Featured Fabricator: Tempco Glass | HHH Tempering

Tempco Glass & Fabrication, LLC finds success with a focus on quality and service despite a crowded New York glass market. The young fabrication firm has proven its customer commitment in several recent large-scale projects including Flushing’s new Renaissance Tower and NYC’s 150 Wooster building.

The HHH Tempering Team interviewed Tempco General Manager, Johnson Chen, about glass industry trends and the business impact driven by their North Glass tempering furnace and HHH technical service.

HHH’s featured fabricator series seeks to highlight outstanding work while sharing industry trends and insights from fabricators’ perspectives.

Inside Tempco Glass Fabrication Inc.

Tempco services both small and large glass projects in the greater New York metro area. When the firm began in 2013, the team primarily fulfilled small niche projects by producing custom insulated glass units.

Expert customer service, transparent business practices and high quality glass products allowed Tempco to accelerate growth. As their customers’ businesses grew so did Tempco.

Today, the Tempco team is no stranger to large-scale, Low-E and curtain wall projects. Their North Glass furnace’s consistency helped propel the company forward from day one. The furnace was the Tempco team’s first purchase, and quickly became “the heart of the company.”

Glass industry trends impact on tempering

Demand for tempered flat glass is on the rise as design trends incorporate more large-scale glass in both interior and exterior architecture. 

Grand View Research forecasts flat glass demand to rise 6.6% and reach nearly 10 billion square meters in 2018 alone. The same study also reports that North American demand for fabricated glass is expected to increase 31.5% from 2013-2018.

Increased glass demand

When forming Tempco and looking at anticipated industry demand, Chen chose a glass tempering furnace designed to meet the tempo of the growing glass market. The North Glass furnace’s performance has exceeded quality expectations time and time again at Tempco.

“The North Glass furnace is one of the few in our market that accommodates performance low-E coatings, and 3 millimeter glass. It also sets itself apart from the competition by scaling to meet our needs,” Chen said.

Expansive glass

Expansive glass trends are one of the drivers behind forecasted industry growth. The desire for more natural light is generating excitement around large-scale window and curtain wall units. Additionally, an increasing number of glass fabricators are now offering larger scale, high-end glass products to the mainstream market.

Chen doesn’t see the trend slowing down anytime soon despite the potential pitfalls construction crews will encounter when large-scale units need future repairs or replacement. However, if demand remains high for large-scale glass, Chen and other fabricators may be considering bay or furnace upgrades.

Critical technical support

The Tempco team visited 5-6 tempering furnace manufacturers when researching furnace options. Chen and the Tempco founders were not just looking for a supplier, they were seeking a tempering furnace partner.

The timing aligned with North Glass’ entry into the U.S. market and the two companies formed a strong relationship. When HHH Tempering resources began providing U.S.-based service and support for all North Glass furnaces, Chen was admittedly skeptical.

After building a partnership with HHH Tempering Resources over several years, Chen says Mike and the HHH team have more than proven their value-add in the production, consulting and technical process.

Recent Tempco Commercial Tempering Highlights

The Renaissance Tower

At over 10-stories and 70,000-square-feet, this premier office building towers over Flushing, NY. Tempco provided operable windows, interior and exterior storefronts, office dividers, high-performance, low-E insulated glass units for the entire 10-story building front and side facades.

150 Wooster

Striking a delicate balance between its historic SoHo neighborhood and modern design, 150 Wooster is truly one-of-a-kind.

The building houses two approximately 5,000 square foot retail stores and six expansive condominium residences starting at 4,270-square-feet. Tempco supplied sleek, customized tempered glass windows for the project.