“There is strength in numbers and being part of an energetic community of peers and competitors,” President Nicole Harris says.

Always a vital material, glass rose to the forefront during the COVID pandemic, when it was used as an essential safety product to help stop the spread of the virus. While that crisis has thankfully passed, glass continues to play a critical role around the globe. “Our mission is to save the world with glass,” Harris summarizes.

A world without glass would be uncomfortably dark and dreary. “Glass is really core to everybody’s quality of life,” Harris points out. “Can you imagine living or working or sending your kids to school or taking care of a sick parent in a dark, concrete bunker?” In fact, using glass to brighten our lives with natural light has been found to improve mental health. “There are a lot of studies about how natural daylight improves learning and healing, and never mind just being in a good mood. We’re envisioning a future in which glass is the material of choice to enhance spaces where people live, play, learn, work, and heal.”

Advantages of membership
“Our purpose as a trade association is to promote and protect the interests of our glass and glazing members,” says Harris, “and they make up the entire supply chain.” She uses a pyramid to illustrate this concept. At the very top are the float glass manufacturers. “They’re taking sand and other raw materials and making the glass that you see on your tabletop and your shower doors, on the high-rise buildings, and the windows and doors in your home. There is a very small number of those big manufacturers.”

The next category of membership includes the glass and metal fabricators. “They’re taking that raw glass, and they’re doing something with it,” Harris says. “They’re putting holes in it; they’re laminating it; they’re putting coatings on it.”

And then come the installing companies, which are “at the bottom of that pyramid just because of their size and number.” These members do everything from installing a glass shower door in your home to installing the massive amounts of glass found in a modern skyscraper.

Low annual dues deliver a wealth of benefits to each of these member segments. “That’s an important distinction for NGA,” Harris says. “We can afford to keep our dues very low because we produce very profitable events and publish profitable magazines.”

Maintaining this profitably has taken a concerted effort. “It’s a tough deal to publish economically,” she says of today’s publishing industry, “but we have figured out how to do it.” NGA’s two publications, Glass Magazine and Window + Door, keep members abreast of the latest industry news, financial knowledge, and product announcements.

GlassBuild America: The Glass, Window & Door Expo, is North America’s largest annual show for the glass and fenestration industries, and this massive event is another means through which the association keeps dues low. “It’s really our trade show primarily that allows us to do everything else,” Harris says. “It underwrites everything we do—our technical publications which the industry relies on, our education initiatives, online training, recruitment resources.”

Indeed, education and training are foundational to NGA’s mission. “All of our net profits go into funding these very sophisticated educational and training online programs,” Harris says. “We’re just rolling them out all the time.” At MyGlassClass.com, members can access over one hundred courses in both English and Spanish. The association also offers a very popular apprenticeship program.

“We’ve spent a lot of money and a lot of attention and resources on the education element,” Harris says. This effort includes hiring instructional designers, trained to meet adult learning needs, to ensure that NGA’s educational programs are effective.

NGA also has an online store with free technical resources, as well as manuals, guides, and books that come with a member discount.

Glass goes high-tech
The glass industry is advancing at a rapid pace. “It’s a very, very technical industry,” Harris says, which may come as a surprise to many. “We’re walking down the street and see a piece of glass and [think], ‘no big deal.’ Well, that piece of glass may have multiple coatings, maybe multiple layers of glass, lamination… There are so many high-tech applications to what you’re looking through. It’s pretty extraordinary,” she says.

“We’re talking about thousands, tens of thousands or more of really, really innovative products,” Harris continues. “And they meet the requirements for energy efficiency, daylighting, school security, bird- and turtle-friendly glass,” which is specially designed to protect these animals from harm. “It’s just incredible, the technology that’s come up.” Other examples include the strong, laminated glass the industry has developed for security purposes, and vacuum insulated glass (VIG), a very thin, highly efficient insulating glass ideal for cold climates.

