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There’s a new kid in town, gearing up to establish its place in the hurricane glazing market—and just in time as the NOAA is once again predicting an active Atlantic hurricane season. Located in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., Vortex Glass began the first phase of operations this past March, primarily focused on providing tempered glass for the Florida and Caribbean construction and architectural markets. By the end of this year, the company expects to be providing a full range of tempered, laminated and insulating glass (IG) products. The company will also supply residential and commercial construction with tempered glass for shower doors, office partitions and insulating glass (IG) window units.
“Our goal is to invest in the best equipment to provide our customers with the best quality,” says Mauricio Giraldo, sales manager of the new company. “We aim to provide customers with everything. We will have so many different processes in the same place that we can supply general contractors or glaziers with almost any glass they need. We want to be seen as their single source for heat treatment and IG manufacturing. We’ll be able to provide about 90% of all the glass required for architectural use.”
The majority of the company’s equipment was purchased and assembled last year all at once. Once fully operational, the company will have tempering, laminating and IG capabilities in its 65,000-square-foot facility. Equipment will include Glaston’s FC and RC tempering lines, ProL for laminating and the latest Vario IG line with its TPS spacer. Tempering operations began this past March, and the company is now setting up and testing its laminating lines, which are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2021.
“Our experience with Glaston so far has been good. The FC line is a good equipment concept,” Giraldo says. “The Vario line will arrive in July and is scheduled to start production late this year.”
In addition, the company will operate cutting/polishing equipment from Bottero, as well as seaming and washing lines from Benteler.
Vortex Glass currently has 35 employees and expects to reach 60 within the next five years.
The new fabrication company was launched by a number of investors, including Interglass, but operates as an entirely separate business. It has its own brand and location and operates independently.
