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Chelsea Building Products recently participated as a exhibitor at GlassBuild America 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, Phil Marshall, Director of Engineering, had the opportunity to walk the show floor and interact with various exhibitor and shared his observations below.

One of this first things I noticed at GlassBuild was the focus on “color-solutions”.  Being in the industry as long as I have, I can relate to Henry Ford’s comments that “you can buy a Model T in any color…as long as it was ‘Black!’”  I remember extruding and producing p.v.c. windows in only one-color back in my “youth” – white. And not just any white, but Bright/Blue White. When these new vinyl windows were installed in the home,  they really stood out!  Everyone who walked or drove by knew that you had made a serious investment in your home.  Not only were your new energy efficient windows this bright white color, the larger frame and sash profiles that made up the window were rather large as well, decreasing the daylight opening. Along with the simple insulated glass back then, it really did make a statement. Back then, you could have any color window you wanted – as long as it was Bright White.

This year, there were many vendors showing their products in various colors – not too many “White Rectangles” on display.  Not only were multicolored windows clearly a theme, but also on display were various methods of applying colors to p.v.c. profiles – both interior and exterior.  I happen to be partial to the newer better performing laminates applied to profiles.  The exterior laminations are expanding with a choice of different textures and wide ranges of color, while the interior woodgrain laminates are looking more and more like stained wood.  The Chelsea Building Products display of our new Inoview casement showed off a unique color application with a commercial “silver” exterior finish, while on the interior a warm dark gray, almost black woodgrain lamination.  The multi-panel display was finished off with Flexscreen, as the screen fit seamlessly into the mainframe.

The requirement of the market to have multicolored products was not lost or missed by Equipment Manufactures.  Several had displays featuring equipment designed to modify the color covered profiles prior to and during the welding process to eliminate weld flashing on visible surfaces. This eliminates the need for touch up paint on all the welded corners.  I also saw equipment that had solutions for just about any type of coating or cladding, which was very impressive.

Aside from the fabrication equipment designed to have solutions for this requirement, it felt like there were many more vendors displaying their films, wraps, and/or lamination technology, as well as the equipment used to wrap and apply the laminations. Chelsea Building Products, in fact, had purchased one of the lamination lines at this year’s show to add to our current capabilities.

Of course, where we once had large white profiles in our window designs, the window components these days are more condensed and somewhat intricate in design. This maximizes daylight openings and focuses on that ever challenging thermal, but not forgetting about, structural requirements.  Chelsea Building Products had several models on display that we have designed to hit that “sweet-spot” between the two major performance requirements.

Hardware suppliers are also working on many different things, and the sales folks are all eager to show what they have. Everything from new, easy to install features, up to motorized operating systems.

Glass is continuing to be very interesting, and huge efforts are being made. I fielded many questions on Vacuum Glazing and went over the pros and cons.  Skinny Triples is something we are going to hear more about in the not so distance future as PGT is planning on opening a facility in Virginia.

It is always nice to see so many vendors, customers, and meet prospects all in one place. It is what I enjoy most about GlassBuild America, and NGA always does an excellent job!

Chelsea Building Products Technical and Engineering departments continue to partner with many of these vendors and our valued customers evaluating and applying many of these latest technologies. For more information, please visit our website here.