Three decades of service

After celebrating 30 years of service with Glassolutions, we sat down with its Commercial Director, Alan Davies , to get his take on his career so far, the longevity of the Glassolutions brand, and his market predictions for the remainder of 2024.

Q: So Alan, you’ve just completed 30 years of service – congratulations! Could you talk us through your journey?

AD: I have worked in glass my whole career really, starting from my first job in 1980 working for Dalton Glass Industries, in Birmingham. But my journey with the company that would become Glassolutions, started in 1994, but I first worked for the company 42 years ago! I've actually worked for Glassolutions, or Solaglass as it was known back then, on three separate occasions; starting in Birmingham, then in Doncaster, and finally, 30 years ago, at what is now Glassolutions Derby. I just can’t escape it!

The Derby site at the time was part of the Wolseley Building Distribution company, within their glass division. So, between 1994 and 2011, I worked predominantly in a Sales Management role and then in a Senior Management role, managing the four Wolseley glass sites, in what was really a successful glass distribution business that sat outside of the glass manufacturers.

In 2011, we were bought by Saint-Gobain , and in a similar way as we operated within Wolseley, we became part of the building division of Saint-Gobain. At the beginning of 2017, the business was then rebranded from Solaglass to Glassolutions and was placed underneath Saint-Gobain Glass in the glass division, and I became Sector Director for the Northern distribution part of the business.

In 2019, the structure was simplified, with Lisa Dunn coming in to manage the whole of distribution, and I became Commercial Director, which is where I remain today!

?Q: What has been your proudest achievement during your service?

AD: Oh, that's a good question. I think at the end of the day, it's about the people I've worked with. I’ve been able to work effectively with teams of people, and crucially, I enjoy working with people, and seeing them develop. There are people around the business who I've helped play a very small role, but a role nonetheless, in helping their development, and I am proud of that.

Q: What's the biggest change you've seen during your 30 years with the business?

AD: I would say two things have fundamentally changed.

First of all, the number of companies that manufacture sealed units has significantly decreased. But whilst there are fewer companies manufacturing, those that do are much larger. So, the shift has been from a small cottage industry, where you had somebody on every street corner manufacturing double glazing, to bigger companies, many of whom go direct to the manufacturers for full loads. So, surely you are thinking ‘well what’s the need for a company like Glassolutions then?’.

But the reason why we remain successful is because of the second fundamental shift, which has been changes in regulation that mean that it's not just straightforward float products that we sell now.

There's now such a wide range of products, from safety glass, to coated products, to patterns and decorative mirror, and many more, which effectively means that with such a wide breadth of products available, it’s very difficult to buy them all in through manufacturers. So, we sell a huge range of products through the distribution network, in flexible quantities that reduce customer’s stockholding.

Q: What, in your opinion, has been the secret to Glassolutions' success??

AD: Because of those fundamental shifts in the marketplace that I mentioned, the route to market has changed. But Glassolutions is still a big leading player in the distribution market, and I think it's because we've been able to adapt the business to this changing market.

We take the products that Saint-Gobain manufacture and make them accessible into the marketplace for varying sizes of companies. For instance, Glassolutions has played a key role in developing the Planitherm range and promoting it within the marketplace. And now, we have products like our decorative pattern range of glass and our new mirror products, that are really innovative and sustainable, and again, we are helping to promote and distribute those. I think that has kept us at the forefront of the distribution market.

?Q: Do you have one standout memory or favourite moment from your 30 years of service?

AD: I can’t class it as a ‘moment’ as such, but I think it was the influence of my first manager in the glass industry who gave me my first job back in 1980. I worked really closely with him, right up until his death in 2003. 23 years is a long time to have a very close working relationship, and it's still profound because of how close we were, and how well we worked together. But having said that, I really value the relationship that I have now with Lisa Dunn, so I think I've bookended my career between those two things; the first when I was very young into the industry, and now being at the older end of the industry. But It's the relationship with those two people, I think.

Q: Are there any developments, products or changes that are happening at Glassolutions that you're looking forward to seeing?

AD: I think sometimes you get a feel for things. We have a product now called MIRALITE? EASYSAFE and it's a resin-backed mirror, and it just feels right. I start talking to processors, and they're immediately, all of them, really interested. As soon as you start seeing what the product is and what it can do, everyone's interested.?

It's really good to talk about a product that no one just goes, “well, actually, how much is it? Because if it's not cheaper than what I'm already buying mirror at…”. ?People realise what that product is - it's not just about the pound note price of the product, it's what it's going to do for them. It’s a differentiator for them with their customers.

Q: What's your favourite thing about working for Glassolutions??

AD: People. Absolutely the people. The relationship I have with ?the team, that’s what does it for me. And they're so, so good. We've got the really experienced people that just know the industry inside and out, and then we combine that with the youth, energy and drive of the newer ASMs. It’s the mixture of that and having those close relationships that I love.

Q: If you were to summarise, how have trading conditions have been so far this year, and what you predict will happen for the rest of 2024 within glass?

AD: I think it's been difficult, being honest with you. To contextualise, I’ll have to go back a few years.?

We had a period during COVID, and as we came out of COVID, when the industry took off. We then went into 2021, and you couldn't get glass easily because of the refurbishments of Saint-Gobain and Guardian’s float tanks, so glass supply was really short. Added to that, you had the worldwide supply chain issues driven by COVID, compounded by a really busy marketplace because people wanted their home improvements done.

So, when we went into 2023, we thought the glass situation would sort itself out, and prices would start to come back down. Suddenly, there's a war in in Ukraine and the cost of energy is massive. It pushed prices up, as volume started to fall.

But by the end of 2023 and into 2024, energy prices are coming back down, inflation is coming back down. We’ve all got the same problem where there's a lot of product and the marketplace is quite soft. So, it's driving prices down low.

So how do you get away from that? It's basically to try to think about quality, think about your service. Think about your range of products and where you can. And it's not easy - it's easy to say, not easy to do.

But try to broaden the offer that you have to customers and look for these differentials in products that you can give yourselves a bit of an edge with. But it is going to be challenging for the rest of this year.

Q: And finally, what are your plans for the future?

AD: So, I think I'm getting to the point now where I am starting to think about retirement, but I don't know when that’ll be. I’ll be honest, there's a bit of fear in that because I don't know what I'll do when I retire. Whenever the day comes when I do retire, I want to be able to add some value back into society, in some other way. Maybe that’s through volunteering or something like that? I would like it to still involve working with people, but not necessarily to earn an income.

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