A San Antonio Showcase
By Chris Collier
As if there wasn’t enough to do in San Antonio … Auto Glass Week™ filled the calendar with opportunities to scan companies’ latest products and services at the Henry B. González Convention Center.
XYG North America and Agile Truck and Auto Tools
XYG North America showcased its windshield and charging technology at Auto Glass Week.
“We’re showing off a few new [windshield] models that we have developed and offered to the market,” said XYG North America president Henri Tam. “We also have a new product that we are bringing to the market—charging equipment for electric vehicles.” Agile Truck and Auto Tools of Indiana was on the show floor with its collection of ADAS calibration equipment, including the Autel MA600 LDW, Standard Frame LDW, IA900 LDW
and the MA600 Core2. Agile’s Will Govan said show goers are better educated with respect to calibration than they were last year. And he noted that it’s nice to see so much traffic at Auto Glass Week™.
“Last year involved a lot of education, getting them to know that they actually need this equipment as glass installers,” Govan said. “This year, people are a lot better educated and a lot of them actually have our systems currently. It’s kind of building our back business and if you need additional products, we’ll be here to help you out. Generally, we’ve received very positive feedback.”
Business is “very strong” for Agile. Govan said since July 2022 Agile Truck and Auto Tools has experienced an upward trend in sales, as well as developed a number of new business leads.
American Glass Distributors
Kevin Atkins was just one of the representatives of American Glass Distributors, a distributor of automotive glass and supplies. He answered questions from a long line of booth visitors.
“People want to know where we service and what we sell,” Atkins said.
American Glass Distributors provides OEM and aftermarket parts for numerous vehicle makes and models. The company also offers several auto glass tools, including hand, power-cut and more. Primers, urethanes and even glass cleaners are on the table.
“Business is good, in general,” Atkins said. “The best it’s ever been? Probably
not, but it’s still plenty good enough.”
CarCal Experts and Carlex Glass
Denver-based CarCal Experts unveiled its brand new Easy Cal 1.0 at Auto Glass Week™, which it described as a portable calibration system.
“This thing breaks down into four pieces, and one thing we do is we provide you with the numbers,” said Craig Weskamp. “So if you already have a tablet you don’t need to buy one because it’s compatible with everything. On the back of each target, we’ll tell you where you set the height and where the targets go.”
The only other steps in the process are to click “next” on one’s tablet and finally “calibration.”
“This is the first day this has been public,” said Michael Preisendorf. “We’ve
been using it in the field for quite a while, but we’ve never tried to sell one
until today.”
Preisendorf said the technology allows CarCal Experts to perform calibrations on 30 to 50 cars a day. The two company representatives combined have performed 72 calibrations in only four hours. Generally, 12 calibrations per hour are possible with Easy Cal 1.0.
“When we built it we thought ‘this thing is so good, these glass guys need this,’” Weskamp said.
CarCal Experts attended Auto Glass Week™ for the first time this year. “The response has been awesome,” said Weskamp, adding that competitors were even taking notice before the show started.
Carlex Glass was on hand with a selection of its automotive glass products, as well as representatives equipped with the knowledge to inform attendees of all the company’s additional offerings.
Of particular interest to one visitor of the Carlex exhibit was the database that allows for cross-referencing NAGS numbers with VINs. Elaine Marshall of Carlex said the database allows shops to ensure they’re finding and using the correct parts.
DuPont and AirPro Diagnostics
On display at the Delaware-headquartered DuPont exhibit this week were the company’s Betaseal urethanes. Company representatives received positive feedback on the products, including the new U-428HV formula, while attendees also sought guidance concerning supply challenges.
“Right now, there are supply challenges with urethane, of course,” said Cal O’Connor of questions asked by booth visitors. “But things are getting better. From a raw material standpoint, things are good and certainly improving, and output is going to continue to increase to the market.”
DuPont received positive feedback on multiple products, in particular the new U-428HV formula.
“A lot of customers are starting to use that higher viscosity formula,” O’Connor said. “It also cuts the drive-away time basically in half. So now it’s three hours above 50° and four hours from 32° to 50°. That’s a massive improvement.”
After the struggles associated with COVID-19, O’Connor said it’s nice to see customers’ faces and receive feedback at Auto Glass Week™.
AirPro Diagnostics of Florida showcased its Auggie Digital Targeting System for forward-facing cameras.
“So all of these other booths there they have targets in front of the vehicle, we actually eliminate all of that by setting all of that up in front of the camera on the windshield, said Andrew Bathe. “It’s pretty revolutionary, pretty unique.”
After being on the market for approximately one year, AirPro just recently allowed its Auggie to work with other scan tools.
“People want to know, is it really mobile and does it work? Yes, it works and it’s pretty easy,” Bathe said. “It’s a lot faster than setting up targets in front of the vehicle.”
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