELAST TM

Sealants are intended for the manufacture of conventional insulating glass units and insulating glass units filled with gas.

Tioelast TM sealants are compatible with all materials used in the manufacture of insulating glass units. They harden quickly, have low gas and vapor permeability. They are well squeezed out at low temperatures. They do not contain solvents. They are steady to different weather conditions: rain, snow, extreme temperatures. They have excellent adhesion to aluminum, steel, plastic spacers and glass.

Certified by IFT Rosenheim according to DIN EN 1279 part 4.

Density: A component (1870 ± 20) kg/m3, B component (1570 ± 20) kg/m3

Set (А+В) – 203,5L

 

2. One-Part Sealant.

One-component sealants are easy to use and simple in production. They have a fairly low vapor permeability, as well as excellent adhesion to the spacer and glass.

One-component sealants are represented by two main groups: Hot Melt and Silicone.
Hot Melt could well replace polyurethane and polysulfide based sealants, since it has similar quality features. The sealant hardens very quickly, provides excellent protection against steam and moisture penetration.

Hot Melt has some negative properties. Its peculiarity is that as the temperature rises, this sealant begins to soften and is no longer able to provide glass unit with strength. Thus the sealant flows into the lower part of the window, where hardens when the temperature drops. As a result, cracks appear in the window, then moisture appear in these cracks, and this leads to the destruction and deformation of the entire glass unit.

Silicone sealants are made on the basis of low molecular weight silicone rubbers. Such a sealant has several positive quality characteristics:

  • Elastic
  • Water resistant
  • Water resistant
  • Good adhesion to frame and glass
  • High UV resistance

WinStyle offers its customers one-component sealants of the following manufacturers:

Hot Melt

SAS (Germany) – HM 1000

Hot Melt is made from high quality synthetic polymers and elastomers, butyl rubber and resins for excellent adhesion to glass and metal / plastic spacers.

Due to a thixotropy, low tension and quickness of polymerization, it is ideal for manufacturers who need to produce quickly and take out finished goods. The HM1000 is steady to aging from an UV, extreme temperatures and water influence.

Hot Melt is applied with an extruder with a melting point: 180°C - 200°C

Packing: Preform 6,5kg

Silicone sealants

ТКК (Slovenia) – Tekasil T

One of the best silicone sealants on the Ukrainian market, based on a paste-like neutral oxime-silicone.

It is especially recommended for using wherein materials are exposed to strong influence of UV ray irradiation.
It possesses a low vapor permeability comparable to polysulfide sealants.
It has excellent adhesion to spacers (aluminum, plastic, metal) and glass. High elasticity allows to save properties during a 20% deformation. It is steady to various climate terms, rain, snow, extreme temperatures (-40 ° C + 180 ° C.)

It is inflicted with a poke or air gun.

Packaging: sausage 600 ml

Warm edge spacer bar

Warm edge spacer bar is a spacer, the main task of which is to reduce the heat loss of the glass unit and the window as a whole (the glass surface in the edge zone is 65% warmer than a conventional aluminum spacer), as well as to prevent condensation on the glass inside the room. This factor is achieved thanks to the materials from which the warm spacer is made: polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate, steel, combinations of polycarbonate and steel, polyvinyl chloride and aluminum foil, etc.

WinStyle offers the following warm spacers:

1. WinStyle company - the official distributor of European production company of warm edge spacers under brand «TermoPROFI» on Ukrainian market. Brand «TermoPROFI» has already recommended itself as technologically advanced warm edge spacers, widely applied on European market. The combination of high quality materials and innovative technologies has resulted in the product, that in one hand meets basic requirements to warm spacers, such as: low thermal conductivity, excellent adhesion to the primary and secondary sealants, firmness and absence of linear extension, on the other hand – balanced pricing policy.

Description and characteristics:

  • The spacer has fairly low thermal conductivity. Index Ψ (plastic window, glazed glass unit 4/16/4) is only – 0,033 W / (м · К).
  • The spacer can be bend on special equipment.
  • Certified:
    - EN ISO 10077-2:2012-02, DIN EN 1279-2, DIN EN 1279-3
  • Color range:
  • Sizes, mm:

2. CHROMATECH ULTRA (ALU PRO, Italy) – a warm spacer made of hard plastic and high-quality stainless steel.

Description and characteristics:

  • The frame on the outside is made of stainless steel, thickness is 0.1 mm, the inside is PVC, thickness is 0.9 mm. CHROMATECH ULTRA provides a low coefficient of thermal conductivity: stainless steel - 15 W / (m * K), PVC - 0.17 W / (m * K).
  • The frame can be bent on almost any bending machine using standard tools.
  • It meets the quality standards CEKAL / EN 1279 / GOST(state standard specification) 24866-2014.
  • Colors: Black (RAL 9004); Light gray (RAL 7035); Dark gray (RAL 7040); Light brown (RAL 8003); Dark brown (RAL 8016); White (RAL 9016).
  • Frame width is from 7.5mm to 23.5mm

3. WARM EDGE SPACER is produced by a special order of WinStyle ™ at the production site of our partners - a warm spacer "economy" segment, made of PVC with a metallized layer.

