Glas Herzog’s smooth startup of Glaston SPEED BOX IG line

“We have a great deal of confidence in our supplier,” says Andreas Herzog, Sr., Managing Director of Glas Herzog. “Our cooperation with former Bystronic glass – and now Glaston – is just as you would want it to be as a customer. In fact, we’re one of their oldest customers – 44 years and counting.”

Glas Herzog was founded by the first Andreas Herzog in 1948 as a glass grinding factory in Waghäusel, Germany, near Heidelberg. Over the course of nearly 75 years – and three family generations – the company has evolved from a purely craftsman’s business to being flat glass experts. Today, it offers a full range of functional and insulating glass to window manufacturers in Germany and neighboring countries.

PROVIDING A HUMAN TOUCH

The founder’s son, Andreas Herzog, Sr., along with his sons Andreas Herzog, Jr., and Thomas Herzog, say the key to developing and managing their business successfully over the years has been to retain “the human touch” as a top priority in all they do.

“This means providing our customers with personal advice and support in whatever way we can,” says Herzog, Sr. “Our distinctive service concept focuses on fast, direct deliveries – with high delivery reliability.” He adds that customers also appreciate that they are a family-run business with the ability to make quick decisions.

ADDING AUTOMATION WITH GLASTON SPEED BOX

In 1978, Glas Herzog purchased its first Lenhardt insulating glass line. This makes the company one of Glaston’s oldest customers.

For special glass production, Glas Herzog still operates a 1987 Lenhardt washing machine and 1991 Lenhardt inspection station.

In December 2020, the Glaston SPEED BOX IG line was delivered to replace an old Lenhardt insulating glass line that had been operating for 26 years. Starting production in January 2021, this new line is running smoothly alongside two other Bystronic glass insulating lines that run fully automatically. Together, they enable Glas Herzog to produce more than 1,000 insulating glass units daily.

The new line provides the company with high output, easy operation and robust construction for high machine component reliability. This individually configurable production line for insulating glass units with conventional spacers delivers high flexibility, excellent productivity and a long service life.

TRIPLE POWER

A special feature of Glaston SPEED BOX is its high degree of automation. By combining three components – SPACER’FILLER AT (automatic desiccant filling station), SPACER’BUTYLAPPLICATOR (butyl coating robot), and FRAME’POSITIONER (automatic frame setting station) – SPEED BOX makes frame processing almost fully automated.

“Without any manual intervention, prefabricated spacer frames are automatically filled with desiccant, precisely coated with butyl and then automatically positioned onto the glass,” Thomas Herzog explains. “The shortest possible cycle times are achieved by parallel filling and transport processes. We can produce different frame dimensions, profile widths and glass thicknesses in any sequence. Insulating glass unit thicknesses of 80 mm are now possible.”

UNIQUELY EXTENSIVE TRAINING

With professional project management from planning through delivery, installation and commissioning of the SPEED BOX line proceeded smoothly. “We also had extensive training by Glaston’s staff – something that rarely happens any longer,” adds Andreas Herzog, Jr.

FIELD TESTS BRING MUTUAL BENEFITS

Over the years, Glas Herzog has fieldtested numerous prototypes before the machinery was introduced to the market. The relatively short distance from Glaston in Neuhausen to Waghäusel is only 80 km. When Karl Lenhardt was still Managing Director of the former Lenhardt Maschinenbau GmbH (today Glaston Germany GmbH), he worked closely with Andreas Herzog, Sr., to develop machine functionality and system components that are still used in Glaston insulating lines today.

“This has been valuable for both of us,” Herzog, Sr., says. “Whenever Glaston sends us their potential customers for a reference visit, we give them our recommendations. Likewise, we know Glaston is close enough to provide us with quick service calls if we need any support.”

“With 44 years of cooperation, our partnership has developed into a valuable friendship – one that is quite unique nowadays. We’re proud of being a customer from the very start – and look forward to many more years of deepening our friendship,” Andreas Herzog, Sr., concludes.