The Next Era of Glass Fabricating Will Be Built on Applied R&D

After nearly 50 years in the glass industry, I am more excited about manufacturing today than I have been in a long time.

Why?

Because I believe we are entering an era where the biggest improvements will not necessarily come from buying one more machine.

They will come from making the entire factory work smarter.

At IGE, we increasingly look at manufacturing through three connected areas:

Process. Software. Hardware.

If one of those three is weak, the factory will never reach its potential.

Automation Doesn't Have to Mean Automating Everything

There is a lot of talk today about the fully automated glass factory.

I believe it is coming.

But I also believe we need to be practical.

Most North American fabricators do not need to automate their entire plant tomorrow. They need to identify where people are performing repetitive work, where glass stops moving, where information gets lost, where quality problems occur, and where the greatest return on investment can be achieved.

Then fix those areas one by one.

Connect the cutting table to the next process.

Connect fabrication to tempering.

Connect tempering to insulating glass.

Connect the equipment to the software.

And make sure the information follows the glass.

That is practical automation - and it should show up in measurable results: less labor, better throughput, better quality or lower operating cost.

R&D Has to Leave the Laboratory

To me, research and development is not about developing technology simply because it is interesting.

It has to solve a real manufacturing problem.

Can we reduce labor?

Can we increase throughput?

Can we improve quality?

Can we reduce energy consumption?

Can we eliminate unnecessary handling?

Can we extend the useful life of existing equipment?

Can we make difficult glass easier to process?

And most importantly:

Can we prove it?

That last question matters.

Before making major investments, establish the baseline. Measure the current production rate, labor requirements, quality, downtime and operating costs.

Then make the improvement.

Then measure again.

If the numbers don't improve, we haven't accomplished enough.

The Factory Is Becoming a System

For decades our industry often purchased equipment machine by machine.

That mentality is changing.

A great cutting table is valuable.

A great furnace is valuable.

A great insulating glass line is valuable.

But the real opportunity comes when those machines begin working together as one manufacturing system.

That requires equipment manufacturers, automation companies, software companies, fabricators and experienced process people to work together.

No single company has every answer.

I certainly don't believe IGE does.

Our job is to find the best technologies, the best people and the best ideas - and then help connect them into something that works for the customer.

That is increasingly how I see the role of IGE.

Start With the Problem

My advice to fabricators is simple:

Don't start by asking what machine you should buy.

Start by asking:

What is the biggest problem in my factory that I should solve next?

That question may lead to a new machine.

It may lead to automation.

It may lead to software.

It may lead to a retrofit.

Or it may lead to something none of us has thought of yet.

That's what makes this period in our industry so exciting.

At IGE, after nearly five decades, we are still learning, still searching and still asking questions.

Because the next generation of glass manufacturing won't be created by simply doing more of what we did yesterday.

It will be created by people willing to ask:

What can we do better tomorrow?

If you want to know where to start, show us the bottleneck, labor problem or production challenge you want to improve next.

Let us help determine whether the right answer is automation, software, new equipment, a retrofit - or simply a better process.

IGE Glass Technologies

One Family. One Focus.