“People are buying again. That’s why we brought the equipment,” says Sarah Colberg with Witte. That’s music to the industry’s ears as it reflects that the residential market has truly rebounded. All throughout GlassBuild America, which ended yesterday in Las Vegas, the mood was positive.

On the first day of the show, Diane Huybers, Windowmaker Software, said she received “some pretty serious leads.” The company was featuring its Windowmaker Measure free app, which helps ensure accuracy during the estimating process.

Energy efficiency continues to be a huge theme as manufacturers strive to ramp up for the Energy Star requirements, particularly in the Northern climates.

“Companies are still trying to find the optimal combination,” said Gregory Herbster, territory sales manager, Chelsea Building Products. “This year there will be a scramble in the North to find what’s best.”

Some companies also introduced door and window systems with different material offerings.

Westech Building Products highlighted its 2700 Euro-Style doors and windows, which achieve thermal insulation values of R5. The company also jointly showcased a prototype window system currently manufactured by Salamander out of Germany. The product, made with Resysta window, is a 45- by 54-inch tilt and turn featuring the unique properties of the Resysta ARF, a proprietary formula using 60 percent rice husks, an agricultural waste product. This window offers the same look and feel as real wood as well as the same workability.

VEKA introduced its Ecolutions 6.0 platform package, which is also based on hybrid technology. “This is getting a lot of interest,” said Joe Peilert, president. The products offers the look of wood on the inside and is great for multifamily and light commercial applications, said Peilert.

Quanex’s C3-11300 window and door system has achieved the AW rating.

“This achievement allows our customers to directly compete with the highest performing window and door products on the market,” said Eric Thompson, commercial sales specialist for Quanex.

The product is available in a number of configurations, including interior-glazed tilt-and-turn and fixed windows and interior glazed out-swing doors, all of which have passed AW rating tests. Other configurations are still in testing and results will be confirmed when complete.

Thompson says there was a good amount of buzz for this product on the show floor. “There is a true commercial potential for PVC,” he said, “As we are at virtually zero.”

Royal Building Products introduced its Altitude commercial window series which is 60 percent vinyl with a vinyl core. The window utilizes aluminum on the inside and outside and it is rated as an aluminum window, pointed out John Vucanovich, director of marketing at Royal Window and Door. The extruded aluminum profiles on the exposed surfaces connect to a thermal insulation system in the window’s core which provides superior thermal performance, according to the company.

While extruder Deceuninck North America had lots of product news to share, the big news was the fact that the company will open a facility on the West Coast. It is currently looking in Nevada and Utah.

“We are officially expanding West,” said Filip Geeraert, president and CEO. “We hope to have operations going by the fourth quarter of 2015 … We will be truly national.”

Deceuninck displayed its products and officially announced it’s heading West.

Hardware companies also had a strong presence at the show, and Rolland Petersson, senior director, sales and marketing, Amesbury/Truth Hardware, talked about the successful integration of the two companies.

“We can now fulfill all your needs,” said Petersson. “This is the first year we have an integrated logo and booth,” he says. “This is our way of telling people—this is for real.”

Jan Huml, product design engineer at G-U Hardware says the show was great, and his company’s booth attracted a large number of international attendees including Australia, Columbia, China and Ukraine.

At the Ashland Hardware booth it was all about stainless steel. Everything in the booth was stainless steel including the company’s Optima product. The product is rated DP90 and is ideal for Miami Dade and coastal areas.

“Stainless steel is the standard now,” says Dean Petit, product manager.

Equipment companies were also well represented including GED Integrated Solutions which featured its new Roboclean (RC-2000) twin-head vinyl corner cleaning system.

“We are very excited with the success of this product and the interest at the show seems very high,” said Joe Shaheen, director, sales and marketing.

He says the company has also modified the Intercept process with a new corner.

“We are getting great reviews from our partners,” he says. “People are looking for us here at the show. The booth is busy. When you have the right stuff and you have something new people will find you.”

Integrated Automation Systems also updated its OptiGas product and now offers the OptiGas II. The company took the FastGas and the OptiGas and combined it, and the machine can fill using argon or krypton. The company also redesigned the ThermalCheck system and reduced the price point.

For more news from GlassBuild America visit dwmmag.com and view our videos from the show and look to the October issue.