Elco Glass industries in Lakewood, New Jersey, USA, has been operating their new LandGlass flat and bent bi-directional glass tempering furnace with great success for two years. The decision to purchase this furnace has been deemed a "great one" by Mr. Eli Bavarsky, the charismatic owner of Elco Glass Industries. He recently stated, "The LandGlass furnace has given me the opportunity to sleep better at night.”
In 2008, Mr. Bavarsky decided to add this LandGlass furnace as the second furnace to his operation in 2008 after meeting with IGE Glass Technologies’, Mr. Michael Spellman and Mr. Manuel Borda, who serve as the North American distributor for LandGlass. The reasons were based on his desire and vision of the future of bent tempered glass. Additionally, he also wanted a back-up for his first tempering furnace. Eli states, "LandGlass' quality, innovation and just plain smart design, along with super high quality parts, made the decision to use LandGlass an easy one.” He continued on to tell the story of his relationship with Michael Spellman, founder and owner of IGE, which started over 30 years ago. Many, many years after their first meeting, Eli states "I was so happy to be doing this business with my friend after all these years. IGE is the best organization in our industry today. IGE and LandGlass have a wonderful partnership and I know that they will be tremendously successful together.”
The story of Elco Glass Industries is really the story of Eli Bavarsky, an expert in grinding, plotting and beveling glass. Eli was born in Lithuania in the early 1950's. He grew up in this Soviet country, and then emigrated to Israel for secondary education. In Israel, he studied Art History. After college, he decided to relocate to the United States and he chose New Jersey upon arriving in the US in 1975. Eli took a job in a glass shop and began to study English. He did well in both endeavors, as he quickly learned how to communicate in English and how to succeed in business. Eli did all the jobs from the bottom up. He became a master glass cutter, an installer of windows, mirror and doors, while grinding and polishing glass. With his eye for art in architecture coupled with his natural business acumen, Eli rose up the ladder very quickly to become dissatisfied with being only an employee; it was time to start his own business.
Eli was driven to own his own company. During this period, he learned many important lessons which have all added to his success. He learned the importance of quality, relationships and dependability. Also during this time, he researched and decided that good glass fabrication needed to be done with good machinery and that hand operations led to poor quality and poor production. This was Eli's deciding moment to buy or start his own glass shop. So, in 1984, armed with the ability to speak English, a nine year education in the glass industry and some hard earned saved cash, he bought Lakewood Glass in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Eli's first day as the new owner of Lakewood Glass was a very interesting one, as he was quick to realize that this business he now owned had some very inefficient practices based upon short sighted decisions. He immediately closed the unprofitable divisions of this company, and directed it to focus on fabrication starting with the purchase of an automatic polishing machine and beveling machine, which he purchased from Michael Spellman. This was a big decision that led Eli and Elco Glass Industries on an exciting path in the flat glass fabrication industry, and the beginning of an important business relationship for both men.
Eli always had great vision. In the early half of the 1980's, he could see far in advance the popularity increasing for mirrored walls in homes and apartments. During this period, houses were being built with small square footage, and mirrored walls were a good way to make a small room look larger. Eli learned everything possible about mirror and mirror installation, and began to rise as the leader in mirror fabrication in the Northeast. He found a way to manufacture beveled mirror strips so efficiently and in expensively that even the mirror manufacturers from the south bought from him rather than doing it themselves. He was always there with a solid supply for his customers and contractors. At one point, Eli was asked to be a partner of one of the most famous mirror manufacturers at that time.
While at the same time, Eli could see that the end of this mirror trend would come some day and he didn’t want to have all his eggs in this one basket. So he expanded into some more new equipment. His decision was to purchase a horizontal double edger, and his target was the makers of bathroom medicine cabinets. Soon Elco was producing over 10,000 glass shelves per day. This was growing faster than Eli ever imagined at the same time mirror walls and mirror strips were losing demand. Knowing all about supply and demand, Eli thought to himself, “What shall I do next?” He was afraid of the same demise for shelves as with mirror walls. This is the time when he was sure his next step was safety glass.
Eli bought his first furnace in 1999. The size he chose was a 60 inch by 100 inch furnace. He immediately became an expert in tempering and this expertise led Eli and Elco Glass Industries to a new level of success. Eli states, "I have been blessed with good decisions on equipment purchases.” This decision and the excellent timing was most beneficial, and added with Eli's production expertise, he was soon offering the industry 1 day service, which was unheard of at the time, with excellent quality fabricated glass. During this period, frameless shower doors became popular. Eli knew that he once again struck gold and soon became the top supplier in his region for these demanded frameless shower doors and cabinets.
Based on Elco's and Eli's vision came the ultimate decision to move to another aspect of the tempering business. Eli wanted to do bigger pieces and also envisioned the market for bent tempered glass. This interest started around 2005, and Eli's research proved disappointing from the aspect of bent tempered technology. The decision to enter this segment of the market had to wait, until the day Eli contacted his friends in the industry, IGE. The Sales Manager and the owner quickly brought him up to date with the LandGlass flat and bent tempered furnace technology. Eli became excited and inquired about a system that could perform two types of bends plus flat tempering on the same furnace. To his surprise, he was now hearing what he wanted to hear. Rather than hearing that it is not possible, he was now hearing from Mr. Spellman and the LandGlass engineers that it was possible. Soon after, Eli became the first customer to buy a LandGlass flat and bent glass furnace. Additionally, he did choose to buy two different bending sections. Now Elco had a back up to the first glass tempering furnace for flat tempered and a unique two bend system for tight and not so tight bends. He could produce round shower doors and round shower door units, and once again he found a niche and grew even more successful.
2011 was the year Eli felt comfortable with his tempering with the double B bending sections, doing flat one day and bends the next day, and someday doing both even before lunch, and now he was looking for the "next thing". His eye for architecture and creative design moved him quickly to a glass lamination system and a bending and fusing kiln. Once again calling on his friends at IGE Glass Technologies, IGE's advice was a lamination system they call the "Lammy Can" a system using EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) rather than PVB, allowing limitless design ideas. Using EVA, Eli knows that he could produce using a large array of colors. Also, with the "Lammy Can," the need for a nip line and autoclave was no longer needed, saving an investment and time into that kind of operation. Elco was producing product one day after installation. Furthermore, Eli states "Using EVA, there is also no need for special storage areas as EVA requires no special handling.”
2011 was also the year Elco expanded into glass fusing. He purchased the IGE Olympus kiln, a glass bending and fusing kiln which he quickly adapted to fit his vision for fused glass. "This has been a wonderful journey," Eli says when you ask him about his life so far in the glass industry. When you ask him what's next, he is quick to reply, "everything decorative." When you push him a little harder, he will say....”I am looking at digital printing on glass and also waterjet cutting.” No one knows what Eli will do next, but everyone knows Eli will find another winner.
The author of this article about Eli Bavarsky and Elco Glass Industries is a friend and a supplier, Michael Spellman. Michael started as an independent sales representative in 1978, and started focusing in the glass industry in 1980. Today, he proudly heads up his organization, IGE Glass Technologies and his support staff of 10 people. When asking him about his journey in the glass industry, he states "It has been a blast!” Meeting and working with so many people that he considers true friends, from customers to valued manufacturers, has made it so enjoyable.