Door, Window, Glass Companies Sport Improvements at GlassBuild

Several companies offering commercial doors and window products are in Atlanta this week for GlassBuild America, taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center today through Wednesday, with new developments. Among them, Thermal Windows in Tulsa, Ok., now offers a polyamide thermal break in it's 800U casement window.

"It's getting some impressive U-values," said Terry Newcomb, marketing director. The company is featuring a prototype, but Newcomb says he expects to be ready for orders by the end of this year.

"it can be challenging to get have a commercial casement with a U-value of .35 or below, and now with this you can do that," adds Newcomb.

Tormax Technologies in Ben Wheeler, Texas, is featuring it's I-Motion technology for automatic sliding and swinging doors. David Wurtz, vice president of sales, explained that the direct drive system eliminates the need for a gear box.

"A large amount of automatic door failures are because of the gear box," says Wurtz. "Also with this it has a quieter operation because there are no moving gears."

Wurtz says his company has been working with glass shops to show them how bringing automatic doors into their offerings can be a way to help them grow their business as it's a "synergistic product line."

Tubelite is featuring its DFG--Damage Free Guarantee--delivery system. According to Steve Green, the company has been expanding geographically and has been utilizing this transportation system, which helps maintain its lead times.

Tom Minnon, eastern regional sales manager, adds that throughout the industry damaged freight can be a challenge, but their system allows them to control the logistics.

Green adds, for example, all materials are reverse loaded according to the delivery sequence so there is no shuffling around in transit.

"This is monitored daily, weekly, monthly and it's critical," says Green.

PPG is revealing a product it's certified fabricator network shortly will be offering in the near future. The company has partnered with Pleotint, which produces a thermochromic film product. Glen Miner says he's particularly excited about incorporating this particular dynamic product with PPG's Solarban 60 into an insulating glass unit because, as the sun heats the interlayer, it gradually changes from transparent to opaque rather than an abrupt transfer at a certain temperature. Miner says that after about a year of working with Pleotint, he's found the product to be an economically feasible option, that performs great and offers good color, for introducing dynamic glazing into retrofit or new construction projects.