Description and characteristics:

  • Warm frame material is high quality PVC (polyvinyl chloride) covered with a metallized layer to provide good adhesion to sealants;
  • The frame is resistant to temperature drop and UV radiation;
  • It provides protection against condensation on the edge of the glass unit;
  • It increases the energy efficiency of the glass unit;

The use of the warm edge spacer bar is very simple: it can be cut, joined with corner joints. It is also convenient to use in the mass production of glass units, using special bending and soldering equipment.

Desicсant

A desicсant is a vital component in a glass unit, because it prevents the appearance of moisture inside the glass unit by adsorbing water molecules. Desicсant inside the glass unit can appear either at the production stage or after a long-lived glass unit and it is connected with the aging of the sealants in the glass unit: micro cracks appear that can penetrate water vapor.

The desicсant is poured into the cavity of the spacer frame, on the inner side of which there is a perforation, which ensures contact of the desiccant with air in the inter-glass spaces. Molecular sieves can also be used as desicсant.

A molecular sieve is a synthetic material in the form of granules with tiny pores of a certain diameter: 3, 4, 5 or 10 Angstroms (1 Angstrom = 10-10 m). At making of glass units they use molecular sieves, the pore size of which is 3Å = 0.3 microns, which allows the substance to adsorb water vapor molecules, while inert gases, that are used to fill the space of insulating glass units and have larger molecules, cannot be absorbed.

WinStyle offers the following types of desicсant:

Molecular sieve

Zibo Natergy Chemical Industry Co (China) - ZIBO NATERGY

Molecular sieve of the ZIBO NATERGY trademark has won a leading position in the markets of many European countries as a product that guarantees quality. The composition of the sieve is a crystalline aluminosilicate with binding materials and the absence of hazardous components. The product is constantly undergoing quality control in the laboratory and meets all the technical requirements. At the use a product is safe and does not have any harmful effects.

It is certified with “ift Rosenheim”, which confirms the high quality of the molecular sieve and recommends it as the best for use in glass units.

Characteristics:

  • For automatic and manual backfilling
  • Fractions: 0.5-0.9mm, 1-1.5mm, 1.5-2.0mm
  • ∆Т > 45℃
  • Packaging: vacuum bag in a box - 25kg

Molecular Sieve (Europe) - WINMOL

Molecular sieve of the WINMOL trademark has shown itself in Ukrainian market as a high-quality one with invariably high ∆Т, solid and regular granules. The sieve is a highly porous type of crystalline, granular aluminosilicate with high adsorption capacity.

The product is certified in the international laboratories and meets the requirements of EN 1279-2 and EN 1279-3

Characteristics:

  • For automatic and manual backfilling
  • Fractions: 0.5-0.9mm, 1-1.5mm, 1.5-2.0mm
  • ∆Т > 40℃
  • Packaging: vacuum bag in a box - 25kg

Desicсant (Europe) - Erpasan

This desiccant is in a cheap price segment and in terms of its parameters, is inferior to more expensive analogs, both in adsorption capacity and ∆Т, and in other indicators. However, a number of our customers have asked us to include this product in our product line.

Characteristics:

  • For automatic and manual backfilling.
  • Appearance - beige, granular
  • Smell - absent
  • Solubility - it dissolves in acid or soda, does not dissolve in water or organic compounds
  • Fraction: 1.0-2.0mm
  • ∆Т > 32℃
  • Packaging: vacuum bag in a box - 25kg

Primary sealant

Primary sealant is the main sealant in a glass unit, the main function of which is to create a vapor barrier that provides the tightness, vapor and gas tightness of the glass unit.
As a primary sealing layer in glass units, both one-component and double-sided tapes are used. The one-component thermoplastic sealants are based on isobutene polymers, which are applied to the frame using an extruder. The double-sided tapes have various coatings – acrylic or modified rubber –are easy to use, do not require special equipment, but in terms of quality characteristics they are significantly inferior to sealants. Tapes coated with butyl rubber sealant have high quality characteristics, but their use increases the cost price.

