32 | APRIL 2018
Letters to the Editor
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
WITH AUTOMATION,
OPPORTUNITIES
ARE LIMITLESS
Dear Editor,
In recent years, the structure of the IGU
market has seen some dramatic changes.
Since 2007, the number of companies man-
ufacturing glass units in the UK has dropped
by one third to just 848. But, despite this, in
recent years the total number of units being
fabricated has seen a steady increase.
Many of your readers will surely be won-
dering how this is possible and here at Edge-
tech, we believe that automation is largely
responsible.
For a long time, energy efficiency and high
performance in glass units was the exception
– the mark of a truly extraordinary product.
New innovations such as polyamide thermal
breaks and warm-edge spacer bars were
introduced and, consequently, standards
soared.
Now, however, these high standards have
become the norm – the baseline that manu-
facturers must not only hit but surpass.
The result of these now commonly-held,
elevated standards – combined with an
ongoing decrease in the number of IGU
manufacturers operating in the UK – was a
new pressure to produce large volumes of
windows, all offering unbeatable levels of
energy efficiency and great all-round perfor-
mance.
Chris Alderson
This led to a heightened interest in au-
tomation and, at Edgetech, in applying our
flexible Super Spacer product on automated
lines.
One of the automated lines available
boasts an incredible turnaround time of
just 15 to 20 seconds per IGU when using
Super Spacer and this has proven particu-
larly popular in the US. In the near future,
we anticipate that this level of investment in
automation will be echoed in the UK too.
As we move into an increasingly competi-
tive economic climate, more and more com-
panies will begin choosing automation to
drive their business forward. As a method of
manufacturing