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What Sets IKO Apart from the Competition?
Hi, I’m Jack from IKO. While you may know IKO is a global leader in the manufacturing of residential and commercial roofing products, our family-owned company was actually started in Canada in 1951. We made our first asphalt shingles in 1954 and haven’t looked back. Today, IKO has over 15 North American manufacturing plants, which are built on over 2 million square feet of operational excellence, strategically located throughout the US and Canada. The products that are made in these facilities serve all 50 US States, 10 Canadian provinces, and are exported to over 40 countries across the globe. We’re grateful that our company’s founders prioritized vertically integrated manufacturing. Because IKO controls most of the processes and materials that go into making our high-quality roofing products, we avoid many of the challenges of supply chain disruption and product shortages that others might face during difficult times. Think about what goes into a shingle. IKO manufactures our own glass fibers and integrates those fibers into premium fiberglass mat. IKO grinds our own mineral stabilizers and mines our own granules as well. IKO is also unique in the fact that we oxidize and store asphalt on location at all roofing manufacturing plants. The commitment to vertical integration paves the way for IKO to manufacture a finished product that meets an unprecedented level of quality and consistency. But what does that mean for you? IKO offers in-house quality control for consistent, superior products, resulting in fewer costly returns, callbacks, or delays for distributors and contractors, and you always deal directly with us. If there’s a problem somewhere in the supply chain, we will likely own it. With our “practically everything under one roof” approach, we can ensure convenient ordering and faster product delivery. Vertically integrated manufacturing matters not only to you, the contractor, but to your customers as well. Vertical integration benefits homeowners because the efficiencies gained by IKO enable us to cost-effectively manufacture an asphalt-rich heavyweight shingle product with an unprecedented level of color consistency. In other words, IKO makes a better-finished product. Want to learn more? Check out our videos or reach out to your local IKO sales rep today.
IKO’s competitive advantage stems from our vertical integration initiatives. Being vertically integrated means that IKO owns more aspects of the manufacturing process and raw material supply than many of our competitors. IKO grinds our own mineral stabilizers and mines our own granules. IKO is also unique in the fact that we oxidize and store asphalt on location at all manufacturing plants.
Being vertically integrated paves the way for IKO to manufacture a finished product that meets an unprecedented level of quality and consistency. This claim is supported by the fact that IKO is one of the only asphalt shingle manufacturers in North America with the ability to mix shingles produced in their different manufacturing plants.
Another benefit of vertical integration is the level of efficiencies gained. IKO’s ability to streamline the supply chain paves the way for IKO to cost-effectively manufacture an asphalt-rich, heavy-weight shingle product. When compared to some of the comparable, competitive products, IKO’s Cambridge are among the heaviest.
Advantage-Sized Shingles:
IKO’s Cambridge shingles are referred to as “advantage sized” because their larger-than-metric, 60 shingles per square gives roofing professionals a distinct advantage over the other competitive brands. The larger 40 7/8” length and 5 7/8” exposure not only installs faster than smaller shingles, it also enables IKO to offer three 20-shingle bundles that provides a full 100 square feet of coverage. This represents a sizable difference when compared to the competitors’ comparable product that provides only 96.88 and 98.44 square feet of coverage in their three bundles.
