April 12, 2019 -  Javelin Technologies is celebrating after being recognized as one of the country’s Top Small & Medium Employers (SMEs). The winners were announced this morning in a special magazine published in The Globe and Mail and online on Eluta.ca.

In it's first-quarter report to shareholders, Montreal-based Richelieu Hardware announced it purchased three window hardware distributors in Canada with a view to increasing its presence in the fenestration market. 

Mar. 26, 2019 - After a careful analysis, Sunview Patio Doors (a division of Vision Group) has chosen Thorwesten Machinenbau as the best partner to boost its automation process. Sunview recently received their first Thorwesten line for the automatic cutting and CNC machining of their PVC patio doors.With decades of experience in the window industry, Thorwesten is the only machinery manufacturer for vinyl window and patio doors that focuses exclusively on two products: CNC machining center (PBZ) and automated cutting centres (ASZ).Thorwesten machines are the ideal solution for window manufacturers looking to maintain production flexibility, without giving up on the automation of the manufacturing process.The CNC machining (PBZ) features a unique 3 axis rotary machining ring capable to perform operations such as drilling and milling at any angle around the PVC profile in one single pass. The machining ring carries 8 spindles each can access the profiles within 360°. The system can drill or mill through steel reinforcements and be also integrated by an optional dynamic screw driver unit that will run simultaneously with the other drilling/milling operations. As a result, the time of screwing operation is completely masked.The PBZ is the ideal solution for the production of casement windows, patio doors, tilt and turn windows and manufacturers that focus in window renovations where sizes change frequently.The PBZ working centre can be combined with the ASZ cutting centre in a U shape single line. This results in a compact manufacturing cell that can run with only one operator. This operator is utilized to load the PVC profiles at the beginning of the line, insert reinforcement bars (if necessary), apply barcodes and unload processed parts (cut, drilled and milled) into the carts.For more informationwww.int-machinery.com

What’s new, what’s cool in window and door hardware technology.

Oct. 25, 2018 - Innotech Windows + Doors introduces its highest performing window system to date. The new Defender 88PH System is a Passive House Institute (PHI) certified component – a distinguished recognition by the world’s most rigorous energy-based building standard.

Aug. 9, 2018 - BDG & Partners, a privately held Canadian fund, with its head office in Montreal, and Caroline Dallaire, have announced acquisition of P . H . Tech and its subsidiaries as of August 1, 2018.

Top suppliers to Canada’s door industry shared some of their latest product innovations.

June 18, 2018 - Tru Tech Doors is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Philip Orsino as its new Chairman.

June 5, 2018 - Masonite International Corporation today announced that it has completed the acquisition of the operating assets of the wood door companies of AADG, Inc., part of ASSA ABLOY, which includes the brands Graham Manufacturing Corporation and The Maiman Company.

June 5, 2018 - AmesburyTruth is pleased to announce that it has resolved a patent infringement lawsuit with Vision Industries Group, Inc. where Vision has agreed to stop selling the inverted block and tackle balance systems at issue in the lawsuit from June 2019 until January 2022. AmesburyTruth filed the lawsuit styled Amesbury Group, Inc. v. Vision Industries Group, Inc., Case 2:17-cv-07303 (D.N.J.) on September 20, 2017, alleging that Vision’s inverted balance systems infringe AmesburyTruth’s U.S. patent Nos. 8,424,248 and 9,580,950 related to inverted balance systems. Vision denied all of the allegations of the lawsuit.

April 10, 2018 - Interlock USA has partnered with Synergy Sales Group, expanding its sales coverage and reach throughout Ontario, Canada.

Mar. 8, 2018 - AmesburyTruth has announced that it has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Ashland Hardware. The acquisition will enable AmesburyTruth to broaden its hinged window, hung/sliding window and patio door product portfolios. For more than 80 years, Ashland Hardware has been a leading provider of residential window and door hardware to the fenestration industry, supplying wood and vinyl window/door fabricators throughout North America.

April 16, 2019 - The Fenestra Purchasing Co-op is pleased to announce and welcome Alumican Doors Inc. of Montreal, QC, as the latest Member to join our Co-op.

Fenestration Canada held its Edmonton Regional Event April 9 at Durabuilt Windows. About 60 attendees heard a day of educational presentations and participated in lively discussions about everything except the Oilers.

