Companies Make Final Pitch as GlassBuild Comes to Close

The 330-plus industry suppliers at GlassBuild America 2014 wrapped up their exhibits in Las Vegas Thursday—some with a longer trip home than others.

Onyx, which recently partnered with AGC Glass Company North America, was one of those companies, showing its photovoltaic building materials to what vice president of global business development Diego Cuevas says was a very attentive crowd.

Also available as insulating glass units, Onyx’s multi-functional photovoltaic glass captures both optic and thermal performance components with the long-term goal in mind of reaching zero energy in buildings.

Some of the highlights of Onyx’s so far half-decade existence include the world’s largest photovoltaic skylight for Novartis Pharmaceuticals headquarters in the U.S. and the first photovoltaic floor in the world, which was installed at George Washington University.

Moving forward, Cuevas says the company is excited to see what comes from its newly formed alliance with AGC. Onyx was founded in Spain, but the company expanded to a New York location—where Cuevas is located—to better serve the emerging U.S. market.

Another non-U.S. manufacturer at GlassBuild was Vitro, based in Mexico, which featured its acid-etched privacy glass Pavia, as well as its multi-colored decorative glass Kolore. Eduardo Rivero, international sales executive at Vitro, says the acid-etched glass continues to be a popular export to the U.S., while the decorative glass has yet to really catch on in the country.

Kimberly Davis, sales and marketing coordinator for Finland-based Glaston, says her company was very pleased with how the week unfolded, noting that the show yielded more international customers—mainly from the U.S. and Canada—than she expected.

Ohio-based EDTM, a manufacturer of test equipment for glass, window and film test equipment, was well-received with its new GlassCheck Elite glass thickness meter and low-E detector. According to the company, the Elite is “the previous version on steroids.”

“We are getting an incredible reception to this product,” says EDTM vice president Mark Imbrock.

A big sell for Quanex, meanwhile, was its ease of automation in production for its TriSeal spacer product, something product sales specialist Brian Kress says Quanex stressed at GlassBuild. “At this point, the thermal performance is a given,” he says. “What we speak to more now is productivity.”

Walker Glass made the trip down from Canada to continue its pitch on bird-safe glass—a sector of the industry the company appears to have taken the lead on many levels.

Walker business development manager Marc Deschamps says the company is gearing up for the release of the second version of its bird-safe glass AviProtek.

Stay tuned to USGNN.com for continued coverage of GlassBuild 2014, beyond the close of the show.