Weekly Email News for the Glass, Glazing and Fenestration Industries
7th October 2003
http://www.theglazine.com

Timing is the Key?
I must say I am intrigued by our lead story this week. K2 has announced through a general press release that it intends to do pretty much what Ultraframe did last year, which caused a fair amount of adverse criticism, not least from K2 itself. Not taking a stand at Glassex is not illegal, of course, and quite a few companies have customer conferences every year or so without anyone blinking an eye.

Therma-Tru® Lock into Fullex
Visitors to Batimat Paris, in November 2003, will find Fullex high security door locks amongst the displays on the Therma-Tru® stand
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Partnerships in Safety –You’re not Alone!
On 6th November the British Glass 2003 Annual Glass Health & Safety Conference and Glass Charter National Awards ceremony takes place at the Renaissance Solihull Hotel.
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Glaverbel at Glasstech Asia Pacific 2003
From 8th till 10th October, Glaverbel Asia-Pacific will take part in Glasstech Asia 2003, the definitive industry event in the region for glass
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Security Products UK Ltd’s accreditation to ISO9001:2000 is recognition of the organisation’s commitment to continuous business improvement
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Conservatory specialist Solayr of Ayrshire, has won a special commendation in the annual National Conservatory Competition
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In this month's What's New section of the website the BBA gives full details of all newly awarded, amended, withdrawn or lapsed certificates
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Wolfgang Wirthgen and Gary Templin, CEO's of WinDor, were recently honoured by the Southland Economic Development Corporation as Small Business Persons of the Year for 2003
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Spectus customer T. Giles Glazing is going from strength to strength. Its latest project to come out of a long-standing relationship with Laing Homes has coincided with a BSI qualification, membership of HW Plastics AIMS scheme and the beginnings of big plans for the future
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‘Our commitment to quality product and service couldn’t be sustained without consistent investment’, says Chris Reeks, trade sales manager of Modplan Ltd.
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Nuglas, a long established fabricator and installer in East Sussex, is about to go live with Vector Plus, Windowlink’s new fully integrated conservatory pricing program
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With Pilkington Activ now an established brand name across the UK, Pilkington has begun a large-scale field marketing campaign that is targeting almost 1800 window companies to drive sales from the front end of the window supply chain
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Framexpress director Mark Westbrook came top of the league in Profile 22’s recent Red Letter Days marketing promotion
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UKae Ltd has introduced a new point of sale portfolio case, featuring sample grilles of the company's Georgian range
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A football club sponsored by Sheerframe window systems company, L.B. Plastics Ltd, has become the lowest placed semi-professional club to win the prized FA Trophy.
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Aztec has produced an easy-to-use branded sample case that includes handy-sized samples of all the 10 core components that make up its conservatory roof system
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Wacker meets growing demand for solar cells by expanding polysilicon production at its Burghausen plant in Germany. Wacker will supply the photovoltaic industry with exactly the right starting material for solar cells at low cost
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A facade that helps improve a building's interior environment and limits its loss of energy is not enough: a building's skin should be a power generator rather than an energy liability.
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Horst Mertes discusses the role of IT centralisation in todays glass business
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Features now archived include:
Designers must now comply with regulations to limit solar overheating in buildings, as Paul Littlefair of BRE explains.

Dave Frost on the implications of CE Marking to the sealed unit manufacturer:

Phil Mundell on what Part M means to the Door Manufacturer;

Full list here

How people spend their marketing dollars is not really our business, (except when they are spending it with us of course!), but I am a strong advocate of exhibitions when they accurately target the market you want to reach. I have seen people waste their money and I have seen people come away from exhibitions having quadrupled their investment.

All of which brings me back to the forthcoming GP&T, which is a pretty 'pure glass' event, as promised by the organiser and as demanded by the steering committee. At the moment the only name at the show which you would associate more with windows than glass is SpeedFrame, who is exhibiting its glass division. It does rather make me wonder why other companies do not see any merit in this: K2's Celsius division for example, Ultraframe's Conservaglass, or the glass divisions of Epwin, Latium, Heywood Williams etc. I would be interested to hear your views on this.

Tony Higgin, Publisher
tony@theglazine.com

HSHansen Cops Off in Copenhagen
In Autumn 2002, HSHansen was contacted by NCC, a Danish Contractor which was going to build a seventeen-storey (65 metres) copper building on a main square (Amerikaplads) in Copenhagen. At the time, NCC thought it had no option but to use wooden or wood/brass windows in the building.
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GL@ZINE SPECIAL FEATURE

100% Detail Proves Worthy Neighbour to 100% Design
This Year, the essentially interiors exhibition 100% Design was given an architectural boost by being co-located with 100% Detail. Although a quieter show than its trendy neighbour, familar names such as Pilkington and Veka helped put on an instructive exhibition alongside more flamboyant offerings from a clutch of decorative glass studios and architectural glazing companies.
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

