About Us
We define ourselves as a company of people that genuinely care.
Glassfab Tempering Services, Inc. Tracy, California began operation in August, 2006. After more than 2 decades of experience in the business, a management team decided to start a glass fabrication and tempering service company. Our company attributes its existence, success and growth, to a combination of local market support, and our team experience. Our strong desire for superior quality products and genuine customer service are our key ingredients. Glassfab intends to deliver excellent architectural glass products and services, to its local custom shower door companies, glass shops, and architectural glazing contractors. All our growth and expansion plans are intended to meet our valued customer requirements for the present and the future.
Reliability, Quality & Convenience
Our Mission
Our Values & Beliefs
We define ourselves as a company of people that genuinely care.
We value talent, and experience and expect high performance. We believe in creating an environment where people attain consistent excellence. We believe in striving for the best by maximizing our unwavering potential. We believe in expanding our knowledge of products, services, and market requirements.
Our future rests on creativity, skills, teamwork and integrity of our most valued employees. We value hard work. We are honest. We honor our commitments. We are consistent and fair. We are privileged to be able to serve our market. We genuinely care and sincerely appreciate all your support.
-Mike Goldfarb
Company culture, customer relationships and workforce diversity are interconnected aspects of a successful and thriving organization with several commonalities. They contribute to employee satisfaction, customer loyalty and organizational performance, while emphasizing shared values, effective communication and continuous improvement.
With an experienced generation of glass industry leaders moving towards retirement and a new generation of glass professionals stepping into this growing industry, it’s vital for organizations to foster a diverse workplace that champions inclusivity and allocates resources and training to help promote engagement and a sense of ownership among company team members.
Glassfab has grown tremendously over its 17-year history, starting as an eight-person shop in 2006 to a company employing over 300 people across four manufacturing facilities. That kind of growth is attributable to the company’s focus on the best for its employees, which then filters down to its vendors and customers. I recently sat down with Patrick Tuttle, chief operating officer, to discuss Glassfab’s approach to shaping a culture that attracts and retains employees and builds a sense of belonging in the workplace.
Inclusive. We consider and include our suppliers, employees and customers in our decisions as we conduct our business.
When addressing the culture at Glassfab, it is important to remember our start back in 2006. We are a company founded by a diverse group of industry leaders that recognized None of us are as smart as all of us, all of us need each one of us. There is an importance of putting egos on the shelf and consistently acting in a manner of what’s best for our employees, vendors and customers.
Everyone is treated with respect and kindness, and it creates a safe atmosphere where employees can bring their true self to work and focus on performing at a high level for our customers. This also enables them to feel open to share ideas for improvement.
Our team members understand the important role they play in helping our customers succeed. We share the financial rewards of those successes.
We are a large extended family. Thinking, looking and acting differently allows us to seek out the best ways to think, look and act. We are blessed to have team members from many diverse countries.
Diversity has been in Glassfab’s DNA since day one. Our culture values and creates an atmosphere of varied points of view at all levels of our business. This ultimately leads to high performance in the business. Diversity in thought is as equally important as cultural diversity.
We only succeed when our customers succeed. Our genuine care shows when we do what our customers ask us to do so they can be successful.
To be a great company, we need to help and support great customers over the long run. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our service to customers, such as through shorter lead times, better quality, speed to market, new equipment, new products or even expanding to other geographies as needed. We listen closely to the voice of our customers and value them as long-term partners.
And these relationships impact our long-term success. We can depend on each other. Our customers have been there for us, and we will be there for them. At the end of the day, we are ultimately selling our glazing partners’ products that they can buy from any number of competitors. We sell a commodity product. But relationships are paramount in our business.
These relationships develop by solving problems and being a resource for them over the long run. We are a solutions provider.
Our key indicators of performance tell us how we are doing. Repeat business tells us how we are doing. Growth and development indicate how successful we are. Many of our newly hired employees come from referrals. We love that people want to work with us. We are very fortunate to not be constrained by labor.
Valuing diversity of thought also helps us improve further. We are intentional about creating an environment where employees can give feedback for improvement in all areas of our business, whether it is HR policy or process flow improvements. This comes naturally to us and is not something we need to force through initiatives. We make diversity a way of being instead of a check the box exercise to show compliance.
Glassfab is here for the long game. Our next generation of leaders are incredibly bright, fearless and amazingly creative. We will continue to invest in their future and expect they will do the same for the generation after them. Yes, we have invested much into the future leadership of Glassfab. The experience they are currently soaking up will allow them to grow customer and supplier relationships for years to come.
