Glass Machinery
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With over-sized units already making up a sizeable chunk of the IGU market, super-sized IGU manufacture has arrived at Glasstec. Joe Hague, managing director of Promac Group, Forel’s exclusive supply partner in the UK, explains. Size, it seems, does matter. Exhibition space at this year’s Glasstec has been defined by high volume but also production on an increasingly gargantuan scale....
Oakland Glass’s production director Paul Hutton, explains what the market expects from the company’s sealed units today and what manufacturers have had to do behind the scenes to meet this demand. Quality can mean different things to different people. For some it’s about the price point of a product, while for others it’s about longevity and service. In our sector,...
Semco’s recipe for success is investment in automation and maintaining efficient plants, according to Lisec. Klaus Köttering, technical manager of the German company Semco, said: “If you want to be successful in the glass processing industry, you have to invest in staff, plants, and software.” In the last 10 years, the owners of Semco Group have invested more than 150...
The Glass Wipe Board Company has secured more than £7,000 funding to support its purchase of a new Bohle Sedimentor. Success is often built on specialism; the identification of an otherwise over-looked market, identifying its specific requirements and combining that with a commitment to be the best supplier to it. The Glass Wipe Board Company was set up by Aaron...
Economical production is only possible if everything runs smoothly, from cutting to shipping, according to A+W. If there are chronic jams at individual workstations, the processor should check whether the software can keep the workflow constant. The demand for larger glasses is increasing; anyone who regularly produces large-format panes should have optimised their processes in the best possible way. Occasionally,...
Transparency in glass supply – and particularly supply of laminated glass – has been flagged by the industry as an area of concern. So how can glass suppliers and their customers guarantee what’s dispatched or fitted on site? By Bohle. The integrity of your supply chain is key. And in glass it’s even more so, because the ramifications of incorrect,...
Double R Glass and Roofing Systems improved its sealed unit manufacture with its vertical Super Spacer automatic hot melt IGU line – the quickest of its kind in the world. Managing director of Double R, Ian Sims, explains how this level of automation is directly benefitting customers. A smart factory is only smart if it’s managed and operated by skilled...
Phil Popple, head of production at Thermoseal, discusses how the group’s manufacturing facilities are set up with central amalgamation of its production processes to streamline its facilities for efficiency and quality control. With an initial £5 million injection into the project, Thermoseal Group began manufacturing spacer bars in 2010 from its Wigan site. This required setting up a bespoke manufacturing...
Chris Alderson, managing director of Edgetech, explains how automation is already changing the way fenestration businesses operate. We’re living through the rise of the machines. There were 1.9 million industrial robots in the world in 2014, according to US think-tank the Brookings Institute. By 2020, that’s expected to have risen to almost 3 million. Everywhere you look, businesses and industries...
Phil Brown, European regulatory marketing manager for Pilkington UK, discusses how policy changes, emerging construction trends and new technology could help to stimulate the energy efficiency market over the next five years. There’s plenty of activity concerning the energy efficiency of buildings, with product development and innovation, policy changes, and emerging trends in construction. However, over the next five years...
Ryan Green, managing director of Clayton Glass, discusses how its #theclaytondifference is designed to help build lasting relationships. The IGU market has undergone a period of consolidation over the last five years with companies and groups quickly building volume, yet at what cost? The personal relationships that have built some of the smaller glass processors seemingly get lost overnight, once...
Esquire Glass’s general manager Andrew Stephens explains why customer service, waste reduction, production efficiency and environmental benefits were just four of the reasons why the company invested in Intermac’s products. Esquire’s core business is in the production of processed glass panels for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom industry. However, since 2002 substantial investment in a second factory and state-of-the-art glass...
As Liverpool’s Custom Glass celebrates 30 years in business this year, owner and managing director Jeff Hooson tells Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell how the company has continued to maintain an efficient business and a relevant product offering. Jeff Hooson, owner and managing director of Liverpool’s Custom Glass, is an experienced glass man, having followed his father into the glass...
Bohle hands over this month’s column to Gary Smith, site director at Novaglaze’s Huddersfield curved and flat glass processing facility, whose projects have included the London Eye. We offer a comprehensive range of products curved and flat processing. This includes standard IGUs and increasingly over-sized IGUs, which are supplied into architectural glass markets. We also process a wide range of...
Dave Broxton, managing director of Bohle, explains why the increased size of IGUs makes their safe manual handling more important than ever. Things are getting bigger in glass. Our demand for natural light means that bifolding, sliding doors, bonded glass sashes and fixed lights are becoming ever larger and that creates challenges in their manual handling. Insulated glazed units of...
Regulatory change in the form of Part Q is forecast to deliver a significant uplift in demand for laminate glass on top of pre-existing growth. Dave Broxton, managing director at Bohle, argues that as glass processors try to extract greater output from their laminating lines, choosing the best cutting wheel technology has never been more important., It’s a numbers game....
Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell met Tina Moorhouse, managing director of Oakland Glass, to discuss how the market for toughened glass has changed over the last 20 years. Oakland Glass, which recently celebrated its 30th birthday, is something of a veteren when it comes to toughened glass, having bought its first furnace in 1997. “Back then it was a niche...
With FIT now behind us, MD of Bohle Dave Broxton discusses what the show tells us about trends in the UK glazing industry. Innovation and diversification go hand in hand with industry exhibitions. If you track industry expos such as Glassex from the early 1990s, we’ve had the white PVC juggernaut, coloured and wood grain foiling, the rise and fall...
Glass Times reports on how Bohle’s R&D programme is driving change in the glass processing sector. Listed as among Germany’s most innovative SME’s by Business Week – no small achievement in a country renowned for manufacturing innovation – Bohle has been at the forefront of innovation in glass processing technologies for almost a century. “It’s quite amazing to see where...
Dave Broxton, managing director of Bohle, warns that glass processors could face potentially crippling fines if they’re found to have polluted water systems. In March, Thames Water was fined a record £20.4 million for polluting the River Thames with 1.4 billion litres of raw sewage. The company allowed huge amounts of untreated effluent to enter the waterway in Oxfordshire...