This week #madeinsandwell Monday celebrates MiGlass (www.miglass.com), one of Europe’s largest independent glass manufacturers.

Based on Downing Street in Smethwick, the company started life as Midland Industrial Glass over 80 years ago. It now employs 80 people and specialises in producing high-end processed flat glass for retail, vending machines, street furniture, electronics and balustrading, including much of the glass in Birmingham’s flagship John Lewis store.

The company’s services include toughening, decorating, water jetting, sub-assembly, laminating and double-glazing production.

MiGlass puts its success down to high-quality service, speed of delivery and a strong team. The company has also invested heavily in new technology over the last few years, including a fully automatic, computer controlled machine line. This has helped MiGlass to secure work on several prestigious projects, including street mapping systems in Birmingham, London and New York.

MiGlass has just won a Business Innovation Award in the 2017 Sandwell Business Awards, thanks to an innovative solution the company found for producing balustrading glass for a customer. Traditionally it is time-consuming to produce panels of glass in different sizes because of the way machines have to be set each time. MiGlass found a better solution, borrowing from the technology used to produce the glass for the Shard in London. The team devised a unique way to process glass vertically so that their machine does not need setting every time a different sized panel is needed.

MiGlass’s innovation doubled the customer’s turnover, as well as boosting its own sales and enabling its expansion into adjacent premises. It improved the quality of the glass thanks to reduced handling and improved accuracy. The project has also created 15 jobs and three apprenticeships for our region so far.

Last year MiGlass had a turnover of nearly £6m, and aims to grow the business by over 10 per cent per year, through continuing investment in machinery and processes.

Managing director Alan Taylor said: “We are proud to be a growing and ambitious company based in the Sandwell area. With a supportive council such as Sandwell we genuinely feel that we are in the best place to do business.”

 

 

#madeinsandwell Monday is a celebration of the talent and diversity of businesses in our borough. If you’re interested in being considered for a #madeinsandwell Monday profile, read this.