Q4Glass chooses Forel for glass edge processing

The Polish company Q4Glass was born twelve years ago, but is quickly growing, accepting the most ambitious projects, creating a strong reputation and gaining more and more customers in Poland and abroad. In their path for a always higher technology, they choose Forel as a supplier for the vertical processing machinery.

“We have a passion for glass and for challenges. This is the feeling that create this company”

This is business philosophy of Q4Glass, as explained by Paweł Stemporowski, partner of this young, remarkable glass company of Koszalin (Poland). The adventure of Q4 Glass started in 2010, when Janusz Jankowiak, Piotr Hajdamowicz, Marek Skotnicki and Paweł Stemporowski itself, four manager and professional of great experience in glass processing after achieved great market success in Nordglass (automotive glass company - currently belongs to AGC Automotive), foresaw another opportunity of business. They anticipate the growing demand of large sizes of IG for architectural application, and the related opportunity in processing architectural glass panes. So, the four decided to take up another challenge: the creation of a modern company focused on this kind of production. They set very ambitious goals for themself from the very beginning, and their aim was…complexity. They entered in the market creating and manufacturing the highest quality complex products possible, a challenge reflected also in company’s name – Q4Glass (Quality for Glass). In 2011 the first machineries were installed, in a hall of surface 7,000 square meters. Six years later, Q4Glass had expanded the manufacturing area by additional 6,000 square meters. Today, the firm is employing actually 200 people.

 - Q4Glass has been established ten years old, so is quite a "young" company in glass business. How the company was born and how did it find its place in the market?

“Q4glass was born after our personal success in the automotive market – explained mr. Stemporowski - It was created by people who gained remarkable experience in the car glass production, and Janusz Jankowiak as  investor Q4Glass entered quickly in the building glass market, mainly focusing in facade glass. From the very beginning of its activity, Q4Glass distinguished itself for modern machinery and good production organization. We want to deliver the highest quality glass, implement bold projects, and search for innovative solutions. We have achieved numerous successes over the last years and have accomplished many complicated and impressive projects. This strengthens our conviction that we had set the right plan, and that the company is developing in the right direction”.

 - Established in 2010 with 7000 square meters plant, but just a few years later you have doubled your production area.  Which are your main customers? 

“Q4Glass is gaining customers both on the Polish and foreign markets. We are specialized in highly processed glass products, often undertaking complex projects. That’s our strength: if you have a project that other processors view as “too difficult”, probably we can managed it. That’s what our customers appreciate of us: our flexibility and readiness to undertake ambitious projects. Processing large sizes, indeed, means huge formats and remarkable weight, probable curvatures…and a lot of money lost, if a pane has to be dismissed. So this kind of processing required special machineries and high skills operators”.

- Glass of extra Jumbo size are one of the main focus of your production: how do you consider the architectural glass market today? Will the trend continues in the future?

“The trend of increasing glass surfaces will certainly continue and will stay on the market for a very long time. Glass is fashionable, and actually is impossible to think about a modern building without associating it to glass façade. The trend is not a trend anymore…is becoming a “must” for a certain kind of projects. That’s why we have to invest in special machinery for processing  big sizes”.

 - Recently, you purchased a Forel vertical processing line, with the edging machine Art. EM. Why you choosed this brand and which are the improvement it brings in your production? 

“Purchase of Forel glass edging machine was the next step in the Q4Glass development: the efficiency of the glass preparation for further processing has been increased. The reliability of this process is very important, and we think that the solution developed by Forel offers exactly what we were looking for: quality of the final product (result of the high stability of structure and operating tools), high speed processing in arrising, grinding and polishing, flexibility (it can process monolithic, laminated and shaped glass sheets). We have found in Forel and in its local agent Adam Makarowski (Glassmak) two certain partners, that surely will be involved in our future projects”.

 - In Covid-19 time, companies have two approach: slow down the investment in machinery or go on as planned. Which is Q4Glass direction? 

“The pandemic did not stop Q4Glass from developing. Also if the market is getting more difficult, our  efficiency is making us “win” more orders”.