April 22, 2019 - Architects and designers seeking high performance, aesthetically pleasing glass products, while honoring a commitment to preserving the planet, will find the right solutions at the Guardian Glass booth at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention in Las Vegas June 6-8.

April 17, 2019 - Inspired by nanotextures in nature, Edgehog utilizes recent advances in material science to allow for enhanced light transmission in optics, electronic displays, solar panels and more.

April 17, 2019 - Biesse Group is proud to announce the promotion of Niki Kaltsounis-Kampiziones to Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Biesse and Intermac in North America. Kampiziones, currently in her 24th year with Biesse, has played a key role in the growth and strategic decisions for the company during her tenure as Executive Vice President of Operations and previously as Chief Financial Officer.

April 15, 2019 - Effective April 8, 2019, Marco Schiavon has been appointed CEO of Forel North America. As CEO, Schiavon will oversee the operations at the St. Paul, Minnesota and Toronto, Ontario locations.

April 15, 2019 -  GRECO Aluminum Railings is pleased to announce that it has acquired Petersen Metals, a regional specialty manufacturer and installer of architectural metal products, headquartered in Hudson, FL. Petersen brings over 30 years of manufacturing experience in high quality stainless steel, fabricated aluminum, mild steel railing assemblies, and other custom architectural building components.

April 3, 2019 - Adding capacity to support its customers' product needs and lead times, Technoform has doubled the size of its current warehouse in Twinsburg, Ohio. The location also has added new equipment to increase its finishing and customization services.

Mar. 29, 2019 - Vitro Architectural Glass has announced that its Fresno, California facility is the first float glass manufacturing plant in the United States to earn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR certification for superior energy efficiency.

Mar. 25, 2019 - In 2013, way back when GlasCurtain had only one curtain wall system based on a single profile design, hardly anyone asked: "Is "GlasCurtain" the name of the company or the product ?" It just wasn't a big deal! Back then, there was hardly any room for confusion between our product line and the name of our company - it was straightforward. It was either GlasCurtain or it wasn't!

Mar. 20, 2019 - For the first time in its history, Biesse Group is opening a manufacturing facility on American soil to assemble Italian-engineered Diamut diamond profiling wheels for glass, stone and ceramic processing. When the new facility opens in mid-March on the Biesse Charlotte Campus in North Carolina, customers in the U.S. and Canada will gain shorter lead times and customer service closer to home.

Mar. 11, 2019 - Biesse has announced that Randy Jamison has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing in North America. He previously held positions in the company as Vice President of Sales for the Wood Division and as Brand Manager for Selco Panel Saws, Biesse America and Canada. His more than 25 years of industry experience and insights into Biesse’s success in North America will greatly assist the company’s Wood, Advanced Materials, Glass and Stone Divisions in their sales, distribution and marketing strategies as they build a cohesive vision and offer customers ongoing technology leadership.

GED Integrated Solutions, Inc. (GED) has welcomed over 30 employees in 2018 as the company continues to grow.  To keep pace with sales growth, it has added several new individuals in key management positions. Trevor Kropf has been hired as a Regional Sales Manager representing GED’s Canadian territory to promote and sell all product offerings and serve Canadian customers.  Kropf has 20 years of industrial sales experience, and resides outside of Toronto, Ontario.

May 1, 2019 - Registration is now open for the 2019 Joint American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) and Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA) Summer Conferences, to be held June 17-20, 2019, in Victoria, British Columbia. The early bird rate is guaranteed through May 17, and attendees are encouraged to register before this date. Because this is a combined AAMA and IGMA conference, only one registration fee per attendee is required. All registrations will be processed through AAMA.

May 1, 2019 - The Architectural Glass and Metal Certification Council (AGMCC) – governing council for both the North American Certification Council (NACC) and the Architectural Glass and Metal Technician Program (AGMT) – has received exempt status from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3).

