See for yourself what we've been up to lately
 Convention
Center, Seattle Washington
These photos will be updated in the future to show
projects in progress
NWI has recently developed two new types of glass, our Enhanced
Sound Control glass and Holographic
glass. Click on the products to learn more about each one.
Glass-Conscious
Published in the April 2000 edition of Alaska Airlines
If you have ever been to the Anchorage International Airport, chances are, you've seen some of Northwestern
Industries Inc.'s impressive handiwork. The Seattle-based company,
which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, made the tempered
and laminated glass installed in the atrium that wraps around most
of the airport's main terminal.
In fact, Northwestern's fabricated-glass products are in office
buildings, sports facilities, resorts, shopping centers and residences-including
Bill Gates' home-up and down the West Coast.
People tend to take glass for granted, but it's "a beautiful
architectural material," says Northwestern President Tim McQuade.
The market is ever-changing and almost unlimited, he adds. Architects
are asking for new varieties, textures and colors of glass, and
also demanding more high-performance glass, to control heating and
air-conditioning costs, and muffle sound.
Northwestern, one of the largest glass fabricators on the West
Coast, with $30 million in annual sales and 260 employees, is on
the, excuse the pun, cutting edge of product innovation. While its
core business focuses on cutting, tempering, laminating and silk-screening
glass for a customer base that includes large glazing contractors,
glass shops and residential-window manufacturers, the company is
constantly pushing the product-development envelope. Its latest
offering is a holographic window. Unlike standard safety glass,
which includes two pieces of glass and an inner layer bonded together,
the holographic design incorporates two outer layers and three inner
layers, one of which is made out of the decorative holographic material.
The holographic appearance comes from six different patterns that
can be arranged to create various looks, McQuade says. "When
light shines on the glass, there's a kaleidoscope effect."
Northwestern owns a U.S. patent on the lamination process to make
the windows, while a California company developed the actual holographic
material, which looks like brightly-colored transparent wrapping
paper. "It's a brand-new product," McQuade notes. "We're
just getting it out to the architects. It took time-about a year-to
develop."
McQuade sees applications for the product on office doors and glass
partitions, specialty-car windows and residential shower doors.
"Vegas is going to eat this up," he adds.
Another new product expected to keep customers flocking to Northwestern's
sprawling 300,000-square-foot Seattle manufacturing facility is
its enhanced sound-control window. The window, introduced in January,
includes a specialized noise-reducing inner layer of glass, between
two outer layers, that greatly reduces noise pollution, McQuade
says. "Sound is a big issue in construction these days. We
feel the demand for this will be significant."
McQuade, who started out at Northwestern as a $3-an-hour day laborer
in the I 970s, learning the business "from the bottom up,"
has watched the glass-fabrication industry mature as the demand
for glass products and new applications has exploded. "It's
been a constant effort to keep up," he says. "When this
plant started in 1975, there were seven tempering furnaces on the
West Coast; now there are 21 furnaces in the Northwest alone. I've
lost count how many there now are on the West Coast But through
all of that, we have grown and flourished."
McQuade says the key to the company's continued success is its
loyal employees, including many seasoned workers who have been with
the firm for more than 20 years. "The people of this company
make it successful," he says. "Their attitude is, 'What
can we do that's innovative today?' "-Kevin Owyer
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