NGA helps industry insiders navigate the rapidly evolving technology by providing technical manuals to its members for free or at a very low cost. The association also maintains a portal that helps members meet current codes and standards as technology impacts the industry. “It’s really important to follow those health and safety [regulations],” Harris points out. “There are reasons why we have building codes.”

The future of glass
The glass industry faces some challenges that NGA is working to overcome. “Like many industries, I’d say top of mind is the skilled labor shortage,” Harris says. “You can’t escape that anywhere you look. It’s always in the news and it’s true for us… Everybody’s competing for talent. That’s why we are focusing so hard on the education piece and helping our members attract new people.”

To this end, NGA’s downloadable recruitment kit provides materials to help its members illustrate to potential employees the benefits of a career in the glass industry.

“Beyond that, there are still a lot of misconceptions about glass in the built environment,” Harris says. “I think that’s a messaging issue.” In response, NGA is actively spreading awareness about the benefits of glass and its ability to improve our lives. “We’re working to advance the entire glass and glazing mindset and view of what we can do to benefit the built environment and by extension, humanity,” Harris says.

The United Nations recognized the industry’s importance by naming 2022 the International Year of Glass, and NGA is making sure that the industry remains strong through 2024 and beyond, as the challenges and expectations evolve in the years to come.

“It’s not just a job,” Harris says. “I believe in this industry. I believe in our members’ ability.” And, as these members continue to make a positive impact by bringing glass to our built environment, NGA will continue to support them, doing its part to save the world with glass far into the future.

The post Saving the World with Glass<p class="company">National Glass Association</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“We focus on the exterior,” says Chief Operating Officer Chris Shin. “A good part of our work is commercial, healthcare, and stadium projects. Another big part, for the glass and glazing division, are condos and mid-high rises.”

Among the company’s strengths are design and engineering, project and field management, and fabrication. Design and engineering includes design-assist, an approach in which specialists are involved in the earliest stages of the design process. Project and field management covers planning, scheduling, supply chain management—with input on procurement and field crew management—encompassing both site logistics and management, and value engineering, which includes design evaluation.

Manufacturing centers on aluminum composite (ACM) panels, aluminum doors and windows, and custom sheet metal fabrication. Fabricated wares are shipped to the client’s jobsite. EGA field crews take care of commercial roofing, glass, and metal panel installation.

As per its design-assist ethos, the company works with clients even when they have only “a rough sketch of the building,” says Shin. “We go in and speak with them about their design intent, and then we recommend what products they can use and different [solutions] that will create the system they want for their building. Once we have a clear idea of what the client wants, we start engineering the system [according to] local code requirements, window requirements, and things of that nature.”

Most of the company’s work is self-performed. “The only things we really sub-contract out are the core materials that we use,” Shin says. “We have a lot of different vendors for glass and aluminum frames and panels. Manufacturers create those things; we take those core materials, design them, and do fabrication.” For such tasks, EGA partners with manufacturers such as Kawneer, a Georgia-based business that produces aluminum curtain walls, doors, windows, and framing.

In addition to its head office, the company has a branch in the town of Front Royal, Virginia. While many projects take place in the states in which it is based, the team has also taken on assignments in Ohio, Florida, Utah, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., among other locales. The firm will travel wherever there are “monumental projects that require its expertise,” says Shin.

“The Atlanta Braves stadium is one of the projects we’re very proud of. That was our first stadium project,” he states. “Orlando’s INTER&Co Stadium was a fun one too. That has a big logo of a lion at the main entrance. We designed that for them [it’s made up of 154 unique pieces!] and now, we’re working on a [Veteran’s Administration] hospital in Kentucky. That’s a pretty large job—around $40 million. That’s one of the bigger projects.”

EGA’s work at Truist Park—the official name of the baseball stadium that hosts the Atlanta Braves—involved a sub-roof, insulated wall panels, single-skin wall panels, faux wood panels, and soffit panels. Work at Orlando’s INTER&Co Stadium involved insulated panels, perforated panels, a sub-roof, wind screen, modular panels, and thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roofing.