April 22, 2019 - IGMA has announced that the next installment of the IGMA Leadership Development Program will roll out Thursday, April 24, 2019 at 10:00 am EDT, with subsequent sessions scheduled the fourth Wednesday of each month starting at 10:00 am Eastern. Each interactive session is 60 to 90 minutes lead by Oak Moser, Coaching2Connect, (formerly an industry insider) and recorded live so you will never miss a session.

Top Glass 2019 surpassed all previous attendance records with over 300 glazing contractors, architectural glass fabricators, architects and other construction design professionals walking through the doors. They came to see 62 of Canada's top suppliers of products for the commerical glass construction industry and to take in a sparkling education program addressing green building standards, bent IGU seal testing, contractor certification and anisotropy measurement science.

Glass Performance Days has released a huge program of 180 technical presentations taking place June 25 to 28 in Tampere, Finland. Sessions are grouped into facade, market trends, architectural glass, glass processing, scientific, specialty glass and "poster presentations."

Mar. 25, 2019 - The ASTM C24 Committee on Building Seals & Sealants recently presented Dow Technician Kelly Allore with the committee’s highest honor, the Lou Toporcer Sealants Hall of Fame Award. The committee gives the award to recognize contributions from its membership. To commemorate the honor, Allore’s name is engraved on a plaque displayed at ASTM headquarters in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Mar. 13, 2019 -  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that, in 2011, the 46.7 million bird watchers in the United States and Canada generated a total industry output in excess of $107 billion. In spite of this massive interest in birds, up to one billion birds die each year in Canada and the United States when they hit glass windows, walls, and other glass structures. This threat is one of the costliest to bird populations, killing an estimated 10-20% of the birds in North America. But it’s also a relatively easy problem to solve. IGMA and the American Bird Conservancy are raising awareness of this issue. There have been two presentations on the subject at IGMA conferences over the past couple of years.

Here’s an advance look at what you’ll find on the floor at Top Glass 2019.

Each year Top Glass is proud to host the Ontario Glass and Metal Association’s Awards for Excellence.

Anisotropy, as opposed to isotropy, means that a material exhibits properties with different values when measured in different directions. In architectural glass, anisotropy relates to a visual effect caused by the presence of polarized light, the birefringent property of the glass and the mechanical stresses in the glass due to heat treatment.

Building designers and glazing contractors are holding opposite ends of the same problem. Designers need a reliable method to evaluate contractors to ensure their technical expertise and good business practices.

Thanks to our sister publication, Plant magazine, for sharing its Outlook 2019 study of confidence levels among Canadian manufacturers (see page 22). The overall picture is one of cooling activity in the short term demanding a renewed focus on productivity and innovation to control costs. In general, I’d say the overall results match closely what a similar study restricted to glass fabricators would find.

The California Department of General Services announced California will be requesting Environmental Product Declarations from contractors on public works products starting Jan. 1 of this year. Flat glass is one of the building materials listed as a product eligible for an EPD. EPDs are third-party-verified documents quantifying the environmental impact of a product's materials and manufacturing process, including raw material extraction, energy use, chemical emissions and waste. The announcement constitutes the first inclusion of EPDs in official state procurement policy in North America, and will likely be watched closely by environmental regulators in other jurisdictions, including Canada.

In its fall economic statement, the federal government has announced its intention to allow businesses to write off the entire cost of machinery used for manufacturing and processing the same year it is put into use. This is up from the 25-per cent writeoff allowed in the first year presently.

Igloos made with electrically heated glass prevent condensation, ice, snow build-up and convection, offering an unobstructed view of nature and a unique opportunity to enjoy the starry sky and northern lights in comfort and peace.

Recent advances in fibreglass reinforced plastics (also known as FRP, fibreglass composite or simply fibreglass) and the pultrusion process that manufacture them have only recently opened the door to exciting new uses for this material in a variety of applications.

