Crystal clear and tough as nails

Apr. 28—Cardinal Glass Industries has two plants in Northeast Pennsylvania. There's the Cardinal Insulated Glass (IG) Company in the Crestwood Industrial Park in Mountain Top, and the Cardinal Laminated Glass (LG) plant in the Valley View Business Park in Archbald.

The latter plant, which opened in 2018, is overseen by Plant Manager Joe Michaels. The team he has assembled, from the laborers to the leadership, are focused on crafting laminated glass that will have a direct impact on residents and their homes.

"Products at Cardinal Glass impact ordinary citizens because there is a very good chance that the glass installed in the doors and windows in their home came from one of the Cardinal plants across the U.S.," said Maureen James, human resources manager at the Archbald plant.

The two local Cardinal Glass plants specialize in different types of products. The Archbald location produces, as its name implies, laminated glass. This form of glass is essentially two pieces of standard glass held together by an adhesive, heated, and fairly thick vinyl interlayer.

Laminated glass is typically used for architectural and residential purposes, such as blocking sound and preventing wind damage. In addition, a finished piece of laminated glass can withstand a strike from a baseball bat, and even holds up well against a sledgehammer and pickaxe. In other words, this is a sturdy product that is meticulously crafted.

To craft such an intricate and essential piece, the 150-person crew at Cardinal Laminated Glass are given a safe space, mentally and physically, to do their work at the highest level. Employees work nine-hour shifts for nine days in a two-week pay period.

"The qualities Cardinal values in an employee is someone who is a team player, who comes to work and puts their best effort in daily," James said.

Employees have come from all around Northeastern Pennsylvania to work for Cardinal Laminated Glass, and they're workspace is well-lit, ventilated and clean. Some of this is to maintain the integrity of their products, but the fully-staffed workforce's comfortability is a priority.

The production process is directly overseen by plant superintendent CJ Kanerva, who has taken a hands-on approach to his position. He knows the employees by name and asks for their input on the facility's processes, a critical piece of the Cardinal Laminated Glass system.

"We promote all team members being involved in the continuous improvement process instead of it just being leadership driven," James said. "Whether it is how to improve a task they do in their day-to-day environment or participating in safety initiatives to ensure that all employees are engaged and following the latest safety guidelines. Leadership truly cares about our employees and their families because without them, we would not be able to produce state-of-the-art products."

The process of creating laminated glass at Cardinal's Archbald plant begins with raw materials such as float glass — which, in turn, is made up of products such as sand and limestone — and melted tin. When these raw materials are used to create something the average person might recognize as glass, the Cardinal Laminated Glass production process can truly kick into gear.

The sheets of glass that are made from the raw materials can be carved into a number of shapes and sizes. The most common size produced by Cardinal Laminated Glass is 8-by-12 foot sheets. In regards to shaping the glass, that's the part of the production process that is most likely to result in breaking or shattering.

Considering the amount of glass that is produced by the plant, the 10 or so sheets of glass that break each day are a rather small amount. The Archbald plant does have the capability of cutting customized shapes out of their products, reducing the number of breaks and providing more unique glass offerings to their buyers.

After the glass is shaped, the product moves on to the tempering line, where a half-inch sheet of glass might stay for seven to eight minutes. The tempering line at Cardinal includes heavy machinery from a variety of sources, from the other side of Pennsylvania to Italy and Germany.

One of the most important parts of tempering glass is washing the glass before the heat is applied. If there is any dust on the sheet, it will be baked on forever if the cleaning is not complete. Laminated glass must be heated multiple times before completion, so this cleaning is done at different points throughout the process to eliminate any blemishes.

Near the tempering line, Cardinal has set up a number of stations that test the integrity of their products. The quality control area ensures not only that the glass they produce is sturdy, but also that the machinery is working properly.

"The leadership team is constantly present in production and team members are encouraged to share ideas on how to improve, no matter how big or how small," James said.

Some of the quality control measures taken by the Cardinal team include the pummel test, striking the glass with tools such as the aforementioned baseball bat, sledgehammer and pickaxe, and the ball drop test. The ball drop test literally includes a weighted sphere being dropped on the glass to determine its strength.

Make no mistake: The Cardinal team is trained and qualified to administer tests and operate the massive equipment held within the manufacturing facility. Their extensive, on-the-job training gives them an important advantage when it comes to recognizing issues within the process.

"We encourage our employees to provide feedback to leadership in a number of ways. We have systems for EHS and CMMS that team members can report hazards and observations," James said. "The leadership team can take action off these items and post updates. We also have a system for team members and leadership to track production statistics and analyze potential areas for improvement."

After the glass sheets are tempered, they are truly made laminated when the adhesive interlayer is placed between two sheets. At this point, the pieced together slabs are checked again for imperfections, such as bubbles in the interlayer, and appear opaque.

The next step is for the raw, laminated slabs to be placed in the autoclave, which clears up the opacity with a mix of heat and pressure. After baking in the autoclave, the laminated glass sheets are basically a finished product, just about ready for distribution. They're packaged up and sent closer to the facility's docking bay, where trucks take them to customers across the country.

Two of the biggest buyers of the Archbald plant's products are local: Scranton Glass and the Cardinal plant in Mountain Top. Cardinal's emphasis on local commerce, as well as their other collaborations with area organizations, has grabbed the attention and appreciation of the Scranton Chamber of Commerce.

"Cardinal Glass stands as a cornerstone of our community, not only as an asset to the business landscape but as a beacon of excellence and commitment within the manufacturing sector. Their presence in Valley View Business Park not only enriches our local economy but also exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and progress within our community," said Amy Luyster, the chamber's vice president of business and workforce development.

Through their strong employee relations, intricate manufacturing processes and community involvement, Cardinal Laminated Glass has carved out an important role in the Lackawanna County and Northeast Pennsylvania business worlds and throughout the United States. The products they provide help people stay safe from a number of conditions, and they keep their workforce happy through their progressive scheduling plan and factory environment.