Other prominent projects included work on sub-roofs at Chicago’s legendary Wrigley Field and Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, and impact-resistant glass at a Georgia-based Facebook data center. EGA has worked on storefronts, auto showroom doors, and sliding doors at the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta as well.

Every project it undertakes is a testament to the company’s intense commitment to quality. As part of its quality assurance/quality control program, EGA thoroughly reviews and evaluates all project drawings, designs, and specifications to ensure excellence and regulatory compliance. The firm investigates quality assurance programs run by its suppliers and arranges equipment audits before and during the manufacturing process.

“We really try to have our team members in the shop understand the product and how things go together. One of the ways we found to do that is by making a story board. A story board is a step by step [depiction] of how you fabricate things. We have pictures [that show] how these things are put together,” says Shin.

The story board method is also used with installers, he adds. When a building project involves the installation of windows, EGA will conduct water tests whereby windows are sprayed with water and subjected to other physical tests to determine if they will leak under adverse weather conditions. These quality control tests are also conducted for the company’s other scopes of work.

The company takes an equally far-reaching approach when it comes to safety. Field staff and office managers are required to take Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training, and Shin is an OSHA-certified instructor who is licensed to perform certain types of training. Staff members are required to discuss safety issues, concerns, or accidents at toolbox meetings and other opportunities.

While COVID caused massive disruptions to the economy, EGA was not hugely affected. The company’s work was considered essential, so it did not have to close down. “That allowed our people to continue working,” recalls Shin. “We had a lot of projects that were ongoing at the time, so we were able to kind of ride it out. Operationally, there were challenges; people were sick. We had to deal with not having enough manpower at times, but we took [the necessary] precautions and tried to keep everyone safe.”

EGA can trace its origins to the vision and drive of entrepreneur Peter Kim. After graduating from George Mason University in Virginia, he took a job at a roofing company run by his brother-in-law in North Carolina. Kim first worked as a field laborer then founded his own company, Eastern Contractors Corporation, in 1998.

Eastern Contractors Corporation primarily did roofing at first but branched out to become a general industrial contractor. Headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia, it continues to offer contracting and construction management services to industrial clients across North America. It has developed a unique niche building clean rooms and dry rooms for manufacturers who make electric vehicles (EVs) and EV batteries.

In 2014, Eastern Glass and Aluminum was established as an Eastern Contractors Corporation subsidiary, tasked with working on building envelopes. Kim’s background ensured that EGA was a focused, forward-looking business from the beginning. “Our founder, he started as a laborer… so we had a very good foundation on how to run this business. We had a really tight ship,” states Shin. These subsidiaries are housed under Eastern Companies.

EGA recently pioneered the launch of a new division under Eastern Companies called Elevate Architectural Products, which currently imports and sells architectural products from South Korea. “One of the products we’re selling now is called ALFA panels. Basically, these are composite panels that are fire-resistant and NFPA-285 (National Fire Protection Association) approved,” he says. The company is laying down the groundwork to broaden its opportunities.

EGA wants to focus on current operations and building Elevate’s presence within the architectural product market. There are no plans to add any other new divisions for the time being. “I think we’re going to stick with what we have,” he says. “If anything, we’re trying to expand some of our production capacity here.”

It is a solid strategy, given that the team is now regularly earning industry kudos for its work. The company has been consistently listed in the Top 50 Glaziers List compiled annually by Glass Magazine, a trade publication. The list encompasses firms from across North America, and last year, Eastern Glass and Aluminum climbed to sixteenth place. “Every year we’ve been making our way [onto] the list and going up,” says Shin proudly.

And EGA’s success is not the result of splashy marketing. In fact, until the last few years, the company had not done much traditional marketing at all. “Our work has been our advertisement,” Shin notes. “Our commitment to excellence and follow-through with on-time project delivery marketed itself.”

With the company’s growth, EGA aims to pursue even larger projects. To do so, it has invested in its Marketing and Business Development department. With labor shortages in the construction industry, the team’s strategy involves expanding its social media presence, particularly on LinkedIn, and this social media activity focuses on enticing potential new workers. The plan is to make people aware “that we have a very good culture, and we’re a cool place to work. This has been helpful in promoting the firm with the younger generations,” he says. “The development of this department has also allowed us to focus on new initiatives while maintaining our quality of work in our project execution.”

