Customer Story | Shade & Shutter Expo
Shade & Shutter Expo’s experience with Novaseal® is a story of production equipment growing with the business.
The company began with a smaller Novaseal heat sealing machine. As production requirements increased, it moved to a TableTop-126 — gaining greater production capacity, additional functionality and a machine that, by the time of the 2022 interview, had already been in service for approximately a decade.
Illustration of large interior roller shades used in residential window-shade applications.
Growing Production
Shade & Shutter Expo manufactures custom shades, awnings and related products. When the company first selected Novaseal, its production requirements were smaller. As the business expanded, it outgrew its original machine and moved to the larger TableTop-126.
“When we first learned about Novaseal®, we started with a small machine that fit into our budget and enabled us to achieve precise, professional-grade seals.”
“The machine performed well but we quickly outgrew it. We were able to trade it in for a larger model, giving us a big savings on time.”
Danny Fergus, President — Shade & Shutter ExpoProduction Speed
After moving to the TableTop-126, Shade & Shutter Expo reported producing seals approximately four times faster, helping the company keep pace with growing production requirements.
That result is especially useful when viewed in its historical context. The TableTop-126 used Novaseal’s earlier Puls2™ technology. Puls2 was developed to provide higher-speed heat sealing than conventional impulse sealing on materials typically processed with impulse.
The fourfold production improvement therefore shows that increased production speed was already an important part of Novaseal engineering more than a decade ago.
Packet Welding™ came later, building on Puls2 with significantly faster cycle times and extending Novaseal’s controlled heat-sealing approach into applications commonly served by hot-air and RF welding. Puls2-equipped Novaseal systems can also be upgraded to Packet Welding™, allowing existing equipment to benefit from the newer process without replacing the complete machine.
The technology changed. The objective did not: increase production capability through better control of the welding process.
Illustration of exterior roller shades installed on a covered residential patio.
Production Versatility
Production speed was only part of what Shade & Shutter Expo gained from the TableTop-126.
The system was used across the company’s shade and awning materials and also incorporated an integrated zipper process. That allowed multiple manufacturing operations to be performed on the same machine.
For a growing manufacturer, that meant greater equipment utilization and a simpler production flow.
Production Control
Programmable job recipes are familiar in industrial equipment today. Shade & Shutter Expo was already benefiting from that approach on its Novaseal TableTop-126 more than a decade ago.
Novaseal equipped the system so production settings could be programmed by job type and recalled when needed, reducing dependence on repeated manual setup.
“This machine is very accurate.”
“The machine requires very little training. We can program the settings in the computer by job type rather than having to set them manually on the machine each time.”
Danny Fergus, President — Shade & Shutter ExpoThe significance today is not simply that the machine had programmable controls. It is that repeatability, simplified setup and reduced dependence on individual setup technique were already part of Novaseal’s equipment philosophy years ago.
Long-Term Production
By the time Danny Fergus was interviewed in 2022, Shade & Shutter Expo had been using its TableTop-126 for approximately 10 years.
Longevity was complemented by another factor Fergus considered important: direct access to Novaseal support when questions arose.
“There were other machines sold overseas that we could have bought. But I knew that if I bought Novaseal®, I could call Glenn [president of Nova Products Mfg., Inc.] if I had a question and get a quick response.”
Danny Fergus, President — Shade & Shutter ExpoFor Shade & Shutter Expo, the value of the equipment extended beyond the original purchase. It included years of production use and direct domestic support when assistance was needed.
Production Economics
Perhaps the strongest assessment came when Fergus was asked about return on investment.
“There is no R without this machine. It’s vital to our operation.”
Danny Fergus, President — Shade & Shutter ExpoThat statement puts the rest of the story into perspective. The smaller machine supported the company when its production requirements were smaller. The TableTop-126 supported the next stage of growth. It increased production speed, handled multiple manufacturing operations, provided programmable production control and remained in service year after year.
The value of this customer story today is not that a machine installed more than a decade ago represents the limits of Novaseal technology.
It demonstrates that the production priorities Novaseal emphasizes today — speed, repeatability, versatility, equipment utilization, long service life and responsive support — were already being engineered into Novaseal systems years ago.
Customer story based on a 2022 interview with Danny Fergus. Revised in 2026 to reflect current Novaseal® technology context.
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Novaseal TableTop systems continue to build on the production priorities demonstrated in this customer story — faster production, repeatable control, application flexibility and long-term manufacturing value.
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