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Editor's Notes

30 Years of Top 50 Glaziers

Glass Magazine’s annual Top 50 Glaziers celebrates its 30th anniversary with this year’s report. That’s three decades of tracking the impressive evolution and growth of the U.S. glazing market. 

Building the Next Generation at GlassBuild

GlassBuild 2024 brings labor into the spotlight, with presentations designed to deliver actionable strategies focused on reaching, recruiting and training the next generation of glass industry workers. 

Gold for Sustainability at the Paris Games

The Paris games feature one permanent centerpiece—The Paris Olympics Aquatics Centre, a striking example of new sustainable construction, complete with a sweeping timber structure and glass façade.  

Hey ChatGPT, Can We Talk?

I invited AI to describe its capabilities and address the risks companies face when using this new technology. What follows is a transcript from a conversation with ChatGPT, the language model by OpenAI.

We Need to Talk about Opioid Addiction

Seventy percent of workplaces have been affected by the opioid crisis, according to estimates from the National Safety Council.

Tackling the Industry’s Biggest Challenge: Labor

As part of its new workforce development initiative, NGA has developed a free downloadable guide for companies: A Guide to Recruiting at High School Career Fairs. This how-to guide is available in the NGA store, along with stickers and postcards designed to attract student attention to the trade.…

Mixed Economic Signals

There is little agreement among economists about what 2024 will hold. They are split over whether the overall economy will enter recession. They are split over labor market expectations. Over interest rate projections. Over the future of inflation. Construction economists are similarly split…

Industry Metrics to Watch

At Glass Magazine and its publisher, the National Glass Association, we regularly track a series of economic and industry trend data to better understand what’s on the horizon for glass companies. We look at macro-economic data points, including unemployment and GDP, right along with construction…

An Underground History of Glass

Katy Devlin takes a kayak tour through a now-flooded former silica sand mine that provided the raw materials for the flat glass plant that sat atop it.

Elevating a New Generation of Girls in Glass

NAWIC recently hosted 70 teenage girls for a free weeklong learning program offering a hands-on approach to construction careers. This year's curriculum also included education about glass and glazing, courtesy of NAWIC board member Kristie Rehberger, also the general manager of A Glasco Inc.

Turn Up the Volume on Glass Advocacy

Advocacy efforts bring the conversation about glass directly to decision-makers, and they are essential to advancing industry innovation and ensuring glass and glazing products are a part of the high-performance building future. 

Five Ways to Address Generational and Mentorship Gaps

How do you make time to train and mentor new employees? How do you incentivize workers to stay? Is the next generation ready to take the reins?  

An Unbelievable 25 Years

At the 25th anniversary of the BEC Conference in Las Vegas this month, we celebrate the remarkable advancements in glass during the previous 25 years, and we look ahead at what the next 25 might hold.

Look for Women in Glass

The National Glass Association's Women in Glass and Fenestration Panel at GlassBuild 2022 is just the start of the NGA’s efforts to provide community for women currently in glass, and to encourage more women to enter the glass and glazing field.

An Industry of “First Responders”

The glass industry has an opportunity to become a new type of “first responder” by providing security products that protect children, teachers and staff against school shooters.

Grappling with Rising Glass Costs

Summer 2022 has brought high temperatures right alongside higher prices for everything from gas to groceries, and yes, to glass. How has the industry responded? 

Glass Can Save the World

While the sentiment may seem audacious, it’s also true. 

The Indicators I’m Tracking

I’m neither an economist nor a forecaster. However, there are a few key market indicators I’ve been tracking in recent months in an effort to see though the cloudy forecasts of leading construction economists.  

Next-level Lifts

The glass lifting and handling market is booming, driven by a need to handle larger and heavier lites, to keep employees safe, and to accomplish more with fewer workers.

What Can Help with Labor and Supply Challenges?

What’s keeping the glass industry up at night? Exhibitors, attendees and speakers at GlassBuild America all pointed to two major challenges: the ongoing labor shortage and pandemic-related supply chain constraints.

Remembering an Industry Innovator

In preparing our Innovation Issue each year, we get the opportunity to collaborate with the ambitious and inspiring innovators behind these product and project achievements. One such innovator was Bernard Lax, the founder and CEO of Gardena, California-based Pulp Studio, who passed away…

Two Simple, but Not Easy, Priorities

Two related leadership priorities can help companies to recruit and retain employees, improve engagement and profitability, and keep workers safe: one, promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace; and two, address racism and discriminatory practices on the job.

Introducing a New Name in Float Glass

It’s not often the North American float glass industry welcomes a new plant, let alone an entirely new company, to the market. Learn more about Canadian Premium Sand's plans to start a float plant outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

All That Glass Can Do

A conversation with Urmilla Sowell, technical and advocacy director, National Glass Association about the versatility of glass.

Keep an Eye on the Green Horizon

4 code & regulatory takeaways from the NGA Glass Conference

Prepare for What's Next

How can glass companies prepare for 2021? I asked some of Glass Magazine’s expert contributors to weigh in, and they offered insights on everything from legal and contract best practices to labor concerns.

Get Ready for Change

 5 key takeaways from industry experts at the July NGA Glass Conference.

A GlassBuild to Meet 2020 Challenges

COVID-19 has turned 2020 plans upside down for us all. It has asked us to adapt and change; to find new ways of connecting, working, collaborating, problem solving. Now it’s forcing us to pivot once more when it comes to our industry’s gathering place.

Essential Connection

Even in isolation, glass creates the possibility for an essential connection—connection to the outdoors, to nature and, most importantly, to people. 

Embrace Calls for Performance Solutions

New requirements for better performing, more sustainable and thermally efficient glass and glazing products represent an important opportunity for the industry, said Apogee CEO Joe Puishys during his keynote address at the 2020 Building Envelope Contractors Conference.