WinStyle offers the following primary sealing products:

1. One-component sealants based on isobutene polymer from the following manufacturers:

SAS (Germany) – PIB 1000 and PIB 900.
One-component sealants based on isobutene polymer have good technical properties, good adhesion to glass and spacers, and low MVTR and gas transmission values.

Sealants is applied using an extruder with a melting point of +125-145°С.

Packing: flasks – 7.5 kg and 2.5 kg.

Fenzi (Italy) - Butylver

One-component thermoplastic sealant is specially designed for use in the primary sealing of glass units. It is based on the isobutene polymer.

It has good adhesion to glass, aluminum, stainless steel and galvanized steel. it Meets the most stringent certification requirements. The sealant is applied using an extruder, with the observance of temperature condition 120-150 °C.

Packing: flasks – 7kg, 2.5kg and 1kg.

2. Double-Sided Tapes

 

They are widely represented by our company. The assortment includes tapes based on: acrylic, butyl rubber and butyl.

Spacer connectors

Spacer connectors are structural elements of the glass unit that fix / close the spacer connections after filling with a moisture acceptor. Connectors come in various types and sizes - they are matched to the frame used.

For the flexible frame they use straight metal or plastic connectors that have precise geometry and strength. The connectors can be supplied either separately or with a spacer.

For the frame for cutting, mainly plastic corners are used, which, depending on the assembly technology, can be of the following types:

  • - hard
  • - flexible
  • - for gas filling (with hole, without hole)

WinStyle offers all types of connectors for all types and sizes of spacers in various price segments. The geography of manufacturers is quite extensive: Italy, Poland, Turkey, China and Ukraine.

Stadur Sandwich-Panels

Stadur sandwich-panel is a type of building material that is a combination of an extruded polystyrene core and covers made of various materials: laminated plastic (white, or covered with layer of: Renolit, Cova, Hornschuch), aluminum, steel, wood, glass, etc.

Read - https://www.stadur.com/ru/start.html

Areas of use:

  • production of windows and doors
  • industrial construction
  • construction of offices, shops, restaurants, cafes
  • construction of and trade pavilions
  • refrigerating chamber (coated with anodized aluminum)
  • construction of various partitions

Advantages of Stadur sandwich-panels:

  • 10 years UV warranty
  • Temperature resistant from -20 ° C to + 120 °C
  • It can be used in catering premises
  • Resistant to chemicals
  • Scratch resistant
  • Equivalent Compression Resistance (E-Modul)
  • Varnishing possible
  • Recommended by Greenpeace as an alternative building product
  • It can be bended thanks to V-milling

In addition to sandwich panels, Stadur also produces:

Under-sills and sliding systems - ProfileTec
Profile extension and window sill profile - FrameTec

Benefits of Stadur under-sills and profile extensions:

  • Good thermal insulation, prevention of cold joint
  • Resistant to weathering and decay
  • High flexural and compressive strength
  • Excellent properties for screw fastening
  • Cut to size for length, width and profile height
  • Cut for various profile systems

Georgian bars

It is a decorative structure inside a glass unit, made of painted or laminated aluminum, which gives an aesthetic and status look to the window. Decorative georgian bars complement the overall style of the building facade by filling the void in the window.

Due to the possibility of milling georgian bars, the constructions can be of different forms – complex geometric shapes, curved lines and even ornaments.
The width varies from 8 to 45mm, a scale of colors matches the profile colors, the most common: white, gold, brown, silver, bronze.

Georgian bars can be supplemented with a variety of patterns that harmonize the design, make it more attractive and diverse in stylistic solutions. The most common patterns: suns, lilies, and flowers made of hard plastic painted in the color of decorative layouts.

The WinStyle company offers decorative georgian bars from the following European manufacturers:

Profilglass (Italy)
The company produces high quality georgian bars in the following collections:

Elisabeth

Venezia

Baviera

AL7 Meipa Srl (Italy)
This is the first company producing decorative georgian bars for glass units in 1973, and since then it has continued their production, guaranteeing high quality at all stages: from cutting to packaging.
Decorative layouts are presented in the following collections:

Germanella

Victoria

Additional Goods

WinStyle also offers additional products that are needed directly in the production of glass units, namely:

1. Cork gaskets – protect the glass unit during transportation and storage.

Size: 15x15 mm, Self-adhesive, made of natural cork.

2. Two-layered wiping paper – produced by Katrin (Poland).

It is resistant to soaking, does not leave lint on the glass, and ideally cleans the surface from dirt.

3. Tools for manual glass processing:

  • scratch-gauge (tool for parallel cutting of glass);
  • two- and three-head suction cups for carrying glass and glass units;
  • glass cutters, compasses, oval cutters;
  • hand and pneumatic pistols for 600 ml silicone;
  • other tools on request.