Mar. 26, 2019 - Three years ago, the leadership at Fenestration Manitoba realized there was a need for a new annual event. Inspired in part by the extraordinary CME Manitoba group, we chose to launch an educational manufacturing conference with a pure focus on fenestration. The somewhat natural and easily marketable descriptor – FenCon - was the natural outcome!

Mar. 14, 2019 - Fenestra Purchasing Co-op is pleased to announce and welcome Gentek Building Products Ltd. of Burlington, ON, as the latest Supplier Partner to join our Co-op.

FenCon19 took another step forward with a 50 per cent increase in attendance (to about 200), an expanded two-day slate of events, a venue upgrade and another strong lineup of expert educators and speakers. Fenestration Manitoba, with the tireless help of Duxton's Al Dueck, is seeing involvement from new partners and new faces at its flagship annual event.

Fenestration Canada will host a one-day education and networking event in Edmonton on April 9. The day will include updates to code changes, discussions of high-performance window design, a presentation of a novel installation approach and a Q&A session with a panel of industry experts. Special effort has been made to include content of specific interest to Alberta fenestration manufacturers and dealers.

Fenestration Canada’s board of directors has been hard at work over the past six months to improve our management structure so we can provide better services and added value to our members.

SAWDAC is happy to introduce our new employee, Sabrina Amaral, who started with us last year.

Feb. 25, 2019 - The Fenestra Purchasing Co-op is pleased to announce and welcome Masonite International Corporation of Thornhill, ON as the latest Supplier Partner to join our Co-op.

Feb. 20, 2019 - The interest and desire to succeed in manufacturing in North America has rebounded in recent years or even months. However, it is also clear that North America will need to use its strong set in technology and education in order to succeed through ups and downs.

Feb. 20, 2019 - Dave Hogg, experienced LEAN educator comments “Innovation is the buzzword of this century - and its pursuit is already accelerating in preparation for the decades to come. It’s increasingly separating the competitive company from the non-competitive, every day.”

Feb. 1, 2019 - The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) currently is planning instructor training classes for a new segment of the InstallationMasters program, which focuses primarily on new construction applications. Those interested in becoming accredited instructors for the InstallationMasters New Construction Program are encouraged to contact the association now so as many schedules as possible may be accommodated.

There are many variations on how to install a window into a wall, largely differing between new construction and renovation, but there is one almost universal principle presently in practice: stop both the water and the wind at the outer face of the crack between the wall and the window – the window/wall interface.

A recent poll commissioned by Reno-Assistance found around two-thirds of Canadians don’t trust general contractors and have similar levels of distrust for specialty contractors. Fenestration contractors weren’t specifically broken out in the information online – no doubt we score much better (gulp).

A relaxed and upbeat atmosphere prevailed at the Siding and Window Dealers Association golf tournament on Sept. 20 in Cambridge, Ont., with many of the participants clearly welcoming the opportunity to break away from this summer's grind of desperately trying to fill the glut of GreenON orders before the Oct. 31 deadline. Music played from golf carts, the beverage carts were popular and at least one golfer committed a serious dress code violation (see photo).

Ah, the rebate – always great for the customer (unless it’s too little or too onerous) but can be a bit of a mixed blessing for retailers and manufacturers. That certainly seems to be the case with rebates for energy-efficient residential windows across Canada.

It all started in 1990 as a small family business, in a small office, within a small house. Today, London, Ont.,-based Heritage Renovations is a multi-award-winning company and highly recognized provider of windows and doors across southern Ontario.

With construction season in full swing, a new Reno-Assistance survey conducted by Ipsos across Canada has found that two in three Canadians (64%) do not trust general contractors. Confidence levels are even lower for some specialized contractors. The most trusted building professionals among those surveyed are electricians, yet nearly half (47%) of Canadian homeowners do not trust them either.

Fenestration Canada has released a statement in reaction to the cancellation of the GreenON window rebate program in Ontario.

When did an entry door go from being the focal point of the house to being just another opening to fill?  Houses used to be designed around the front entry so that when you drove down the street your house would have that “wow” factor because of the front entry. 

As you might know firsthand, we now live in the age of the internet-savvy consumer – those who research every corner of the internet for ideas and solutions for everything from home renovations to healthcare. But if you ask door-makers (or doctors, veterinarians, farmers and many more, for that matter) whether internet browsing on sites like Houzz or Pinterest can be a case of too much of a good thing, the answer will likely be a resounding yes.

Brace yourself: tradeshow season is coming. One does not simply show up at a tradeshow and start exhibiting. Winter is almost over and now is a great time to get prepared.

