GlassBuild America 2026 Delivers on Innovation and Insight

GlassBuild America 2026, held Sept. 23-25, welcomed attendees and exhibitors to the Las Vegas Convention Center for another year of innovation, business, networking and education.  

Debuting the Keynote Theater  

New to GlassBuild this year was the Keynote Theater, a dedicated space for the three keynotes that started each day of the show. 

Day one of GlassBuild welcomed Daymond John, star of ABC's “Shark Tank.” In his presentation, John stressed the importance of setting goals and doing your business "homework" to lay the groundwork for success. "Change will always be at our forefront," John said. He urged business owners to understand their value proposition and encouraged attendees to learn from their own mistakes as well as those of others who have tried to succeed in business before them. 

Senior economist Connor Lokar of ITR Economics opened the second day of the show with a comprehensive forecast for the commercial and residential segments of the industry. Lokar’s outlook for the U.S. GDP is mixed: the economy is growing and he expects the growth to continue, but it will slow in 2027, beginning to stall as we move into next year. “It's not a recession, but we do have some headwinds coming [in the broader economy],” he said.   

The final keynote ended the week on a strong note with the fifth annual Women in Glass and Fenestration breakfast and keynote address. Syndi Sim, director of sales and business development, Q-Railing, kicked the session off by highlighting the representation of women within NGA's leadership, noting that 80% of the staff and 100% of the senior leadership team are women. She also discussed the success of the California Glass Association Women in Glass chapter, as well as a similar chapter established in Texas. 

Barbara Bouza, executive director at Live, Work, Play at CannonDesign, and previously with Disney Imagineering, led the keynote address, which centered on the importance of lifelong curiosity, learning and overcoming perfectionism. Bouza highlighted the importance of visibility for women and people of color in architecture, using as examples the stories of Julia Morgan, the first female architect licensed in California; and Norma Sklarek, the first black woman to become a member of the American Institute of Architects to illustrate. 

From the show floor 

Exhibitors at GlassBuild showcased new and legacy products and innovations. They spoke with Glass Magazine editors about the challenges and triumphs of the past year, and what's ahead for many going into 2027. 

For example, many are saying the automation conversation has shifted from whether to how fast. At Salem Fabrication Technologies Group Inc., Doug Mangus says that automation is an inevitability: "In the future everyone will have to automate." The company brought its AMR (autonomous mobile robot) to GlassBuild again, which can now move full racks of glass across the factory floor, scanning a code that ties into the plant's ERP system to determine where the glass goes.  

Forel SpA, marking its 50th anniversary this year, is working on two fully automated manufacturing plants right now. Troy Larson, U.S. area manager for Forel, pointed to the labor shortage and fabricators’ desire for speed and quality as the drivers.  

New digital technologies are also helping machinery companies make equipment purchases. Joseph Gates, vice president, Lattuada North America, says they're running simulations that show a customer exactly what automation would do to the customer’s throughput and model for them when the investment pays back. It usually pays back sooner than the customer expects, he says, and seeing the math tends to move people off the fence. 

Students at GlassBuild 

This year's GlassBuild welcomed 250 local Clark County students to the show floor. This offered an opportunity for the students to "see themselves in glass." Students completed challenges in the Skills Challenge Area, including caulking their names or other designs at the Dow booth, or completing math challenges at the FHC Frameless Hardware Co. booth, among others. 

Students also walked the show floor following the Career Discovery Trail, which brought them to companies spanning multiple segments of the glass industry, including A+W Software, CRL and Q-Railing. 

Angela Santos, marketing specialist with Q-Railing, said that she was excited for the students to come by their booth because of the importance of education. "Not a lot of people know about this industry until they get the chance to learn about it. And once you learn about it, it really is so interesting. There's so many different opportunities out there."  

Izabella C. is a sophomore at a Clark County school who participated in the event at GlassBuild. She said she was looking forward to learning more about glass because, "you see glass everywhere, but you don't really know too much about it." She also said that as a girl, she was looking forward to hearing more from women in the field about their experience and the opportunities out there for her.  

"Being here is just about finding more things to do. This field is huge and I'm very open-minded about what I want to do in the future," says Izabella.  

Jackson C., another sophomore from the same school, said that he knows he wants to go into the trades, but hasn't decided specifically what he wants to specialize in. He hoped the day would inspire him and open up some new ideas about what his career could look like.