Building for the future
Glass Times editor, Luke Wood, visits Aylesbury glass company, JCL Glass, which has recently invested in a new, state of the art automatic IGU line from Unilam.
We have done well over the course of the pandemic, demand has been high thanks to the boom in demand for home improvements and we have been well placed to respond to that,” says Andy Archer, managing director of Aylesbury based sealed unit manufacturer, JCL Glass.
“A big part of our recent growth has also been due to the increase in demand for oversized glass units and we have invested in capacity and machinery to enhance our ability to respond to that. We’re now in a really good position for the future – whatever that holds – and we’re looking to implement a second stage of investments that will further improve our product offer and quality of service.”
Andy, who has been in the glass industry all his life, established JCL in 2007. The independent, family run firm has grown steadily over the years from just two members of staff to 25 employees and has recently expanded into a third unit to accommodate its increasing scale of operations.
JCL prides itself on the quality of its product and its service, and offers a broad range of glass specifications, from solar control to self-cleaning, acoustic and fire rated, as well as decorative and processed glass and heritage sealed units. All its insulated glass units are also BS EN 1279 compliant.
The company is also very proud of its team and the positivity of its workforce (JCL operates a proactive training programme which has resulted in a high level of staff retention) and that includes Andy’s sons Charlie, 26, and Jack, 30, who are directors within the business. Andy’s daughter Lucy, 22, also manages the accounts for the firm. Charlie, who joined JCL eight years ago after leaving college, has been instrumental in helping to drive the company forward, managing the phase of recent large investments, including the addition of a brand new, automatic IGIS IGU line that was supplied and installed by glass machinery specialist, Unilam.
Featuring a fully automatic gas press and fully automatic hot melt sealing robot, the IGIS line – which represents an investment of around £500,000 – can accommodate units up to 2.4m x 3.2m and was installed in January of this year.
As Charlie explains, the IGIS line represents a big outlay, but it’s not one that has been made as a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to the high demand of the pandemic.
“We were actually talking to Nolan [Millard – director at Unilam] well in advance of Covid,” says Charlie.
“It’s our first machine from Unilam, so before we committed to it, Nolan took us around different production lines to give us the chance to see it in operation. “It’s a very impressive piece of kit, but it was that level of service from Unilam that, ultimately, proved to be a big selling point for us.
“Now that it has been installed, it has not only made our production process far simpler, but we have the potential for greater capacity and volume and we can also ensure much greater consistency of high-quality product,” he adds.
Spanning the width of JCL’s factory, the IGIS line is absolutely state-of-the-art – a high-tech, and highly sophisticated machine that now forms an integral part of the glass specialist’s pristine factory.
Phase two of investments will include a new cutting table as well as the facility to cut laminated glass, and according to Andy, the company is well on track to hit a turnover of £4m. “Business has been good, especially over the last couple of years, and while the outlook is a little uncertain for the remainder of 2022, we are in a strong position and we’re very confident for the future,” he concludes.