They are doing it today with guidance from the broader team. In a lot of ways, they have taught us how to use technology to refine our process and improve our business. They have also led the charge with intentional cross-training and development at all levels.
Our culture is made up by how we act and do things every day. It is a concentrated focus on working on what is important now. With a great amount of collaboration, we are left with an amazing group of thriving team members who genuinely care about our customers and suppliers. We are blessed to be able to do what we do every day.
In late 2022, I interviewed a trio of leaders from Glassfab Tempering Services Inc. about how they are preparing for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Glassfab is a glass fabricator based in Tracy, California, that has grown tremendously over its 16-year history. The company started as an eight-person shop in 2006, looking to produce high-quality heavy fabricated tempered glass for the expanding shower door and glass partition business. Today, it operates four manufacturing facilities and employs over 300 people. The company offers a wide range of glass fabrication capabilities, including tempering, insulating, laminating, digital printing, jumbo sizes, hardware, Solarfab and more.
In recent years, Glassfab leaders have been actively pursuing new investments to meet evolving market demands, all while undergoing a major management transition as several founding members of the team move toward retirement. I spoke with Rob Gardner Black, president, Brian Frea, COO, and Greg Grothoff, vice president of strategic business development, about this transition and the company’s trajectory going forward. Frea has been with the company since nearly the beginning, starting as vice president of operations in 2007. Meanwhile, Black joined the firm in 2015 as operations manager and Grothoff in 2021 as part of the company’s efforts to build a new generation of leaders.
Brian Frea: We have made a sizable investment in our people. The succession plan started back about 10 years ago with the next generation. This group is smarter, more creative and thinks outside of the box, while supportive of the culture that drives us as Glassfab.
Greg Grothoff: The challenge of people provides us with our biggest opportunity to train the next generation at all levels. Cross-training our employees creates the opportunity for advancement within our organization and helps our employees grow their careers. We are intentional in our approach of cross-department and cross-function training, which provides the platform to grow. This will fuel our geographical expansion as well as set the foundation for future generations of leaders. We also utilize tools provided by industry partners such as myglassclass.com, as well as vendor partner experts who provide onsite training for our staff. We feel this is the best way to fuel our growth and create the next generation of leaders at all levels.
Rob Gardner Black: Initial exposure comes from hands-on experience working in customer service, procurement, production, equipment installation and maintenance, for example. The next generation of supervisors, managers and leadership all have a granular understanding and deep working knowledge of the business, industry and customer needs. In conjunction with this learning, the Glassfab culture is a pivotal aspect of our company as it guides not only how we embrace our customers but our employees too. At Glassfab we believe that ‘culture will eat strategy for lunch every time.’ Using a system of progressive overload, future leaders work through positions of increasing responsibility and opportunity during which, mentoring and results are used to assist and refine performance.
BF: The future of the glass industry will require more innovation and technology to keep up with growing demands. [Building integrated photovoltaics] and solarfab are two examples. For Glassfab, looking ahead, we are going to continue to focus on profitable and manageable growth—on making the right investments into our business that will add the most value to our customers.
RGB: We’re seeing a continued increase in oversized regular insulating glass and laminated IG. Asymmetrical IG is also becoming very popular and is driving the anisotropy aspect of quality control.
GG: I agree with Rob. We will continue to see an increase in overall glass size, especially in podium applications. There will be an equal push to drive energy performance in post-temperable coatings combined with new technologies like vacuuming IG. Finally, we will continue to see massive growth in laminated security applications. … For Glassfab, our growth will occur in both new products and new geographies. Our next major addition will be on the architectural aluminum side of the business. I’m very excited about the move into this side of our industry. Soon we will also offer bent-tempered products, which is something we have not offered before.
GG: The industry seems to have shifted to larger independent fabricators stepping up and servicing the industry with a focus on localized customer service. I believe we will also see major advancements in post-temperable, low-emissivity glass advancing high visible light while meeting the values that allow us to win the battle for the wall. In some of these cases, we will see these low-e’s combined with [vacuum insulating glass]. I also believe we will continue to see a bigger shift to value-added security glazing products.
RGB: Anisotropy measurement and classification are being seen more often. … To better support this growing trend, Glassfab purchased the latest generation of LiteSentry measurement equipment that combines RWD and anisotropy. Large-scale digital printing using vibrant and more complicated designs is being specified by architects as the benefits and almost limitless capabilities of digital printing are being seen by a wider audience. These are being used in building façade designs, sky bridges and canopies. Glassfab has the largest Dip-Tech ERA digital printer that can print oversized lites, which can also be laminated in our oversized laminated line offering customers both flexibility and many options when it comes to design and product styles.
