Joe Erb

Maintaining an efficient automated commercial glass manufacturing floor requires proper equipment training, versatile maintenance teams skilled in both modern and fundamental techniques, and consistent preventive maintenance to ensure smooth operations and maximize equipment longevity.

Despite economic uncertainties, the glass and glazing industry is progressing, with fabricators focusing on larger glass formats, energy efficiency and strategic automation to meet new demands and enhance productivity.

Professionals can utilize various new technologies to face increasing demands and challenges in the commercial glass industry.

As vinyl options for commercial glass and glazing applications mature, they offer performance in demanding applications and sustainability for architects.

As glass and glazing grow increasingly sophisticated, ensuring next-gen professionals maintain technical expertise will be critical.

The performance bar for commercial glass and glazing is always high, and it’s vital to minimize inconsistency during fabrication and installation.

Continuous improvement is essential in any manufacturing environment. It’s the key to efficiency, quality and profitability.

Sustainability and energy efficiency are major, still-growing trends in the commercial construction space. Window and glass systems contribute significantly to a building’s efficiency. For commercial professionals, it’s worth exploring the available technology to meet today’s demands.

As the fenestration industry works through production backlogs, satisfying demand means more than simply getting orders out the door.

The industry continues to push for newer efficiencies while grappling with supply chain challenges. Responsible care and management of resources—in all forms—will be key to success in 2022.

A successful culture is one where all employees have the opportunity and the tools necessary to be their best selves within their role. From there, organizational success is more likely to follow, no matter the challenges ahead.

All parts of insulating glass manufacturing are important. But uncompromising quality on these three points can best help prevent unit failure.

The industry is able to deliver the right aesthetic benefits and outstanding thermal performance. Can it do the same with sound?

As a confluence of forces has made holistic sustainability a priority for new commercial construction, architects need to balance cost and long-term durability of specified components to make it a reality.

We’re in a new era for manufacturing: three considerations for glass fabricators.

Commercial glass and glazing professionals must be continuously adapting, utilizing these technologies to meet evolving demands. Depending on a company’s role in the industry, doing so might require reengineering glass packages, swapping in new higher-performance component parts, or learning new…

The future factory features high-speed, efficient, automated machines whirring away, connected by the Internet of Things. Shop floor workers, rather than piecing together products with their hands and tools, are busy working with software to ensure that all processes are flowing as they should.…

A skinny triple insulating glass unit, from Quanex Building Products. In today’s industry, sustainability isn’t just about energy efficiency and performance. It’s about delivering solutions that meet those needs, but also stand the test of time.   Any commercial construction project is a…

Have your expectations changed as a consumer over the past year? Five years? 10 years? Chances are they have. The era of internet retail shopping has come with the expectation of fast service and delivery. You might have come across the term “Amazonification,” a term denoting the tech giant’s…

An automated insulating glass line at the Sedak, fabrication facilities. Photo courtesy of Quanex Building Products. Shipping high-quality products is the lifeblood of any glass manufacturer, but how we work toward that goal has changed in recent years. Between a skilled labor shortage, the…

Project Snapshot: The Siemens corporate headquarters in Munich exemplifies sustainable building. The company, which announced plans to achieve a carbon neutral footprint by 2030, built its head office to consume 90 percent less electricity and about 75 percent less water as a regular building.…

GlassBuild America: The Glass, Window & Door Expo returns to Las Vegas Sept. 12-14. When it comes to major architectural construction, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind. Creating a major superstructure takes vision, and it takes countless people and teams working toward that…

The new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas features a complex façade of about 2,790 square meters of insulating glass that was cold-bent onsite. J.E. Berkowitz was the glass fabricator on the project; Quanex supplied the insulating glass spacer system. Photo by J Rick Martin.  The possibilities in…

Quanex’s Mikron 1250 vinyl window series at the AMLI apartment building in South Lake Union, Washington. One building solution that is gaining traction as a real, viable option in the architectural community, and as another step forward in the performance of the…

A quote I’ve seen in several recent industry articles has caught my attention: CFO asks CEO: What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave? CEO: What happens if we don’t, and they stay? It’s an unfortunate trend that trades in many industries are struggling with—the never-…