For windows with no weaknesses

Large glass surface are becoming more and more popular. In fact, they are often the main element in a facade design. But glass is a delicate product, and susceptible to developing faults during the manufacturing process. This is why Solarlux employs strict checks at every stage, from receipt of the materials and throughout the entire production process, right up to installation at the end customer’s site.

It is not uncommon for panes of glass to be installed despite having small or large inclusions, bubbles, spotting or flecks in them. Many property owners would return products with these kinds of faults straight away, but that isn’t always possible. In the end, it is up to the manufacturer whether or not a fault is severe enough to warrant a return – there are no standards to define when an exchange is required. However, the “Hadamar” – a reference work published by the German Glaziers’ Guild Association (Bundesinnungsverband des Glaserhandwerks) does contain recommendations for such situations. While not binding, these recommendations are used as a guideline by many suppliers and acceptance officers. One example of a Hadamar recommendation is the volume’s framework for determining what type of fault are tolerable in which glass surfaces. In a glass surface less than two square metres in size, for instance, up to three defects with a diameter of two millimetres each are permissible. However, this doesn’t mean that the end customer will agree – especially when the defects in question are in their direct line of sight.

High standards
This is why Solarlux, a specialist in moving window and facade solutions, has introduced stricter quality requirements for its glass suppliers. For instance, the company’s threshold for fault tolerance is up to 40 percent lower than that of the Hadamar. Solarlux applies these in-house standards to all its products including its large glass elements and triple glazing products – after all, it is to be expected that these products would be more susceptible to faults. If a fault isn’t discovered until the glass is being installed at the building site, all the panes that have already been glued in place need to be removed again and replaced. This is a huge amount of work – but with Solarlux’s high standards, it is something that rarely ever happens. This is the only way that Solarlux can provide its trade partners and customers with the promised levels of precision and reliability.
 

Finding faults – or avoiding them
In order to reduce fault rates in even the largest of glass surfaces, Solarlux products are subjected to an intensive testing and production process. Manual movement of the glass surfaces is reduced to a minimum, and they are only ever handled by trained experts. Before being shipped out, the products are also put through an extra outgoing goods check in addition to the checks performed when they arrive at the factory. And if any member of staff spots a defect during installation based on our in-house standards, the product in question will be replaced.

In order to assess the quality of the glass, we test it under lighting conditions similar to those at the eventual installation site. We also use a test bench for our incoming goods check. This enables us to pick out any faults straight away before we start turning the glass into a Solarlux product. In addition to this, we also transport each of our finished products as a single unit. This represents a higher risk for us as a company, but that’s a small price to pay for ensuring that the glass cannot be damaged during assembly at the construction site. We have our own fleet of vehicles and many years of experience in packaging and transporting Solarlux products, so in most cases they will arrive on site undamaged and our trade partners won’t have to worry about organising glass returns. And of course, in the rare cases where a replacement is required, Solarlux will be happy to make the necessary arrangements with the glass manufacturer.

Solarlux also provides all its trade partners with a template for assessing glass quality as an additional aid so they can measure any damage or faults directly at the customer’s site and organise a new delivery straight away. All of this ensures that our customers enjoy a high level of satisfaction, which benefits both Solarlux and our trade partners.