Ok, as noted previously, for the summer the blog will take a different look. I still hit the news, but with it being slow in that area, having a series of catch-up interviews is a great way to not only fill space but also bring relevant updates to the market from some wonderful and classy people. The first effort is below!
Before that, though- 2 notes.
1- ICYMI- The latest “From the Fabricator” dropped last week, and it is burning up the podwaves. I picked two people the world wanted to know more about, I guess! Kevin Roth of Privacy Glass Solutions and Amy Post of Guardian Glass were off the charts for stories, insights, and vibes. Love it. Please, if you haven’t already, join the crowd and check it out.
AUDIO (Search “From the Fabricator” on Apple or Spotify)
Thank you to the fine folks at FHC- Frameless Hardware Company for the support of this episode and podcast overall!
2- The latest Architectural Billings Index is out…..some improvement over last month- up 3 points to 47.3. Still underwater but better. Inquiries, which were bad last month, bounced back with its 2nd-best effort in the last year. So desire remains, but so does uncertainty. Never a dull moment, folks.
Now on to the first in my catch-up series. These may be longer than the typical blog, but I really believe there’s a ton of solid nuggets that will be extremely interesting for our space. Also, I decided I’ll combine a few for AUDIO-only recap podcasts. So if you don’t like to read, these will all be out eventually for your listening pleasure.
LINKS and PROJECT of the WEEK are below the interview.
First up… Charles Alexander at Walker Glass, or Gardner Walker, as you’ll find out below. In five years, quite a bit changed there, and the positive moves keep on coming. Great to catch up here, and I am excited for Charles and the team.
Max: A lot has changed since I had you on the podcast way, way back in 2021. Talk to me about these last five years, because there's been a lot happening at Walker. It was just Walker at the time too. Now it's a little different. Talk to me about the last five years and what we missed.
Charles: Wow, you're so right about that, Max. I can't believe it's been that long; time flies.
Just around the time we last talked, Lee Harrison, who, as you know, had been the president of Walker for the better part of 35 years, he felt it was time to work at a proper, well-planned succession. As it happens, at the end of 2022, Walker sold the majority of its shareholding position to a company called Ironbridge. Our senior team did a lot of homework to figure out who would be the ideal partner going forward, and Ironbridge ended up being our choice. Private equity owners such as Ironbridge can struggle with the best approach when taking over a business such as ours, but these guys have been a really great partner. They're very good at strategy. They also bring capital and solid business skills. With Lee stepping back in his role and Walker wanting to get into the US market, the marriage was perfect.
Fast forward to January of 2024, Walker, through Ironbridge, announced our merger with Gardner Glass. Gardner has been in the industry a long time, and there were some nice fits, nice alignments. One was their physical locations being in North Carolina, Texas, and Indianapolis. It costs a lot of money to ship mirror & glass from one side of the continent to the other. Four locations covering the US and Canada made great sense. Equally important, Gardner and Walker share very similar values of integrity, accountability, and good kinship. And finally, we got the cherry on top of the cake in that Randy Brooks, CEO of Gardner, was a great fit to step into the CEO role of the combined entity.
Yes, I would say that's quite a bit of change in the last five years.
Max: No doubt. And class people find class people. That's how I look at it. OK, in the last five years, it's been great obviously for you; you've had these changes, but now we get to today. What's hot in the streets for Walker and your product portfolio? What are you excited about?
Charles: That's a really good question. The backdrop to that is, I would say, that in the last two years or so, the glass industry has gone through some tough times - not a lot of market growth. The market itself has been posing challenges for everyone.
We look at it as an opportunity. For example, our bread-and-butter products in mirror and acid etch glass have caused us to really work hard on the cost side. Implementing as much automation as possible into our manufacturing process, really looking at our cost structure and doing things efficiently, sometimes differently. I wouldn't call that hot; that's just good smart business.
Where we've seen opportunity for growth is in the bird-friendly sector. There was not much talk about it when Walker started producing bird-friendly glass well over 12 years ago, but there certainly is today! Over that time, we worked hard to nurture this segment, including as market educators. I say this humbly … we developed a leadership role as a result. And when markets grow - and in this case of bird-friendly glass, growth was largely driven through legislation - then you get a lot more competition. So we've had to get smart about that as well.
