Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier and Economic Development Officer Catherine Durrant are thrilled to welcome a new manufacturing partner to Collingwood. The announcement that the Town of Collingwood has attracted a new industry couldn't have come at a better time. Barber Glass has purchased the former Alcoa plant and will soon provide much needed employment opportunities to a town's work force that has been hit hard by recent plant closures. This announcement comes at a much happier time for Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier, who had to announce to the town that Alcoa would be closing it's plant on his first day as Collingwood's newly elected Mayor. However, the announcement that Alcoa would close was quickly followed by a telephone call from John Barber of Barber Glass Industries, looking for information on the facility. "Three hundred and seventy-six days later, I'm looking forward to seeing Barber Glass grow as a company" Carrier said in welcoming the company to Collingwood "This is a significant investment in Collingwood and an integral component of a sustainable community in having such a respected employer creating new jobs for our citizens" Mayor Carrier added.

Evergreen Developments (North) Ltd., will be renovationg 200 Mountain Road into multiple tenancies for the purpose of manufacturing. Barber Glass Industries Inc., a new tenant of Evergreen Developments (North) Ltd., will be manufacturing architectural glass products for the safety glazing industry at this location. The Collingwood plant will produce a heat strengthened tempered and laminated glass. Barber Glass Industries Inc., is the largest tempered and laminated glass manufacturer in North America.

John Barber stated that "Barber Glass has been committed to the glass industry by providing extraordinary service combined with a wide range of available products at competitive prices." "At Barber Glass, we turn ideas into glass, is supported by the most state of the art technologies available in the glass industry today." Barber stated.

Mr. Barber said that it will take approximately three to six months to renovate the plant with the intention of opening in August. Barber said a Job Fair will be held in February with the hiring process to begin in March. The plant will initially operate with a staff of 35, growing to approximately 60 when the operation is in full production. (Barber Glass employs 140 people at its Guelph location) Barber Glass will occupy 150,000 square feet of the factory and plans to turn the remainder of the facility into rental space.

"We looked at facilities in Brampton, Cambridge, Milton and Mississauga but at the end of the day we kept coming back to Collingwood" Barber said.

Collingwood Economic Development Officer Catherine Durrant has been working long hours to help finalize the deal to bring Barber Glass to Collingwood. Early meetings with Mayor Chris Carrier, Collus CAO Ed Houghton and John Barber reviewed energy needs and the cost effectiveness of electricity and water, along with discussions regarding Collingwood's available work force and the town's excellent track record for employee training and retraining. "This is a very happy day for everyone in Collingwood" Durrant said.

Alcoa closed its Collingwood operation in June, 2007. A media release from Alcoa earlier this year stated that it was necessary to close the Collingwood operation because of the loss or pending loss of key contracts with auto manufacturers. The release stated the lost or pending loss of key contracts have caused anticipated sales volumes to drop to the point where continued operation of the plant will cease to be economically viable.

The Barber Glass web site details the history of the company.

"In 1883 Dr. R.H. Barber founded a painting, glazing and decorating store which became the nucleus for Barber Glass Industries.

T. Ross Barber took over in the late 1930's and developed this further into a retail glass shop. This business was subsequently sold in the early 1950's to his son, D.S. Barber, father of the current owner, who expanded it into a full service glass shop selling commercial glazing, decorative mirrors and retail glazing.

In 1990 D.S. Barber passed away leaving the business to his son John Ross Barber. John had already created a new division, Barber Glass Industries, in 1988 and chose to keep these operations entirely separate so each could maintain their individual focus.

Barber Glass Industries was founded based on John's vision of creating a world class fabrication facility capable of supplying high tech products to the architectural glazing, automotive after market and furniture industries.

John's vision was fueled by the belief that the future growth of the company would always be ensured through commitment to total customer satisfaction, providing premium quality products, high standards in services and innovative products at a fair market price.

"Service", BGI's primary focus, will be continuously redefined yearly and will always be the key to success. John knew that we must always be better than the previous year from all perspectives - service, quality and consistency.

John proceeded to purchase the assets of a bankrupt company and state-of-the art polishing equipment. These moves would have been considered very unorthodox business decisions considering this was in the midst of a major recession. These decisions, though very unpopular with our lenders at the time, are regarded today as the best business decisions ever made by the company.

Barber had steady growth and profitably from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 John Barber realized that in order to reach the critical mass required to be competitive in a broad international market, he must look at expanding and adding additional processes. John looked forward to addressing the growing need for safety glazing materials while ensuring that operating efficiencies were maximized along the way.

In late 1996 John negotiated the purchase of a 61,000 square foot manufacturing facility at 485 Southgate Drive, Guelph for the purpose of moving the manufacturing division. John put together an aggressive five year plan for purchasing of equipment, always based on a strong emphasis towards utilizing the highest technology available, ensuring that sales and profitability were supported.

John added a state-of-the-art 82" x 144" Tamglass double bay tempering furnace to the production capacity effective with the move to the new facility. Over the next three years Barber added a 4000 square foot office, a robot loaded 130 x 240 Bystronic cutting system, numerous Intermac master edgers, compact edgers, straight line edgers, and a manual screen print process.

In 2000 a further 15,000 square feet was added to accommodate a robot loaded double edger, an Iannu automated screen print line and a Tamglass laminating line handling sizes up to 98" x 144" in substrates from 6 to 80 mm thick."

Taken from www.barberglass.com