National Windshield Repair Association
History of Auto Glass Repair
by Dave Schuh
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The history of windshield repair is filled with entrepreneurs and
individuals that overcame great many hurdles to become successful. While
this history mainly deals with the companies that manufacture the tools
required to produce a repair, it is not meant to downgrade the
activities of service technicians who actually did the repairs. Without
the great efforts of individual pioneering retailers the industry would
not have prospered and grown. People like Lucille Massey (Houston), Bill
Batley (Seattle), Bruce Quande (Missoula) and Cindy Rowe Taylor
(Harrisburg) were responsible for talking to consumers and doing
repairs. Also, this brief history deals only with work that was started
in the United States. Many of these companies later spread around the
world, forming other companies and associations. Without the efforts of
all these people windshield repair would not be where it is today.
Automobile glass repair or what is generally called windshield repair is
a recent innovation when compared to the history of the automobile. The
technology needed to repair glass relates to the introduction of
multiple layers of glass (laminated safety glass) in windshields.
Laminated glass allows the windshield to remain basically intact, and
for a repair to be done by removing the air in the damaged area and
replacing it with a resin. Although laminated glass in automobiles dates
back to the 1930’s, real improvements came in the 1960’s with the
improved plastic inner layer of Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB). Prior to the
early 1970’s when the first windshield repair process was invented, the
only improvement that could be done was purely cosmetic. Typically, an
oil-based fluid was poured into the area to fill the damage and to
"hide" the break. It has been said that some used car dealers did this
to try to sell a vehicle without installing a new windshield. It should
go without saying that this was not a permanent repair.
The first company to produce a repair system was Minnesota Mining and
Manufacturing (3M) Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. The 3M Company first
introduced a system they called "Scotch Weld" in 1971. This system
employed ultra sound vibrations to clean the break and a syringe to
inject a resin, or adhesive into the damage. The equipment successfully
repaired "bullseye" type damage, but unfortunately was very large
(filling the bed of a pick-up truck) and was very expensive to build and
thus to lease to others. It is said that 3M did a good job of
introducing the concept of windshield repair to insurance companies, but
decided to pursue other products when the repair equipment failed to
attain the volume that they required.
In 1972, Origin Inc., a Research Company founded by Dr. Frank Warner in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming developed a process for repairing stone damaged
windshields. Dr. Warner had personally experienced stones breaking his
windshield, and had directed work on a solution to repair the glass,
rather than replace the entire windshield. A key member of Dr. Warner’s
company, was Bill Wiele, a chemical engineer who developed adhesive
resins that would be clear and optically match the windshield glass. Dr.
Warner decided to license his invention to a former associate, Gerry
Keinath. Keinath had recently started a small company, Novus Inc. to
market innovative products. Novus was responsible for much of the early
pioneering work with insurance companies and fleet operators to convince
them of the merits of repairing windshields. During the early days of
Novus, the efforts were concentrated towards selling equipment to glass
replacement shops and automotive dealers. While a significant amount of
equipment was sold, not many repairs were being done. At the same time,
Keinath noticed that there was a small and growing group of individuals
who were offering the service of windshield repair using the Novus
equipment. He decided to concentrate on working with "repair only"
specialists. He began by licensing the process to these individuals, and
later in the mid 1980’s moved into full-fledged franchising of the
business.
In the mid 1970’s, as Novus was establishing its "repair only"
specialists, another company began by selling a "vacuum" windshield
repair system within the glass replacement market. Mort Gallub in
suburban Philadelphia founded Glass Medic. Gallub owned one of the
largest auto reconditioning operations on the East Coast and found that
replacing windshields meant his profit margins on used vehicles became
very slim. He had heard of the early progress of repair, and
experimented with various systems. Mort hired a research engineer to
improve on the system and eventually developed a "vacuum pump" process
that he used within his reconditioning business. Gallub hired, Bill
Matles, a young glass replacement specialist to market the product. In
the 1980’s Glass Medic became the largest selling product within the
glass replacement industry.
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As the 1970’s came to a close, the word of windshield repair began to
spread, a number of other companies began operations. Many began by
first doing repairs, and then by producing their own equipment. Tony and
Gerry Jacino started Clear Star in New York, Hap Alexander founded Glas-Weld
Systems in Oregon and John Surdich started Kemxert in Pennsylvania.
In the early 1980’s two companies that were very big in auto glass
replacement produced and sold repair equipment. Harmon Glass in
Minneapolis manufactured a system they called the "Harmonizer", and Auto
Glass Specialist under Bob Birkhauser formed a division called AEGIS
which produced and sold their equipment. In 1984, Walt and Darlene
Deines formed Delta Kits in Oregon. Their son Brent Deines now runs
Delta Kits.
In 1981, Gene Curwick started doing windshield repair in Minneapolis and
in 1985, he started marketing his own resins and tools. In the mid to
late 1980’s more companies started producing equipment. Dan Wanstrath
produced equipment that was automated and formed Glass Technology in
Colorado. Tom Sloan, Steve Ameter, and Steve Beck formed Liquid Resins
International in Illinois with specialization as an independent supply
house with multiple resins. Joyce Newsome started Tri Glass in
Washington State. Ken Einiger, concentrating on sales to people wanting
to start their own businesses, founded Glass Mechanix in Florida. Rich
Campfield started Ultra Bond in California by specializing in equipment
to repair long cracks. Rich later moved his company to Colorado.
In the 1990’s windshield repair continued to grow with more companies
entering the business, and some changing ownership. While we can't list
all of the new companies and changes, here are a few of the more
prominent ones. Keith Surdich left Kemxert and formed his own company
Poly-Lite W/R Supplies in Pennsylvania. Dave Casey founded Super Glass
Windshield Repair with Bill Costello and became one of two companies
offering windshield repair as a franchised product and Bill Penrod
formed US Windshield Repair in Orange, CA. In the very early 90’s Glass
Medic was sold to its largest international customer, Belron
International, the largest glass replacement retailer in the world. The
North American rights were sold to Dave Schuh, a former manager of
Novus. Dave operated the company until the late 1990’s when Belron
purchased it back. It is now operating as Glass Medic America under the
leadership of Paul Syfko. Also in the 90’s, the Keinath family sold
Novus to Trans Canada Glass International (TCGI).
By the year 2000, significant changes occurred in the repair versus
replacement marketing. Although repair had been done by independent
replacement dealers, and to a limited amount by some of the larger US
retailers, many replacement dealers, and most large retailers did not
devote a major effort towards repair. While repair was being done by
leading replacement companies in Europe, such as Belron’s Carglass and
Autoglass divisions, it was not done to the same extent in the U.S. In
1998 the marketing of windshield repair changed dramatically when
Safelite Auto Glass, the largest glass replacement retailer in the US,
decided to embrace windshield repair by forming a unit specializing in
repair. Safelite’s Repair Medic program was developed under the
leadership of Paul Gross. The Repair Medic operation spread to major
markets in the United States offering repair directly from Safelite. In
early 2002 another of the large US auto glass replacement dealers,
Harmon Auto Glass, founded its own repair only division under the name
RepairOne to concentrate on windshield repair.
While companies concentrating on "repairs only service" continue to do
the largest number of repairs, windshield repair has also proven itself
as a viable alternative product offered by most retail service companies
in auto glass. And the predictions are that repair will continue to grow
as insurance companies and consumers understand the cost and product
benefits. Today windshield repair is an accepted product, not only in
the United States, but also within almost every country around the
world. |