BF: Glassfab made a sizeable investment three years ago when we purchased the new 36-acre/210,000-square-foot under-roof [facility] in Tracy. … The new site allows us to expand using the most advanced industry equipment. We can conquer the quality expectations through the eyes of the end user and meet market demands for better quality glass products.
RGB: We’ve added oversized tempering, digital printing and laminated to better serve the need for larger-sized glass. … Customer feedback is the biggest driver [of investment]. As our customers come across new products, requirements and trends, they partner with us and we look to respond with appropriate manufacturing equipment, products or distribution tools.
GG: The well-being of our employees and their families, vendor partners, and overall community drive our capital investment strategy. We have added multiple buildings and countless pieces of equipment, but our biggest investment lies in our people, which have fueled our exponential growth over the past 16 years.
BF: Currently, we are underway in producing our BIPV products for a local project. These products are, by far, the most complex to manufacture with their critical specifications and construction. As these intricate products prove to be challenging, the successful completion of these products becomes that much more rewarding.
GG: We recently completed a complex, digitally printed, laminated project. This project utilized DXF files to produce oversized, heavy 13/16-inch, digitally printed, low-iron SentryGlas laminated with custom fabricated holes and radius polish. This project was produced over a short time frame, which required seamless communication between customer service, operations and transportation. The team performed flawlessly and we met our customers’ tight timeframe for completion. I was proud to be a part of the project and humbled to be a part of such a great team.
BUILDING A CULTURE OF QUALITY AND SERVICE
Glassfab Tempering Services Inc. opened its doors in 2006 with eight people working to produce high-quality heavy fabricated tempered glass for the burgeoning shower door and glass partition business. Today, just 16 years later, Glassfab, based in Tracy, California, now operates four manufacturing facilities and employs nearly 300 people. Glassfab has diversified its product portfolio and become a leader in glass tempering, insulating, laminating, digital printing, jumbo sizes, hardware, Solarfab and more.
In June, I sat down with Mike Goldfarb, one of Glassfab’s original managing partners and vice president of sales for the company. Goldfarb is retiring from Glassfab at the end of the year, after 42 years in the industry, and is dedicated to ensuring Glassfab’s legacy of quality and service continues on to the next generation of leaders. Goldfarb and I discussed his history in the industry, the impressive growth of Glassfab, and how to build a culture of quality and service that lasts.
The market itself was going through transition. We saw a unique opportunity to develop a company for fabricated tempered glass. Additionally, Tracy is centrally located. We were able to easily serve the Bay Area, Sacramento and Fresno from a central location. The central location and the market need for a reliable fabricator positioned us well for the growth you see today.
As a company, our durable competitive edge is commitment to excellence, whether it’s customer service, quality or lead times. For me, as a partner, my role has been to help build long-lasting relationships. I’ve been involved with amazing people, capturing opportunities while maximizing results, always with integrity and honesty.
Really it starts at the top with Brian [Frea], Ruby [Singh], Usha [Mhay] and myself. We take the time to engage with our employees starting at the interviewing process, and we stay engaged with them to make sure they are supported in everything they do. We are a large independent fabricator that has been able to keep our family values at the core of what we do regardless of how we have grown or will grow in the future. We also invest in our employees with our training and product knowledge and customer service. I tell our employees to learn something new every day and pass that knowledge on. Keep an open mind externally and internally.
We have invested a large amount of time in our next generation of leaders, who have shown a desire and aptitude to tackle challenges head-on and who understand all aspects of our business. The next generation leaders are ready to carry our culture forward and I’m excited and proud to see where they are today versus when they started. They are situated well to grab the torch and take Glassfab into the next stage of growth. My son, Aaron, has been with the company for 10 years in architectural sales. They are ready to support our customers and to help them grow their businesses.
Every product used in our industry has evolved. We see new technologies, improved performance, aesthetics. Components for value-added glass are more sophisticated and require state-of-the-art equipment. When I started in glass there were a handful of choices; now there are thousands of glass combinations that require specialty handling in a quick ever-changing environment. With the addition of products like Solarfab, we will see the industry continue to change quickly, driving to more environmental sustainability and security glass applications while maintaining visible light and thermal performance. Technology will change our industry quickly, but I’m excited to see the direction we are going as an industry.
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Our Locations
Mariani
1448 Mariani Court Tracy, CA 95376
Linne
8690 W Linne Road Tracy, CA 95304
Holly
4101 Holly Drive Tracy, CA 95376
Reno
1802-A Brierley Way #102
Sparks, NV 89434