Those who know me sometimes say I have an obsessive personality. So at a risk of proving them right, I’m going to return to my latest area of obsession: Lean manufacturing.

Did you watch Black Mirror on Netflix? God, I loved that series. I’ve always been a total nerd for science fiction and those episodes were the finest example of the genre since Twilight Zone. Science fiction in its purest form is about taking one advancement in science or technology and imagining what the effects will be on a future society, or maybe just one person.

In its fall economic statement, the federal government has announced its intention to allow businesses to write off the entire cost of machinery used for manufacturing and processing the same year it is put into use. This is up from the 25-per cent writeoff allowed in the first year presently.

Fenestration Canada's Fabricators Council, a closed group for fabricator members only, has quickly become one of the more influential bodies within the organization. Gary Blad of Loewen Windows sits on the Council and gave Fenestration Review an update on what was discussed at this years' WinDoor in Quebec City.

Oct. 25, 2018 - Deceuninck North America's Revolution XL Tilt & Turn window is now a certified Passive House Component, representing the global pinnacle of high-performance sustainability.

Cam Drew is a busy guy. As the managing partner of Chemainus, B.C.,-based Thermoproof Windows and Doors, Cam has the same responsibilities that any person in charge of growing a busy manufacturing and installation company with more than 50 employees would have.

Duxton Windows and Doors in Winnipeg is looking for a production/purchasing manager.

According to Al Jaugelis, senior fenestration specialist at RDH Building Science in Vancouver, one of the main struggles pre-hangers have when dealing with the North American Fenestration Standard for air/water/structural performance of doors is understanding that lab testing evaluates doors as a system, but the test does not qualify the individual components.

Fenestration Canada held a meeting of its Fabricators Council at its Spring Conference in Calgary earlier this month. Brad Fevold of Marvin Windows and Doors and Gary Blad of Loewen Windows reported on the Council's activities to Fenestration Review. The Fabricators Council is a closed meeting only for FenCan members who manufacture windows and doors.

I attend trade seminars whenever and wherever available, yet, almost without fail, the question that continually arises during a break in the action is “what are you doing for software?” We are on our fourth generation of software. Our first version was a spreadsheet that gave us, on reflection, no more than a suggestion of cut sizes, with the saw operators and assemblers recalculating on the fly.

To hear Frank Bruno tell it, there may be no more fitting place to found a fenestration operation than Woodbridge, Ont. He was a mere 16 years old when he joined Everlast Aluminum, a small aluminum shop, back in 1961. Over the next six decades, the company not only changed its name to the Everlast Group, but also changed its location, from cramped quarters in midtown Toronto to a cavernous 45,000-square-foot facility in Woodbridge. 

Mar. 11, 2019 - The Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) has launched the Green Building Market Forecast, a report quantifying the potential economic impact of the BC Energy Step Code (ESC) in Metro Vancouver. The study identified a $3.3 billion market opportunity resulting from materials and manufacturing for newly constructed buildings to meet the energy requirements of the ESC between 2019–2032.

I believe climate change driven by human activities is real and is well past the crisis point. The problem is, the solutions being discussed for the window industry will fail.

The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) will host a webinar on Canadian energy codes and regulations and their movement toward higher performance levels over the next decade. Jeff Baker, president of WESTLab Canada andFenestration Canada's technical consultant, will present the current state of energy codes and regulations across Canada. He also will share proposed changes coming in the next 10 years.Register nowfor "Canadian Energy Codes and Regulations – Where Are They Going?" taking place at 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Tues., Jan. 29.

Jan. 17, 2019 - The American Architectural Manufacturers Association has announced the hiring of Kathy Krafka Harkema as its Codes and Regulatory Affairs Manager, effective Jan. 14.

Fenestration Canada has responded to Natural Resources Canada's discussion paper on future window and door code requirements and energy regulation. In a document authored by FenCan technical consultant, Jeff Baker, the association has laid out its position on several issues that will influence policy going forward. The response was submitted as part of the industry consultation period that has been extended to the end of the year. 

The Energy Step Code Council of B.C. has released a document outlining its timeline for stepped code changes to bring new buildings built in the province to 80 per cent Net Zero compliance by 2032. The paper mentions windows specifically and suggests a rating system to record the overall energy efficiency of homes. Various incentives for homeowners and manufacturers are also discussed.

