Union Glass – United at a Single Location
Since 1984, when Union Glass was founded under the name Vetreria Livenzia, the company has been successful in glass processing. The company is mainly active in production of flat glass for construction, boat building, cooling, and the furniture market. Furthermore, in 2008, the photovoltaic department was founded for production of BipV modules. With approx. 110 employees, Union Glass and its companies work on a high-quality, broadly diverse portfolio of solutions for their customers, for example insulating glass with 5 chambers.
In an interview, general manager Tommaso Savian, the son of founder Franco Savian, talks about the biggest milestones of the company and the installation of the new LiSEC insulating glass line for fixed spacers for jumbo sheets.
LiSEC: Mr. Savian, if you think back on the history of Union Glass today, what milestones and events are especially important to you?
Mr. Savian: Besides the most important mergers and acquisitions, the most recent important milestone for the strategic development of the company was the fusion of Union Glass and La Torre Vetro in Villafranca, at the Union Glass location here in Motta di Livenza. We already had this plan in mind for some time, and in 2017, we purchased the right tools for the expansion. Detailed planning started between 2019 and 2020; implementation began after the lockdown caused by COVID-19. Overall, we had to move three LiSEC insulating glass lines from Verona to Motta di Livenza and arrange them so that the second step, specifically the new investment in a Jumbo insulating glass line from LiSEC and the connected replacement of an old line, were able to take place smoothly. With the order books full, every step needed to be planned and reliable partners needed to remain available, since otherwise, too much production capacity would be lost during this time.
LiSEC: How exactly did this process look?
Mr. Savian: In 2020, we picked up the insulating glass lines monthly from Verona. This means that in June, the first was picked up, while the second and third were collected in July and August, respectively. The transferred production was therefore able to start again at the end of August / the start of September. The installation of the new Jumbo insulating glass line from LiSEC was completed just as seamlessly. The machine was delivered in the second week of July, unpacked in a warehouse, and prepare for installation. On August 2nd, the first parts of the old line were decommissioned, and the new machine was gradually built up. On August 23rd, insulating glass production was able to be tested on the new line. This was a great performance by the LiSEC technicians and my on-site team.
LiSEC: What was relevant for making the decision to purchase a LiSEC insulating glass line?
Mr. Savian: This was based on several reasons. Naturally, one of the factors was that employees are already familiar with handling LiSEC machines, especially in case of the insulating glass, but also cutting tables for monolithic and laminated glass, and therefore, extensive training would not be necessary. Furthermore, the likelihood of error while operating the machine within relatively quickly integrated full operation was low. This was important to ensure that clients’ trust would not be harmed by delivery delays. And from the opposite perspective, LiSEC has continued to enhance our clients’ confidence in us, especially since Massimo De Feo took over the LiSEC Solution Italy team. We can rely on his ‘handshake quality’, of his team, and the technicians from the service department. That was important to us.
LiSEC: Which advantages has LiSEC provided to you as a partner and the LiSEC insulating glass machine to your company?
Mr. Savian: LiSEC is justified in asserting that it is innovative, skilled, and reliable. In any case, this is exactly how the LSI team was experienced on this project. Regardless of the fact that we are never immune to mutual problems, it is also important to learn together. This means that is something happens, it is important to trust each other and share information with each other to arrive quickly at a mutual, effective goal. The relationship with LiSEC technicians is accordingly good. LiSEC’s Italian team maintains its agreements, which isn’t necessarily a matter of course these days.
We chose the Jumbo insulating glass line for fixed spacers with 60/33 and featuring AKL, VHW, RSVN-S, AGP, VFL-1F, and UKL from LiSEC, and we also installed the LiSEC prod software for production planning, as well as order for our administrative area, in order to accelerate offer and order management.
The insulating glass line for fixed spacers from LiSEC features a sophisticated system. This insulating glass line enables the speedy production of high-quality coated insulating glass units with a wide range of fixed spacers (aluminium, steel, stainless steel, plastic, hybrid). It is designed through and through with optimised quality. The VFL-1F produces perfect edge sealing quality.