So what's new and hot is the way we've manufactured our bird-friendly glass. Over the last three years or so, maybe a little longer, we've been really scratching our heads on how to fully automate our manufacturing of BF glass. Why? Because our customers are demanding quick turn-around times on larger projects, lower pricing – especially in light of offshore competition, and bigger sizing. Our response was the recent launch of the AviProtek Turbo program. We call it Turbo because we produce bird friendly glass faster, in bigger sizes, at highly competitive pricing to the market – faster, bigger, better!
Walker can now produce a truckload of glass in one shift. Laser etch technology typically can produce a block a shift. We are really working hard at providing the market what it needs. The AviProtek Turbo program is pretty hot indeed!
Max: It is. And then you had other big news recently, and that's a new facility going up here in the United States.
Charles: We were very fortunate that our Texas-based mirror manufacturing facility in Huntsville had ample land to accommodate a state-of-the-art 75,000 square feet addition. What are we putting in the addition? A fully automated, full-surface, and bird-friendly jumbo line. So that's about as hot as it can get for us. The jumbo line (130 X 240) is going to come online in the first quarter of 2027, and we expect to be shipping full-surface jumbo and bird-friendly product by June of next year. We've also been busy hiring salespeople, architectural managers, educating the market, starting to get specified and working and sensitizing our customers that it's ready as of next year. So that's been exciting.
Max: Congrats on that! And then last, GlassBuild. And so, I'm very curious because in the past couple of years, I have not been able to get into the Walker booth whenever there was a party. I could surround it, but I couldn't get in it. What's planned for GlassBuild? I don't know if you're going to have a party again. I know you have some other things. What's on tap for Las Vegas this year?
Charles: Well, first things first, Max. We decided to have a VIP entrance just for you – no line-ups!
Max: HA! Thank you.
Charles: All kidding aside, GlassBuild 2026 is probably going to be one of our biggest and most important shows in the last, let's just say, generation, because we're going to be announcing the merging of Gardner and Walker as an integrated brand – officially, one brand! We will be called Gardner Walker. The abbreviation GW rolls off the tongue quite nicely; we often use this around the office. It’ll likely catch on in the market as well; hope it does!
We're going to be celebrating this news with our customers, and you of course, the last two hours on Day 1 of the show – as we have done for many years prior. Our good friend Danik (Dancause), GW’s Marketing Director, will be in his flashy attire as usual, and you’ll have a chance to view our new Gardner Walker branding – it’s pretty impressive. We're very much looking forward to spending time with all our Gardner and Walker customers.
As you can imagine, we've been hard at work behind the scenes for some time in preparation for the Gardner Walker launch. Not only have we been busy on marketing-related work such as a new website that we’ll launch just prior to Glassbuild, a new corporate intranet, samples boxes, marketing materials, and so on … we’ve also been busy fully integrating, or I would say, harmonizing all of our four plant-based operations - including the roll out of ISO certifications across all locations. Our North Carolina mirror facility expects to be fully ISO certified by the end of 2026 with our Huntsville and Indy facilities following shortly thereafter.
Max: That's exciting. Well, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for your time, and let's not wait five years between interviews, right?
Charles: Five years is definitely too long. Whenever you feel the urge, I can’t wait to talk next!
Max: There you go. Thank you.
LINKS of the WEEK
-- McDonald’s is being sued for a batch of fries burning a customer’s mouth. Do you remember when there was a suit for the hot coffee? That changed a lot of packaging there… wonder what this one does. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/mcdonalds-hot-fries-burned-personal-injury-lawsuit-b3019059.html
-- Going 157 mph in a 30… in a boat. Whoa! https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/07/22/boat-clocked-going-157-mph-30-mph-zone-during-charity-event/
-- Last week we had a bear beating up gold clubs… this week a bear gets stuck in a car… and was doing what any of us would do if we were in the same spot! Comical https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/07/22/bear-trapped-SUV-honks-horn-Gold-Hill-Colorado/3221784732774/
PROJECT of the WEEK
Back to the great state of Texas and an all-time favorite of mine- Country Glass. The team there is a class act- always. This project is something to look at… Frisco MOB and an in-progress shot that catches the clouds on an early morning. The glass and glazing look tremendous, and it’s going to be a real beauty when done! Kudos to Brian Risinger, Joe Lambertson, Mike DeFrank, and the rest of the talented squad there! Keep it up!