Fenestration Canada holds committee meetings in conjuction with WinDoor where important work is done to advance the industry and the association. Fenestration Review sat down with Technical Committee chair Robert Jutras of UL/CLEB to discuss the activities of this group, which informs members about upcoming changes to industry standards and sends representatives to standards-making bodies to provide industry input to their deliberations.

Nov. 22, 2018 - The Fenestration Canada Installer Certification Program has been developed by Fenestration Canada in conjunction with industry stakeholders to provide a level of assurance that an individual possesses the competencies deemed necessary to perform the job function of a fenestration installer. The certification is designed to complement Specifier requirements (e.g. Specifiers/Homeowners wishing to add certification as an installation requirement or companies wishing to add certification as a job prerequisite) and other accreditation programs offered by other regional/national verification bodies.

Nov. 12, 2018 - The American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) updated a document describing a standardized test to evaluate heat build-up effects due to infrared (IR) exposure on fenestration products. AAMA 1506-18, "Voluntary Test Method for Laboratory Heat Build-Up Effects on Fenestration Products," intends to determine the effects of heat rise on fenestration product assemblies intended for vertical installation. This document was first released in 2004. This is its first update.

Natural Resources Canada has released a discussion paper to kick off consultations about the future direction of federal energy standards for windows, doors and skylights. The agency is seeking industry input on the best way to measure the energy efficiency of these products (especially windows), labelling requirements and enforcement strategies. Stakeholders can submit comments to NRCan until Nov. 30.

Oct. 24, 2018 - The co-founder of a firm specializing in corporate sustainability programs led those attending the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA) 2018 Fall Conference in a discussion about why sustainability should matter to the fenestration industry. Tad Radzinski, P.E., ISSP-CSP, LEED® AP, SFP and co-founder of Sustainable Solutions, presented "Transparency Training: Utilizing LCAs and EPDs to Drive Sustainability," which outlined what is driving transparency and why it is crucial for a successful enterprise.

April 12, 2019 - The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) commends the government on its first provincial budget, "Protecting What Matters Most," and its strong focus on removing barriers to housing supply and prioritization of the skilled trades within the education and post-secondary systems.

April 9, 2019 -  Canadian municipalities issued $7.8 billion worth of building permits in February, down 5.7% from the previous month. The decline was largely due to lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings.

Automation in manufacturing is obvious but what about automation in marketing and communications? If a task or project can be completed faster, cheaper and with higher quality through crowdsourcing, using an app or a Software As A Service (SAAS) website than doing it the old fashioned in-house way, aren’t those forms of automation as well? Removing handling and waste is classic Lean thinking.

Feb. 13, 2019 - The Ontario government recently announced plans to change the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) Certification Training program standards. The planned changes will:

Feb. 6, 2019 - Canadian municipalities issued $8.8 billion worth of building permits in December, up 6.0% from November and the fourth consecutive monthly increase. The gain was largely due to higher construction intentions for multi-family dwellings and commercial buildings, with both components hitting record highs.

Jan. 29, 2019 - Canadian manufacturers are optimistic about their prospects in 2019, but significantly less confident than last year as concern mounts that Trump administration policies and other disruptive factors will affect their businesses, according to a new survey of senior manufacturing executives.

Jan. 10, 2019 - Canadian municipalities issued $8.3 billion worth of building permits in November, up 2.6% from October. Higher construction intentions for commercial buildings drove most of the gain.

Nov. 20, 2018 - PayNet reports that the PayNet Canadian Small Business Lending Index (CSBLI) edged up to 123.1 in September 2018 from 122.6 in August 2018. The index is up 6.3% year-over-year, marking its fifth consecutive year-over-year gain after 10 months of decline.

Oct. 29, 2018 - The Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) have collaborated to create a free e-course to help identify and safely control sources and products containing nanomaterials in the workplace, to protect workers from harm.

Oct. 24, 2018 - In the face of progressing technology, a phone full of confusing or only partially understood apps can seriously slow down productivity and overall workflow.

The PC government of Ontario elected earlier this year has announced it will "wind down" the Ontario College of Trades, set all journeyperson-to-apprentice ratios to one-to-one and put a moratorium on adding new compulsory trade classifications or reclassifying existing classifications. It has also promised an unspecified "replacement model for the regulation of the skilled trades and apprenticeship system" by early 2019. 

When I eventually pass, there are three things I will not be remembered for: one, being the designated driver, two, being a neat freak and, three, being able to accurately predict currency exchange rates.