Having staked their claim in the North American residential window industry, the two provided window and door fabricators with technologies that increased productivity, reduced insulating glass unit costs, and improved IG quality.
In 1977, during our first year of operation, GED introduced the first Horizontal Hot Melt IG Fabrication equipment, making possible the first high-volume IG Line. The equipment allowed a fabricator to produce over 2000 units per eight-hour shift. In 1987, GED brought to market the first Break-Out Monitors for sorting cut glass into movable slot sorting racks. This GED innovation opened the market for computer-controlled glass cutting, increasing control, and decreasing scrap. Soon afterward, the WinSystem 1 software platform completed the integration of the IG department ensuring better output and organization of production. Technological advances such as these caused PPG Industries, Inc. (now Vitro) to turn to GED as its manufacturing partner to bring you the revolutionary Intercept® IG Spacer System.
Through listening to our customers, new product innovations and continuous improvement initiatives, GED continues to lead the industry with insulating glass systems, software, and vinyl fabrication equipment.
Here are the highlights of our first 45 years of operations:
| YEAR | EVENT | DETAILS |
| 1977 | Glass Equipment Development (“GED”) Founded | Co-founders Dick Dietrich and Edmund Leopold started the now industry leaders in glass fabrication, software, and window fabrication systems, located in Twinsburg, Ohio. |
| 1977 | Horizontal Hot Melt IG Fabrication Equipment | The first high-volume IG Line. The equipment allowed a fabricator to produce over 2000 units per eight-hour shift. |
| 1981 | First Linear Extruder using LinearSkip application | Folding/locking corner key patent (precursor to Intercept® Process) |
| 1987 | Break-Out Monitors | Provided for the sorting cut glass into movable slot sorting racks. This opened the market for computer-controlled glass cutting, increasing control, and decreasing scrap. |
| 1991 | Partnered With PPG (Now Vitro) to Develop the Intercept® Concept | Eliminated the need to produce box spacers. Saved time and materials. |
| 1992 | Intercept® (GEN 1.0) | Warm Edge Spacer that increased volume by 300%, reduced cost of spacer, and reduced labor significantly. |
| 1994 | WinIG® MES Platform | Coordinated the IGU production to reduce waste yet synchronize different machines and departments to lower costs and increase production. |
| 1996 | Intercept® GEN II | Reduced costs of machine and sales price to customer. New control system provided a significant increase in uptime reliability and ease of maintenance. New GUI Operator interface over past DOS versions. |
| 1997 | InterGrid | The first machine that roll formed, notched, and cut flat muntin bar to size. |
| 2000 | SmartExtruder™ | Improved the precision of sealant and desiccant application resulting in higher IGU reliability as well as significant material savings. This machine also eliminated the use of pneumatically controlled compensators that were notorious for leaking seals and wear from the abrasive matrix materials. Gear pump technology provided high precision and reliability with reduced maintenance. |
| 2002 | LeanNet® | Complete family of process software solutions. |
| 2004 | Acquisition of Sampson Automation | Adding Sampson, a leading vinyl machinery manufacturer, gave GED a unique position of providing vinyl window manufacturers with all the equipment needed from IGU assembly to window fabrication. |
| 2004 | Intercept® ULTRA spacer material – Low Thermal Conductivity Stainless Steel | Enhanced thermal performance of Intercept® Spacer. |
| 2005 | Intercept® i-3 Spacer Fabrication Platform | One-piece flow, reducing changeover of spacer width to 30 seconds from 10 to 15 minutes, and reduced scrap for every change over. |
| 2005 | SmartExtruder™ i-3 Desiccant Dispensing System | Automatic nozzle change and height adjustment of nozzle position for various widths. Resulted in increased safety, increased repeatable quality, less labor and changeover time and labor savings. |
| 2006 | Window Frame Corner Fabrication – Intercept® Spacer System – Crimper | Improving spacer quality and unit reliability for Intercept® ULTRA IGUs. |
| 2006 | Intercept BlackLine® Spacer Material | Introduction of another variety of color (black) to Intercept® spacer materials. |
| 2010 | Intercept ThinPlate® Spacer Material | Another spacer material that reduced the cost on units that don’t require stainless steel. |
| 2011 | Automated Spacer Frame Fabrication / Quick Change | Allowed user to automatically alternate material types. |
| 2011 | ATLAS™ – Automated Tri-Lite Assembly System | Revolutionary glass fabrication system that produces triple pane IGUs in 20 second cycle times. |
| 2014 | RoboClean® | Robotic vinyl corner cleaning system—the first on the market. |
| 2015 | Intercept Corner+® | Improved reliability of spacer fourth corner. |
| 2015 | Intercept® 2.5 Warm-Edge Spacer Fabrication System | State-of-the-art design with improved setup, maintenance, and reliability over the GEN II system. |
| 2016 | Intercept® Spacer Frame Crimping Assembly | Improved realiability |
| 2016 | Intercept® 2.5 – Window Spacer Frame Punch Assembly | Quick change gas hole fabrication. |
| 2017 | Intercept® 2.5 Material Detection System | Automatically changes die setting for spacer material types. |
| 2018 | Moved to New Building in Glenwillow, Ohio | |
| 2018 | RoboSeal™ ‒ Insulating Glass Unit Fluid Exchange Assembly and Method | Gas filling and fastening fourth corner robotic automation. |
| 2019 | GED acquires Elite Manufacturing Solutions | Adds contract machining capacity, manufacturing engineering support and operations leadership to an already robust platform. |
| 2019 | WinTrax™ Intelligent Logistics System | Tracks window assemblies through the production process to shipment. |
| 2020 | CleanCut™ 1700 Series Glass Cutting Table | Includes 1700 (for cutting) and 1700-D models (cutting and deletion). Boasts enhanced speed, updated technical features, and increased throughput while maintaining the options manufacturers want when selecting a glass production system. |
| 2020 | CMM 2.0™ Colonial Muntin Machine | The new generation of the tried-and-true Colonial Muntin Machine, the reinvented machine adds cutting edge technologies in hardware and software to an already tested muntin processing system that GED had revolutionized the industry with in the mid-90s. |
| 2020 | RoboFlow™ PT Automated Welding & Cleaning System | A pass-through system that takes cut vinyl from welding through cleaning with just one operator at faster cycle times. |
| 2021 | Representing Sparklike Products in North America | GED partners with Sparklike Oy to distribute the world’s first and only non-destructive IG gas analyzers to fenestration products manufacturers in North America. |
| 2021 | Acquisition Of Norfield | Allows both GED and Norfield to leverage their unique assets and common ideals to continue to serve manufacturers of windows and doors with broader capabilities. |
| 2021 | TruWeld™ | Servo welder family ‒ fastest, most precise and the most flexible welder for frame and sash on the market. |
| 2021 | CleanCut™ 1800 Series | Includes 1800 (for cutting) and 1800-D models (cutting and deletion) and is the larger sibling of the 1700 Series. |
| 2021 | Intercept SureLock™ ‒ Tactile Spacer Frame Assembly and Locking Member | Improved locking of spacer fourth corner. |
| 2021 | Intercept LiteLock™ ‒ Extruder Tips | A new extruder tip and sealant bead application system that provides licensees of Intercept® insulating glass technology with extraordinary efficiency, performance, and quality improvements. |