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Consolidated Glass Holdings (CGH) has issued a statement clarifying the status of J.E. Berkowitz (JEB) and its other subsidiaries. The full statement is as follows:
“CGH today clarified its ongoing position in the glass and glazing marketplace. CGH consists of three core operations: JEB, Solar Seal and Columbia Commercial Building Products (CCBP). SSI Consolidated Holdings (SSI) consists of two other core operations: Global Security Glazing and Dlubak Specialty Glass. All of these operations, like our entire world, were affected by the global pandemic that began in earnest in March of 2020. While some of the operations continue to have success, some were more severely impacted resulting in necessary corporate actions.
SSI’s Global Security Glazing and Dlubak Specialty Glass are open and operating at full strength. Both operations successfully weathered the challenge of 2020, in fact growing their sales from 2019, and are positioned extremely well for 2021 and beyond. SSI expects no disruption in their processes and are very excited about the year ahead. The security division will continue to operate independently of the architectural side of the business as it relates to vendors and customers.
JEB has officially paused operations and furloughed its employees. As one of the most accomplished glass fabricators in our industry, with signature work all over the United States, the delays that initially came with the onset of COVID-19 took a significant toll. Furthermore, disruptions to the workforce as a result of the pandemic were substantial, leading CGH to decide to suspend manufacturing operations at JEB.
CCBP is winding down operations primarily due to the lease at its Rockwall, Texas, facility. With a lease terminating and the cost of moving high-end glass fabrication equipment looming, CGH decided it was prudent to complete its remaining pipeline and subsequently liquidate the operation unless a buyer can be found. CCBP has performed well through these challenging times and, unfortunately, the increase in fixed lease expenses and the potential cost of moving the equipment and operation is too much to bear for the organization as a whole.
Solar Seal is currently open and operating. However, a notice of the plant closure was sent to employees based on the current situation. We are hopeful that conditions will improve and that we will be able to revise our outlook and continue operations at Solar Seal.
The CGH product offering from high performance glass to security products is broad and well respected throughout North America. CGH and SSI are working with a team of outside advisors to explore strategic alternatives, including the sale of CGH’s architectural businesses and/or SSI’s security businesses.
From Robert Cummings, president and CEO of CGH: ‘This is an extremely challenging time in our world in all aspects. From our health and wellbeing in everyday life, to the disruptions on the business side of things. We have many incredible people at CGH, a loyal customer base, amazing vendors, as well as a great financial partner, and we are doing everything we can to move all efforts in the right direction. I am proud of our team and how hard everyone continues to fight on. We will continue to examine all avenues for the future of the CGH and SSI companies and will do what we do best: manufacture, fabricate, and deliver high quality products at our ongoing operations.’”
USGNN™ will update the story as more information becomes available.
fail
Very unfortunate that CCBP “has performed well” and they are the ones who get shut down
i like all the employees at Solar seal and they make a primo insulated unit , and there fabrication is dead on , i hope they will be ok
Thank you!! We are going to be just fine and look forward to taking good care of you for many more years.
Tough decisions during tough times – best of luck moving forward
Great strong team at Solar Seal.
Damn shame, corporate mismanagement torpedo’s a good company(or two)and they seem fine with it if you believe this letter?! What a world we live in best of luck to all moving forward
Will the JEB vendors be paid?
No return phone calls or email
Response.
Haha too funny! They couldn’t even afford bandaids. Rumors got it they bounced the check to the temp agency.
I’ve been trying to get paid with no luck.
I was told they are bankrupting, but no information about how to file a claim for that. If the parent company is not bankrupt, we need to get paid. All the phone numbers are disconnected. Please advise how to proceed.
Jim, did you ever have any success? We are also a vendor who tracked them down for months (beginning a couple months before the closure) without any response. Recently I’ve looked into it again because one of the other subsidiaries of CGH/SSI has gotten in touch for service for equipment that belonged to JEB, but they claim no meaningful connection to the parent company…
We are a great team and we are still here going strong!
Solar seal is moving forward and will continue to prevail in these tough times! Give them your orders and they will turn it around as soon as you need it. Not only are they known for their speed but their quality it top of the line. They have a friendly and knowledgeable team to back them up!
I’ve always heard good things about solar seals management team and products. They’ve work hard to produce good quality work and keep their customer satisfied. I hope that they can weather this storm.
Solar Seal Team is all in, we are here to serve our customers, produce great quality and deliver on time. We will stand strong together.
Solar Seal has been serving us for years and we’ll be supporting them through this time. They have been an amazing company. Have never had a problem with them.
Solar Seal in South Easton, MA continues to defy all odds. Providing fast and friendly service to their customers, while pushing out quality products. They have proven to be leading experts in their field, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to persevere throughout these trying times. Truly outstanding on every level.
I RETRACT ALL ABOVE STATEMENTS.
Solar Seal will end up closing soon too as the writing is on the wall. It makes no sense to give them new orders when they can close overnight like Berkowitz. Leaving us having to scramble to place orders elsewhere.
It is official. JEB has permanently closed its doors.
I RETRACT ALL ABOVE STATEMENTS.
JEB was damaged goods after Arthur Berkowitz retired. Most of the management at JEB were power hungry and had the ‘do it my way attitude’. Where they should have listened to the JEB originals and built from there.