Over the next few years, Shin hopes to see EGA become one of the leading building envelope contractors in America, while bolstering its manufacturing segment and the new Elevate division. “Our strategy involves enabling our top performers and attracting key players to further propel our achievements. I want it to be known that we are a company that provides opportunity to grow. If they are willing to give their best, they have a really good chance to contribute here.” The unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional work stands as a clear indicator of EGA’s aspirations for continued growth and expansion.

The post Building Exterior Experts Mark a Major Corporate Milestone<p class="company">Eastern Glass and Aluminum </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Asked how AGM has managed to survive and thrive over the decades, President Greg Young cites three factors: workforce, vendors, and clients.

“The team we have is obviously our strength,” he says. “And then also our vendors—we find them to be equally important. And we want to work for good clients, we want to use quality products… our relationship with all three of those is very, very important and has contributed to the longevity and growth of the company,” states Young.

Specific services rendered by the firm include contract glazing, installation and repair, and remedial repair.

“Remedial repair is basically looking at leaking buildings, sick buildings, and determining what’s going on and then remediating it. A lot of times it’s something as simple as caulking or replacing flashing or something along those lines,” explains Young.

Markets served include automotive, pharmaceutical, banking, education, office, healthcare, interior, museums, mixed use, and religious institutions. “We pretty much do anything non-residential,” Young explains. “Sometimes we will [do residential] if it’s helping out a client, but for the most part, we stick to commercial projects. We’re doing quite a bit of work for universities here in Indiana—Purdue University, Indiana University, Butler, Marian. So, between healthcare and education, that keeps us pretty busy.”

In addition to its Indianapolis headquarters, the company has branches in Cincinnati, Ohio and Nashville, Tennessee. Each branch maintains separately managed contract and service departments. The former handles most installations while the latter takes care of maintenance, repairs, and small installations. AGM also offers a 24/7 emergency response service for property management companies.

While primarily serving clients in the Midwest and Mid-South, AGM has traveled as far afield as St. Martin, an island in the Caribbean, for installation work. One such project was completed at the behest of a Cincinnati-based client. “We will venture out… If it works for our client and it works for us, we will do it,” says Young, citing assignments in Florida and the Research Triangle—an area renowned for universities and R&D facilities in North Carolina.

On design-build work or remodeling projects, AGM may be hired directly by the client or owner, but the firm is typically brought into projects by a general contractor. For most construction jobs, AGM works as part of a team of tradespeople.

Sometimes, due to schedule requirements, AGM may subcontract items such as caulking, but otherwise nearly all work is done in-house; “for the most part, we self-perform. We buy the material, we fabricate it, we install it,” states Young.

Founded in 1984 by Greg Menefee and partners, the firm “started small” and was initially based in a “dilapidated building,” recalls Young. The company grew and became a major success story, adding a Cincinnati office in 2004. That same year, Young became a minority owner in the firm. A Nashville branch was launched in 2008, and Young became sole owner on October 31, 2017.

There have been a few bumps along the way. The opening of the Nashville office coincided with the 2008 – 2009 economic recession, says Young. Then, in early 2020, the COVID virus went pandemic, unleashing global economic turmoil. “We were fortunate to be considered essential workers, so we were able to work,” says Young.

The firm applied Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines regarding masking and social distancing. Of course, AGM also had to cope with COVID-related supply chain disruptions, including longer lead times for receiving products and price hikes.

Employment at the firm fluctuated from a pre-COVID high of over 140 to around 120 people today, and now that COVID has subsided, AGM is on the rebound. When considering job applicants, the company looks for certain traits. “Reliability is huge, dependability is huge, and trainability… I tell [people], if you show up here and you want to learn, I will hire anyone. We will give anyone an opportunity,” says Young.

