Scott Thomsen is a hands-on manager—literally.

Visit his Luxwall manufacturing facility in Litchfield, Michigan, and you’ll see he stops at nearly every group of product ready for delivery and touches it. He then picks up the tracking tag to confirm where the materials are going. “Oh,” he says with a combination of surprise and confirmation in his voice, “this one’s going to Manhattan.” It’s as if each unit is receiving a hands-on blessing before it goes forth to insulate.

Thomsen served as a tour guide when I, along with several members of our leadership team, took a two-hour tour of the facility in April. I’ve known Scott Thomsen for more than two decades, first when he ran the research department at Guardian and then as its CEO. He resigned in 2014 for health reasons and, when better, regrouped around the idea of glass as a more efficient insulation.

By 2016, he had started Luxwall, and attracted some private equity funding, including from Breakthrough Energy, which was founded by Bill Gates (“he’s visited often,” says Thomsen). The Litchfield plant opened in 2024, with a ribbon-cutting by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. A second, 276,000-square-foot facility in Detroit (in the Delray section, near the Gordie Howe International Bridge) is scheduled to open before the end of this year.

In true CEO fashion, Thomsen started asking me questions as we were walking around the plant. “What surprises you most?” he asked. My answer was quick. “How much product you’re moving,” I said. “You’ve got an image out there of a small start-up just getting its bearings and doing small spot jobs. That’s not what I am seeing here at all.”

With my answer, I saw a slight smile come across his face. “Yeah,” he said, “that’s what we wanted people to think. It’s not accurate.”

I could see that. The output at the plant is massive, in size, scope and geographical footprint. Its product is being used throughout the world.

Thomsen calls Luxwall’s products “transparent insulation” as opposed to the more common term vacuum insulating glass (VIG). He will bristle a bit if you call it VIG, mostly because he feels it does not define the technology appropriately and because it pigeonholes the product as expensive.

Thomsen insists the high-cost rap is incorrect as well and has the data to prove it. Though it may have a higher cost per square foot than some other technologies, its total cost for retrofits is often lower.

“We’ve cut the early costs of $35-$45 a square foot roughly in half. If you’re doing a glass only retrofit, it’s a lower cost than doing a full replacement,” he adds.

It’s a strong value proposition from a company that is larger and more advanced than perhaps many of us thought. It will be a force in the future.

Note: For more on Thomsen and Luxwall see the June issue, page 42 for Ellen Roger’s excellent article, and video interview with him as well.