U.S. glass magazine Archives

Bernard Always, Remembered

By Debra Levy on August 9th, 2021

He was never really Bernie. I would wince the few times I heard someone say “nice to meet you, Bernie,” after being introduced to him. I knew he was Bernard and he must not have liked hearing Bernie in its place. Then that big smile would cross his face as his hand reached out in a forceful grip. “Nice to meet you,” he’d always say, without ever adding “It’s Bernard.” As you probably know already, Bernard Lax, president of Pulp Studio in Gardena, Calif., died suddenly August 3 at the age of 64. He was as silent about his accomplishments and good deeds as he was about correcting his name…. Read More »

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Architects Guide to Glass, USGlass No comments yet

Jumbo Tentacles

By Debra Levy on August 27th, 2018

While jumbo glass has been around for a while now, the number of companies that manufacture it has increased rapidly. You’ll see offerings from so many companies that I bet within the next five years jumbo won’t be jumbo anymore; it will just be one of many glass sizes available. These new sizes are serving as the impetus for new products and variations of current ones in a variety of related fields. Specifically: 1. Jumbo coated glass: While jumbo glass gains in usage and popularity, so will its ability to be coated with a variety of coatings. Vitro’s new high-performance magnetron sputtered vacuum deposition coater debuted last month in Wichita… Read More »

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Architects Guide to Glass, USGlass 1 comment

A Month’s News–In a Week

By Debra Levy on August 6th, 2018

Last week was a very busy one in the glass and metal news business. Late on July 31, the news that Kawneer’s parent, Arconic, was seeking to sell Kawneer and its Building and Construction Solutions (BCS) business was announced. And that’s just the beginning. “Obviously, we are at the very beginning of the process, but I wanted to let you know that our commitment to you, our valued customer, remains unchanged by this news,” said Arconic BCS president Diana Perreiah in a letter to customers. “For our team, it’s business as usual and we will continue our focus on delivering for our customers through continued investments, innovation and service.” The BCS… Read More »

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Architects Guide to Glass, USGlass No comments yet

That Championship Season

By Debra Levy on July 9th, 2018

I was out of the office on an extended Fourth of July trip last week and got back yesterday morning. So what’s the first thing I wanted to do? Run into the office and see the proofs of USGlass magazine’s New Products Guide, slated to run in the July issue of the magazine. And that’s exactly what I did. I was craving innovation and I wasn’t disappointed. The relative dearth of new industry products during the recession-laden end of the last decade has been replaced by a cascade of new and important products. Though you’ll see many of them in the July issue, today I want to focus on the… Read More »

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Uncategorized, USGlass 2 comments

Top Take-Aways

By Debra Levy on October 27th, 2014

This impressive handler was about three stories high in the air.

Glasstec was a great show—and now that it’s over, I’ve had a little time to reflect. So if you’ll forgive me for my jetlagged pontifications, I’d like to share my top five take-aways from this year’s event. Here goes: 1. Thin Is In—and Out. I wrote a full story on this one on Friday, as it was the top story to emerge from this year’s event. 2. You’ve Got to Move It, Move It—the second most pronounced theme was the advancements being made in glass handling equipment and machinery. The robotics we glimpsed at at glasstec in 2010 and 2012 have now gone mainstream, and just about every handling equipment… Read More »

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Thin is In–and Out

By Debra Levy on October 24th, 2014

There’s a uniquely American ritual at glasstec. Whenever you run into someone from the U.S.—and there is a very healthy contingent here by the way despite the concerns about airline strikes and Ebola—they will ask you what you have seen that is new or different. I used to think this was because I was covering the show, but it is an equal-opportunity question asked by and to all. “What did you see?” and “What’s new?” are the common questions and they usually result in as many different answers as there are answerers. Not this year. There is only one answer and it is consistent and single response from all: the… Read More »

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Door and Window Manufacturer, USGlass No comments yet

Happy Harbingers

By Debra Levy on September 15th, 2014

Everyone has his or her own indicators of the future. Whether it’s of good things to come or bad things to watch out for, we have a unique set of harbingers that we swear by. Some are solid economic indicators, and others are not—but they always prove true. Well, mine relates directly to GlassBuild America 2014, which came to a close last Thursday, and it is this: The residential growth (or contraction) of our business always preceeds the commercial. In short, if you know what’s going on with the door and window end of the business, fast forward 16-18 months, and you’ll see the same on the commercial side. Oh, the… Read More »

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Uncategorized, USGlass 4 comments

The 33rd

By Debra Levy on September 8th, 2014

I woke up this morning at 3:33 a.m. Eastern time. For reasons I’ll explain, I’d already been thinking about the number 33. Then, true story, it was the first thing that loomed in front of my very sleepy eyes—in a weird sort of prophetic double vision. So I decided to see if little old 33 had any additional significance. Now, 7, 13, 100, those are numbers that have history and get respect. But what about 33? Does it have any claims to fame? Turns out it does. It’s rather infamous in mathematics being that 33 is a number and all. It’s the smallest sum of two positive numbers, each of which… Read More »

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USGlass 2 comments

Success = Holly

By Debra Levy on June 23rd, 2014

Holly Biller, Vice President of Media Services

You may have seen the recent announcements in some of our print and online publications about the appointment of Holly Biller to the Women’s Leadership and Networking Council of the prestigious American Business Media (ABM) group. Well, there are a few other things I’d like to tell you about our vice president of media services. That Holly was chosen to be included in this prestigious list of publishing professionals is no surprise. She is an accomplished professional who has grown with our company and expanded it to encompass a full digital offering, including digital editions, monthly video newscasts, e-newsletters and Android and Apple Apps. I admire Holly for too many… Read More »

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USGlass 2 comments

The Real Crown Jewels

By Debra Levy on June 11th, 2012

The recent motion by Trainor Glass asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court if it could sell some of its assets certainly set tongues a ‘waggin. But these assets are chump change compared to the biggest jewel left hiding in Trainor’s crown. And here’s my guess as to where that went. First, some background. As you remember, Trainor Glass, one of the largest contract glaziers in the country, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-March. Amid all the many legal filings was in mid-May requesting that Court approve the sale to Harmon Inc. of substantially all Trainor’s machinery, tools, supplies and other tangible property from four locations (Florida, North Carolina, Texas and… Read More »

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