He strongly encourages a “team environment” in the workplace: “Everyone has a role to play here, and we value each of these roles… But we’re all willing to help each other be successful. That’s something that also sets us apart,” he states.

Young served in the U.S. Navy and as such, AGM is a certified veteran-owned business. The firm hosts golf outings and other fundraisers, many of which are organized to benefit veteran organizations. For example, AGM once hosted a golf outing to raise money for Indy Honor Flight, a charity that flies veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars to Washington, DC to visit military monuments.

“This year, we’re supporting a program called Pets Healing Vets, through the Humane Society. They supply trained emotional support animals to veterans that have PTSD or traumatic brain injuries at no cost. They cover the cost for the pet for the rest of their life,” says Madeline Young, Greg’s daughter, an Indiana University graduate, and AGM’s first Marketing Coordinator.

In addition to its community involvement, doing high-quality work on high-profile projects is another way AGM stands out. Greg Young points to an assignment involving the IU Health Neuroscience Center in downtown Indianapolis. A striking building with a primarily glass façade resembling an ocean wave, the facility is operated under the auspices of IU Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine.

“It was a very challenging job both in the design and then having our fabrication manager [fabricate it], and then getting it installed in the field… It was successful, for all the complexity to it. That’s one we like to showcase,” says Young.

Other key projects include the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Indianapolis Children’s Museum; the Forum Credit Union headquarters in Fishers, Indiana; National City Bank in Cincinnati; and CapStar Bank in Nashville. The company’s automotive projects feature glasswork for Porsche, Mini Cooper, and Lexus dealerships, all in Nashville.

Given that AGM works with glass, it’s no surprise that safety is paramount at the firm. AGM has two full-time safety workers—a Safety Director who handles administrative tasks, and a Safety Officer who goes out in the field to assist with safety efforts. Each branch maintains a safety leader who liaises with the head office in Indianapolis.

“All of our management, project managers, and field foremen are OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) 30-hour certified. Every other AGM team member in the company, regardless of their role, does the 10-hour OSHA course. That’s kind of unique; even the receptionist does the 10-hour course,” adds Young.

Representatives of each branch convene on a quarterly basis with the Safety Director and Safety Officer to discuss safety issues. Participants at these meetings “talk about any situations that might have happened—near misses, anything like that,” explains Young. Each branch is a drug-free certified workplace and staff also receive training in First Aid and CPR.

Young cites labor and recruiting new workers as the biggest challenge facing AGM at present, an issue that reflects a broader, industry-wide trend in which existing workers in skilled trades are approaching retirement age and insufficient numbers of young people are stepping up to replace them. AGM’s woes are compounded by the fact that many people are unclear about the work the company performs. “Our trade is not necessarily well-known. If you go into a high school and ask, ‘What does a plumber do?’ they know. You ask, ‘What does a glazier do?’ and they just look at you,” notes Young.

To get the word out, AGM runs an apprentice program and raises awareness about glasswork and the firm’s services by reaching out to high schools and attending trade shows. Madeline Young is also spearheading an effort to enhance the company’s social media presence.

“We have Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn,” she explains. “LinkedIn is probably one of our most popular. We have started doing more lunch and learns—going to general contractors and other clients of ours and providing lunch for them while presenting our capabilities and how we’d like to be trade partners. We’ve really grown our reach and presence within the last year.”

Going forward, AGM is looking to introduce some new products but is keeping the details under wraps at present. Greg Young is more forthcoming when it comes to demonstrating his pride in the company he leads and the people who work for AGM. After reaching its 40^th anniversary, Architectural Glass & Metal Company changed its logo to mark this milestone achievement.

As for the future, “I would like to see us back up on our growth trajectory that we were on before COVID. Looking at other markets is important… I think with things we’ve learned and done over the years, another market would help us with that growth plan, make us more diverse.” We look forward to seeing how the next 40 years play out for this longstanding and dynamic company.

The post Looking Ahead After Reaching a Milestone Anniversary<p class="company">Architectural Glass & Metal Company</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.