SOFTWARE FOR GLASS
Established in 1994, under the leadership of Salvatore Graziano, Clearglaze have grown from humble beginnings to a significant player in the regional market, turning over about £4.5m from their 25,000 sq.ft premises in Bedford. They have the advantage of owning their own toughening furnace, so they can speed up manufacturing and ensure they are not delayed by the whims of an outside supplier. Clearglaze currently produce about 5000 units per week, of which over 20% are decorative.
To help them provide a better service to their customers, they have recently added to their armoury by investing in the first “LYNX-2” lead application machine from CadRam. This can produce up to 90 double sided leaded units per day when operated by one man.
Watch an on-line video of the CADRAM LYNX-2 machine running
The software to drive the leaded applicator is Gridlock supplied by Clear Thinking, as part of their Glass Office range of software for glass manufacturing companies. It imports the order from Clearglaze’s existing MS-DOS Glasspro invoicing system, and then designs and quickly configures the Lead and Georgian items and sends the Leaded ones to the LYNX-2 machine. The Gridlock software keeps track of the profile systems used by each of Clearglaze’s customers, so that the leading always lines through from pane to pane, even if the windows are spread across a bay configuration, or a “flag” window and door combination (the typical kitchen back door scenario).
Leaded items can be both rectangles and diamonds, and Gridlock can use either the ”board method” which assumes the diamond lead pattern is spread across the whole frame, with the panes of glass set out to allow for profile thickness, which is used for most uPVC companies. Or, alternatively, each pane can have it’s own equally split leading, which is more suitable for renovating older style properties
Gridlock can also deal with the Georgian items, and will print an assembly list (see below) for all of the Georgian frets to be made from. This provides explicit instructions of both the Georgian bar cutting sizes and how to put the frame together, so speeding up the process, eliminating mistakes and queries.
The Gridlock software can also print out an order acknowledgement (see below) for the customer to sign off to avoid the inevitable problems with misunderstanding of what was ordered versus what was made.
Click here to see more details of Gridlock for Georgian & Leads
Geoff Calvert (below), the decorative glass department manager at Clearglaze, found the Clear Thinking Gridlock program by searching the internet, and asked for a demonstration to their senior management.
Article first appeared in Fenestration News – 8th September 06