Oct. 23, 2018 - Finnglass offers a first-hand experience on the benefits of electrically heated glass at glasstech fair 2018. The company has made a cold wall simulator which allows to compare electrically heated glass with double and triple glazing. It demonstrates how electrically heated glass prevents convection and cold wall effect, hence giving a pleasant and comfortable indoor environment while saving money and energy.

Oct. 18, 2018 - On Tuesday October 2, 2018, Vitrum Glass Group celebrated the grand opening of their new Calgary manufacturing facility in Rocky View County, Alberta, located just 10 minutes North of Calgary’s international airport. The new 65,000 square foot facility currently employs 35 employees who manage and fabricate local orders for shower doors, railings, monolithic glass products, and tempered glass.

Oct. 9, 2018 - Energy efficiency is hard to see, but we feel its benefits in our homes, neighbourhoods, environment, economy and wallets. Federal investments in innovative energy-efficient projects drive economic growth, contribute to our clean energy future and create new, middle-class jobs for Canadians.

Well, we know they had sand...so why not glass? The palace-city of Samarra, capital of the former Abbasid Caliphate, was home to an advanced industry of glass production and trade, according to a study published August 22, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Nadine Schibille of the CNRS, France and colleagues.

July 9, 2018 - AGC (AGC Asahi Glass) has entered into a strategic development agreement with Ubiquitous Energy. The collaboration will focus on the development of Ubiquitous Energy’s transparent and neutral solar coating to create windows that produce electricity. 

Light-flooded spaces and a general airiness in buildings are no longer just a trend in the architectural world, but are increasingly state-of-the-art. This general airiness achieved through the use of transparent materials does not end with the balcony. Total vision glazing and glass balustrades can offer continuity to wide open spaces, if they are not interrupted by framing or other mechanical fixations. When it comes to connecting glass to frame materials, new solutions are coming to market every day.

Meeting the budget for construction of a building can be a challenge, especially when a proposed design may be aspirational rather than strictly practical.  Public and private sector owners, construction managers, general contractors, sub-contractors,  fenestration  system and component suppliers have, for many years, looked for cost savings through continental and increasingly, global procurement (i.e. outside North America and overseas). 

May 1, 2019 - The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) has released the "AAMA 2018/2019 U.S. Industry Statistical Review and Forecast." This report delivers timely information on window, door and skylight market trends and product relationships. Historic data for 2010 through 2018 and forecast data for 2019 through 2021 are also included in the report. Forecasts are based on projections of construction activity as of March 2019.

I’m sick and tired of being gouged.  Administration fees, facility fees, set up fees, convenience charges, baggage fees, event service fees…call them what you will, they’re all just a means of digging into your pocket in an underhanded and unethical way. 

With the shortest day of the year behind us, it only gets brighter from now until the summer. Today I would like to address a topic that directly impacts our glass industry but rarely gets the attention it needs.

Mar. 12, 2019 - The Ontario Construction Secretariat’s (OCS) 2019 Contractor Survey shows that 33 per cent of ICI contractors forecast they will be busier in 2019 than they were last year. Just under half of contractors expect to conduct the same amount of work as they did in 2018, and only 17 per cent expect to do less.

Feb. 13, 2019 - The Ontario government recently announced plans to change the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) Certification Training program standards.

The total value of building permits rose 4.7% in 2018 to $99.7 billion, the fifth consecutive annual increase. Higher construction intentions for multi-family dwellings and commercial buildings were the main factors behind the increase. Four provinces reported gains, led by British Columbia and Quebec. The largest decline was in Ontario, where the value of permits was down 2.2% to $38.2 billion.

This column just so happens to mark the 10th anniversary of yours truly penning You Bet Your Glass for Glass Canada. One of my favourite columns over the years was also one of my first, entitled “Glass For Dummies” in the April 2009 edition of Glass Canada.

Walking around the trade show floor at The Buildings Show in Toronto and the WinDoor show in Quebec City before Christmas gave me the opportunity to discuss trends in our industry with clients, contractors and manufacturers. Surprisingly, what’s old is now new again.