K2 Announces it will Pull Out of Glassex in 2004 to Establish Annual Customer Conference
Conservatory roof system manufacturer, K2, has announced that it is putting a £0.5m budget behind a new marketing strategy, which will see the company opt out of next year’s Glassex and establish an annual customer conference. Explains K2 marketing director, Iain McInnes: ‘This year we have decided to take the same trail-blazing approach to marketing as we do to new product development, opting to invest strategically in order to achieve real results'.
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Network Nears the Quarter-Billion... but says 'Public Trust is Worth More'
Network VEKA has proclaimed total sales on the verge of a quarter billion pounds - but says the growing public trust of for its standards andprinciples is worth much more. The £250m accumulated figure was thought to be only days away when the organisation met for its 7th AGM and Conference - but more than 150 delegates and guests heard the ever-increasing recognition of its integrity was now the most valuable asset the organisation has ever owned.
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Glassequipment.com Announces Gl@zine's ETEC Winners
Glassequipment.com, the official distributor of ETEC Twin Check Low 'E' Coating Detectors, has announced the following list as the entrants who submitted a complete and correct entry to the company's competition and have won an ETEC Twin Check low 'E' Detector.
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Alcan Clarifies the Timing of Announcements under its Offer for Pechiney
Alcan Inc, at the request of the French bourse clarified the timing of announcements under its improved offer for Pechiney which was filed on September 15, 2003 and declared 'receivable' on September 29, 2003 by the French Conseil des Marchés Financiers.
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CGII Flying High in New Premises
CGI International opened the doors to its new, purpose built factory in January this year. The company was based in St Helens several years ago and left for bigger premises in Warrington. However, CGII’s increased success meant another move was necessary. So CGII moved back to where things began with a new purpose built factory in Haydock, Merseyside.
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'Pilkington Optitherm™ SN PRO T' for Processors
Pilkington has announced the new product term 'Pro T' to distinguish the company's products that must be toughened before installation. This change affects the toughenable version of Pilkington Optitherm™ SN, the super-neutral low emissivity off-line coated glass that was introduced recently for use in insulating glass units.
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Eurocell Building Plastics Celebrate In Ireland
Eurocell Building Plastics is currently following up a number of leads gained at the recent homebuilding exhibition in Dublin. Eurocell which has two branches in Ireland, at Sligo and Dublin, used the exhibition to support the depots and sub-stockists as well as driving demand forward for its range of products.
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Coldseal Fined for Safety Breach
Coldseal Ltd of Alfreton, Derby was fined £2,000.00 under the Health and Safety At Work etc. Act 1974, Section 3, Sub Section 1 Regulation at Rochdale Magistrates Court recently.
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Guardian to Expand in Mexico with Construction of 24th Float Glass Plant
In a ceremony at the end of August in El Marques, Mexico, Guardian Industries executives and government officials officially broke ground for what will be the company’s 24th float glass plant. The new plant, located in the state of Querétaro, north of Mexico City, represents an investment of $120 million for Guardian.
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Kaba Posts Gains in Operating Profitability
At its press conference in Zürich on 22nd September, the management of the Kaba Group discussed the financial results for 2002/03. With the exception of the Door Systems Division, the Group’s business units in part reported remarkable local-currency growth rates and considerable progress as regards operating profitability.
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Chela Web Link with Dow Corning for Digesil Range
Chemical cleaning specialist, Chela has recently sealed its relationship with US giant, Dow Corning Corp., a global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation and manufacturer and supplier of silicone products.
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‘National Travel’ with Sierra
Sierra Windows has increased its fleet with new, high-specification vehicles. Each sports Sierra’s new, eye-catching livery, and can be seen delivering their cargo to installers the length and breadth of the UK.
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Wood Machine Makers Carve out Exports Market
Wood machine manufacturer, The Air Press Company, is branching out into new overseas markets and has won £22,000 worth of new overseas business with help from Trade Partners UK - the government network that gives UK companies a head start with trade and investment overseas
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Window Rush in Russia
The Russian window market has seen a boom in recent years. After the crisis in 1998 the market was still in decline in 1999, but has turned to good growth since 2000. In 2002, the market grew by 20,5% in terms of quantity and for 2003, a growth of 25.3% is expected. For 2004 and 2005, forecasts see a market growth of 16.7% respectively 15.3%, according to the latest market study by the consultants of InterConnection.
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Barlow Group Launches Frontline GB
The Barlow Group's commercial window, door and physical security products division has been re-launched under the new brand name, Frontline GB (previously known as Barlow Architectural & Security Ltd), to better represent the range of international services it supplies.
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Alcoa Postpones Shutdown of Intalco Smelter; Uncertainty on Power Rate Clouds Plant's Future
Alcoa announced on Friday 26th September that it had postponed a final decision on curtailing production at its Ferndale, Washington ('Intalco') aluminum smelter. The Bonneville Power Administration ('BPA') has scheduled a rate hike for October 1st, 2003, that would increase costs at the plant..
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Masco Finalises Sale of Baldwin Hardware and Weiser Lock Businesses to Black & Decker
Masco Corporation and The Black & Decker Corporation announced on October 1st that they have finalised the purchase of Baldwin Hardware Corporation and Weiser Lock Corporation by Black & Decker from Masco. The cash purchase price for the transaction is approximately $275 million. The sale closed September 30th, 2003
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Window and Door Seminar
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, in conjunction with hardware and profile partners, Wagner (GB) Ltd and Rehau, will be hosting a morning of presentations on 23rd October under the banner ‘The Total Solution’.
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Float Glass Industries Customer Day - a Success in One!
A big 'Thank You' to key customers and suppliers for their support and patronage over the years was the main reason behind The Float Glass Industries’ (FGI) inaugural Golf Day. Deemed a tremendous success by all who attended, the event took place at the Marriot Worsley Park Hotel & Country Club on 18 September. Non golfers were not forgotten and participated in a range of exciting activities including Reverse-Steer 4x4 Driving and Crossbow Archery.
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The Dangers of Using Espag Handles on Tilt & Turn Windows
'According to the best estimates I have seen', says Winlock's Sales & Marketing Director Philip Swann, 'sales of Tilt and Turn frames in the UK are approximately 600,000 units per year. This figure is based upon the consumption of gear but it is clear that sales of TBT handles lag far behind. The only logical conclusion that can be drawn is that many TBT frames are being fitted with standard espag handles'.
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