Here are some highlights from the technical meetings at our very productive and enjoyable Winter Conference in Tucson, Ariz.

The new quality manual TM‐4500, Quality Management System for the Fabrication of Insulating Glass Units to the ISO 9001:2008 Standard and the Tier 2 document TM-4510, Quality Procedures for the Fabrication of Insulating Glass Units to the ISO 9001:2008 Standard are now both available from the IGMA Publication Store.TM-4515, Quality Work Instruction for the Fabrication of Insulating Glass Units to the ISO 9001 Standard has been balloted to the Certification Committee.  Once that work has been completed, the task group will focus on the forms. Once all four tiers have been developed, users will be able to purchase the complete quality management system or each of the separate manuals. When finished, these documents will constitute a ready-made, ISO-compliant quality program specifically for the glass fabrication industry.

TB‐2700‐18, Sealant Adhesion to Spacer Test Method has been published and is also available from the IGMA Publication Store.

The ISO standard for vacuum insulating glass will be published shortly.  Now that there is a standard for the product, the task group will be developing certification guidelines for testing VIG under the glazing guidelines working group’s glazing guidelines for VIG.

The Emerging Technologies and Innovation Committee formally voted to participate in the revision of the Window Product Category Rules with the American Architectural Manufacturers Association and the Window and Door Manufacturers Association.  The current proposal, which requires review from the joint industry Memorandum of Understanding Committee, is to develop separate PCRs for residential and commercial fenestration products. The residential PCR would include a use phase while the commercial one would be a B-to-C PCR.

The IG cavity compensation task group has developed a technical manual providing generic design alternatives for cavity compensation for insulating glass units and ways to determine conditions that impact the pressure in the IGU cavity. Items included in the document are capillary and breather tubes, one-way valves, desiccant adsorption/desorption, pre‐inflating/pre‐deflating the unit, temperature manipulation during fabrication and the use of bladders. The draft document, identified as TM‐3200‐XX is already in its seventh draft. The document will be formatted the same as the Guidelines for Use of Capillary Tubes and will address pros and cons; special manufacturing and handling requirements; and other information specific to each methodology.

Working jointly with the AAMA Glass Materials Council, the visual quality task group has developed a consumer guide to understanding glass standards, which will be posted as a webpage rather than a technical publication.

CSA is seeking participation from the industry to develop a standard for bird-friendly glass. If you are interested in participating in this standard development, please contact the IGMA office.

An update was provided on the Canadian government’s industry stakeholders meetings on the new proposed energy requirements to achieve Net Zero for all buildings by 2030.

The IG Fabricator Workshop held Nov. 7 through 9 at the Intertek test facilities in Plano, Texas, was sold out and, due to group size limitations, several interested individuals were turned away. Originally it was reported that a workshop would be held in conjunction with the IGMA 2018 Summer Conference (July 31 through Aug. 2 in Vancouver), however the committee has decided that due to the interest in the workshop the location for the next couple of years will be set to the Intertek facilities. Dates need to be confirmed but will be during the first two weeks of November 2018.