When most people hear that the government is giving money away their reaction is that it must not be true. Why would the government want to give businesses money and receive nothing in exchange? The reality is governments do receive something in exchange for the money they give away: increased revenues in tax dollars.

Jan. 15, 2019 - A London heritage group is giving its blessing to a proposed glass addition to the former Kellogg building that would serve as the entrance to the London Children’s Museum. The London Free Press reports. | READ MORE

Jan. 10, 2019 - Canadian municipalities issued $8.3 billion worth of building permits in November, up 2.6% from October. Higher construction intentions for commercial buildings drove most of the gain.

May 1, 2019 - As of April 2019, the NRC is offering free access to the downloadable and electronic formats of the National Building Code, the National Fire Code, the National Plumbing Code, and the National Energy Code for Buildings, as well as the provincial codes published by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). Paper copies of the Codes, along with other supporting documents including the Guides, are available at a reduced cost.

April 26, 2019 - The National Glass Association (NGA), with the Insulating Glass Manufacturer’s Alliance (IGMA), have announced the publication of a new jointly-produced resource for the glazing and glass products industry. The guidelines, developed by members representing both organizations, discuss the function of Polyisobutylene (PIB) Primary Sealant in insulating glass units (IGUs) with specific focus on the performance and aesthetic attributes of PIB.

April 17, 2019 - The North American Contractor Certification Program provides architectural glass and metal contractors with certification recognition through a professionally administered, third-party assessment, as a means of creating a baseline for competency and adherence to industry-accepted guidelines.

Mar. 22, 2019 - The Insulating Glass Certification Council (IGCC) has launched its newly revamped website at www.igcc.com. This online home for IGCC provides in-depth information and resources to the fenestration industry.

Mar. 11, 2019 - After finishing a very productive meeting in 2018 with participation from certified licensee fabricators, suppliers, laboratories, and public interest individuals, the Insulating Glass Certification Council (IGCC) will be introducing several certification and guideline changes in 2019. These changes will include:

Mar. 7, 2019 -  Robert Jutras (UL/CLEB) hosted a seminar on the differences between how Canada and the United States evaluate field performance of windows and curtain walls in large buildings during the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) 82nd Annual Conference in Palm Springs (Feb. 25-28). Jutras, who is Canadian, focused more on the Canadian codes and practices for the benefit of a mostly American audience at the conference.

Feb. 11, 2019 - The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) has updated two documents for evaluating window wall, curtain wall and storefront systems when it comes to seismic drift.

The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) updated a document providing guidelines for describing colour measurement requirements for inclusion in AAMA documents.AAMA CMR-1-18, Guidelines for Development of Color Measurement Requirements, was first released in 2016. This is its first update, which was made to accommodate changes made to measurement averaging and colour difference equations.

Jan. 14, 2019 - For several years there have been questions raised in the industry about the strength of ceramic enamel (frit) coated glasses. The ASTM committee that oversees the current document on glass strength (ASTM E1300) is working to revise the standard to include provisions for addressing the strength of ceramic enameled glasses. The plan is to define a maximum stress approach for evaluating ceramic enamel coated glasses. The ASTM work item for this effort is WK65259, and is led by John Smith, of Glass Coatings & Concepts, LLC.

Dec. 13, 2018 - The Architectural Glass and Metal Technician Certification Program (AGMT) continued beta testing its knowledge-based (KBT) and performance-based (PBT) portions of its certification exam. Team members spent the week in San Leandro, CA administering, grading, and analyzing the latest versions of the KBT and PBT.

Dec. 6, 2018 - The Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance is pleased to announce that the IGMAC Certification Program is now accredited by ANSI under Administrative Management Services (AMS). The announcement is the culmination of a great deal of effort and work by the AMS team.

Despite a previously robust system for development of standards in Canada, the federal government’s current cost-recovery policy for standards development could be endangering the future of Canadian standards.