CompanyNews

CRL Expands Headquarters,
Opens New Branch in Florida

C.R. Laurence Co. Inc. (CRL) has begun construction of a new 60,000-square-foot facility at its headquarters’ complex in Los Angeles. The facility is being built on recently purchased acreage across the street from the headquarters.

“This construction allows us to increase our warehouse space and stock even more inventory for our customers,” says Donald E. Friese, chairperson and chief executive officer. “With this new addition, CRL’s distribution and manufacturing operations in Los Angeles will total more than 660,000 square feet.”

The company also has opened a new 55,000-square-foot branch distribution facility in Sunrise, Fla., northwest of Miami and west of Ft. Lauderdale. This new branch will serve all of South Florida, and will export orders to customers Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. The company’s Orlando branch will continue to serve Central and Northern Florida. Jack Devine serves as branch manager of the new facility.
www.crlaurence.com

GANA-IGMA Merger No Longer “On the Horizon”
During the Glass Association of North America’s (GANA) Fall Conference in September, GANA executive vice president Bill Yanek provided an update on status of the proposed merger with the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA). (See May 2009 USGlass, page 48, for related story.)

Yanek explained that both groups had received and compiled the results of a member-wide survey that was issued to poll interest in merging the alliance with GANA’s Insulating Division and found the results to be “inconclusive.”

“A merger is not imminent and not on the near horizon but probably somewhere down the road,” Yanek summarized.

Despite this, Yanek noted that the groups would continue to work closely together in the future. One such example would be the joint meeting of the groups; GANA’s Glass Week and BEC Conference will be held concurrently with IGMA’s Annual Meeting, March 25- 30, 2010, at the Paris in Las Vegas.
www.glasswebsite.com
www.igmaonline.org

Graham Architectural Products Acquires F-M Enterprises
Graham Architectural Products (GAP) in York, Pa., a manufacturer of architectural-grade doors and windows, has acquired F-M Enterprises, a Merrill, Wis.-based manufacturer of curtainwall, storefront windows and doors and sunshades. The newly formed entity, F-M Enterprises, A Graham Architectural Co., will operate under the GAP banner.

“F-M’s product offering is precisely what we were looking for strategically to provide our valued customers with a well-rounded product line,” says Brian Hurley, GAP president and chief executive officer. “We are also excited to have the availability of a skilled workforce that the Merrill, Wis., area can offer to GAP for future expansion opportunities. The addition of F-M’s products to our portfolio will enable us to better serve our customers by allowing us to supply the entire job from a single source, something that’s important to many of our customers.”

F-M Enterprises will continue to operate as a subsidiary from its 100,000-square-foot facility in Merrill where it employs 33 people. Todd Frederick will continue as F-M’s president.
www.grahamwindows.com

CPFilms® Launches Commercial Sales Group for Architectural Projects
CPFilms® Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Solutia Inc., has created an in-house sales specialist team focused on commercial architectural projects.

“CPFilms is providing optimized direct business development support for U.S.-based architectural projects,” says Sal Abbate, general manager, Americas for CPFilms. “By developing a specialized team in-house and avoiding a middleman, we are able to keep costs lean while maximizing value for our dealers and finding growth opportunities in the architectural market.”

The newly formed commercial sales team will be led by Jeff Hammerer.
www.cpfilms.com

CMS Demonstrates Equipment Lines During Open House
CMS North America in Caledonia, Mich., hosted an open house in July for its glass and stone industry customers. During the event the company demonstrated a number of its machinery lines and also offered software classes that Stuart Gill, CMS North America’s Southwest sales manager, said provided an opportunity for those in attendance to discuss technical issues, customization and how to integrate the machinery into their current production flow.

Among the demonstrations given was one of the new Automated Shower Door System with Enhanced Technology (ASSET). In addition to shower door applications, the equipment line also can be adapted for the production of solar panels. Saba Vansanthan, stone/glass product manager, said this provides a cost-effective way to keep production of solar panels in the United States.

“No one has streamlined production yet. It’s very labor intensive. With a 10- to 20-percent modification of the line, the ASSET machinery can be used to process solar panels,” said Vansanthan. He added that the equipment would also allow for seven-day production.

Gill added, “We are [reducing] labor with this equipment line.”

“This area will not stay low-tech forever,” said Vansanthan. “We have the technology. It will be easier to do here [in the United States].”

When asked about sales volume for 2009, Vansanthan said, “We are in a survival mode. CMS North America did better than we expected in glass for CNC sales this year. Our philosophy of ‘Be good with the dollar—what we have and how we are going to spend it’ has worked well. We are keeping the customer happy; we have a large customer service department and that comes back to us.”
www.cmsna.com

briefly ...

Oldcastle Glass is closing its manufacturing plant in Cheshire, Conn. A plant employee told USGlass that local product distribution should not be affected by the closure. “Our New York facility is taking over,” he commented. As of press time, no further details had been made available.
www.oldcastleglass.com

Saint-Gobain has completed the expansion of its largest international research center in Northboro, Mass. The expansion, which was begun in July 2008, cost $15 million and provides 60,000 square feet of new laboratory, office and meeting space for 200 scientists and engineers.
www.saint-gobain-northamerica.com

Dark Field Technologies, a provider of laser and camera-based inspection and metrology systems for the float glass industry, has expanded its operations and is now operating in a new 10,000-square-foot engineering center in Orange, Conn. www.new.darkfield.com

Besten Equipment Co. Inc. in Solon, Ohio, has announced an expanded cooperation agreement with Billco Manufacturing in Zelienople, Pa., for sourcing Besten spacer processing equipment and other glass handling machinery needs.
www.besteninc.com

To read these company headlines in full, visit the Only Online section on www.usglassmag.com.

USG
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