Good luck to the G23 finalists

The G Awards, now in its 19th year and firmly established as the industry’s premier awards event, returns to the Hilton on Park Lane this Friday.

After a challenging 12 months, the G23s will once again provide the perfect platform to recognise the very best of our industry – from the most talented individuals and the leading businesses, to the most oustanding products, services and initiatives.

On behalf of all the team here at Glass Times, we wish all the finalists the very best of luck.

In other news, I was invited to take a look around the new Hörmann Truedor facility last week, located in Blackwood, Wales.

Representing an investment of around £60million, work on the 200,000ft2 factory – which is based on a 25-acre site – commenced in 2018.

It is now fully operational and has the capacity to produce 3,500 doors per week on a two-shift pattern, and that includes manufacturing all door slabs on site, rather than importing them from Asia.

By bringing the manufacturer of door slabs in house, Hörmann has introduced another level of quality control that’s made possible by a standard of automation that’s perhaps more typically associated with top end automotive production.

In fact, in the section of the factory that’s dedicated to door slab manufacturer, there are just a handful of people required to keep the lines running.

A greater degree of human interaction is required further downstream as the doors are assembled but the quality and scale of machinery, which is all designed to increase production efficiencies while maintaining consistent product quality, is hugely impressive.

Click here to see a video of the production line in action, but if you get the chance to visit in person, then I would highly recommend doing so.