The Glass Industry’s Top Stories of 2024

This past year was a year of closure, persistent economic concerns, labor shortages, comings and goings, legal disputes, ribbon cuttings, strong storms, advancing technologies and continued shifts toward sustainability and energy-efficient practices. 

There was no shortage of stories in 2024, whether good, bad or ugly. To best encapsulate all that 2024 had to offer, we consolidated the top 10 stories of this past year, beginning with:

10. Vitro to Close Salem, Oregon, Plant (June)

The plant was a stand-alone facility that applied MSVD coatings to glass produced in Vitro float plants. It had been operating since 1997. 

9. Assa Abloy Closing North Carolina Plant (January)

Officials for Assa Abloy submitted a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice to the North Carolina Department of Commerce in early January, informing the state that it was closing its facility on Choate Circle in Charlotte.

8. Company Confirms Installation of Fake Chinese Glass (May)

A South Korean-based construction company confirmed that it unknowingly used forged, untested Chinese glass on a luxury apartment complex built in Seoul several years ago.

7. Alabama Attorney General Issues Restraining Order Against Glass Company (July)

The Alabama Attorney General alleges that the defendants owe their victims $181,042.80 in damages, and individuals affiliated with the business used customers’ money to make personal purchases instead of providing the products and services the business advertised.

6. New Federal Law Requires Certain Companies to Report Beneficial Owners (April)

A federal law increasing reporting requirements for companies operating in the United States took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The Corporate Transparency Act applies to most small and privately held businesses and is intended to root out potential bad actors who own corporate entities in the United States.

5. At Least Two Dead, Several Critically Injured in Glass Railing Collapse (June)

A glass balustrade at a popular nightclub in Mexico shattered in early June, killing at least two people and injuring more than a dozen others. The incident happened at the Rich Bar in San Luis Potosi, several hundred miles northwest of Mexico City.

4. Canadian Glass Company Collapses Following Naverra Closure (March)

A Canadian glass company collapsed following the appointment of a court-ordered receiver after it could not repay loans for certain glass production equipment leased to and used by the now-defunct Naverra Glass.

3. Falling Glass Plagues Roanoke’s Carilion Building (August)

A glass building in Roanoke, Virginia, has been shedding glass over the past seven years. According to media reports, glass has fallen from the Carilion Clinic Administrative Services building five times since 2017.

2. Customers File Damning Allegations Against Ohio Window Dealer (November)

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost accused a Marysville couple of violating the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. Twenty-six consumers across six central Ohio counties accused MBR Window Replacement of providing subpar workmanship or failing to provide services after payment. 

1. Florida Installer Files Bankruptcy, Leaving $1.3M in Unfinished Projects (August)

After the Florida Attorney General’s office launched a consumer protection investigation and the Better Business Bureau logged a consumer alert, a Sarasota, Florida-based window and glass door installer filed for bankruptcy, leaving clients in the lurch.