A Spotlight on Some of the Industry’s Current and Up-and-Coming Innovators
by Abby Bowman
Innovation takes many forms, from inventing a new tool to enhancing an older one. Pushing through adversity and finding success on the other side is yet another form of innovation.
The four people or companies listed here showcase innovation in all its forms. Some are already famous for their creations; others are just getting started. All have one thing in common: an entrepreneurial spirit.
The Asberys
Equalizer
Like many great companies, Equalizer started with a man tinkering in his garage.
The late Ray Asbery saw technicians struggling to remove windshields from the newly redesigned Ford Taurus in the ’80s and decided to make a tool to help.
The urethane at the bottom of the windshield was too thick for the cutout tools available, so technicians went a bit rogue to extract the glass.
“Technicians were beating the glass out with a hammer to get it out in a reasonable amount of time,” says Eric Asbery, Ray’s son and the CEO of Equalizer. “My dad saw that and said, ‘There’s got to be a better way to do this.’”
So, Ray Asbery set out to create it. He worked in his garage and eventually figured out a power tool modification that would make a reciprocating extractor, which he called “the Equalizer.”
That one tool blossomed into a whole company and many other inventions, Eric Asbery says. It also laid the groundwork for a program designed to help others in the industry bring their inventions to reality.
Equalizer launched Project Invention in the late ’80s. Technicians or others with ideas for new tools send the company pictures, descriptions or just “jotted-down notes” describing their inventions, and the company tests the concept to see if it works. If it does, and Equalizer sees a need for it, the company begins exploring supply chain and mass production options.
Asbery says by 2021, Equalizer had paid out over $2.5 million in royalties to these inventors since the program started.
Damon Badenell
Iron Hide Covers
Damon Badenell is humble about his own innovation.
“Car covers aren’t exactly rocket science,” says Badenell, founder and owner of Iron Hide Covers. “I don’t want to take credit for [creating anything new]. I just want to provide a helpful product.”
While Badenell didn’t invent car-protecting covers for auto glass technicians, he does put ample time, creativity and labor into making the most “helpful” covers he can.
Badenell taught himself how to sew and spends hours in his un-air-conditioned garage making the covers by hand. That’s after a full day’s work as an auto glass technician.
Badenell makes the covers out of polyester fabric, like boat covers. He lines the car-facing side of the front and hood covers with a soft microfiber jersey fabric that is gentle on the vehicle’s paint.
“I tried to find materials that were lightweight but still provided protection,” he says.
Badenell also offers customized printing on each set of covers, which is something he hasn’t seen other cover providers offer.
“You can put anything from your logo to a picture of the Ninja Turtles on there, and I’ll do it for you,” he says.
Most recently, Iron Hide Covers launched a cloth caddy that technicians can place on their glass racks to store tools, supplies and personal protective equipment in an easily accessible location as they work.
“Time is money,” Badenell says. “It’s good to invest in [products like this] to make your life easier.”
Christian Foss
ProSet Setting Tool
Christian Foss had the idea for the ProSet Setting Tool when a glass company owner asked him what setting tool he’d recommend for trainee technicians. He wanted something that would be intuitive for new installers and minimize warranty issues for his company.
As Foss thought about the question, he realized there weren’t any tools on the market that allowed for both easy setting and a low warranty claim rate. So, he decided to create one.
“I told [the owner] that I could build a setting tool that would be more universal,” Foss says. “He said I should do it, and he would buy from me.”
Foss asked himself what would make installations easier and used that as inspiration. He liked setting tools with long acrylic rods, but they had limitations.
“I felt it was on the wrong side of the windshield,” Foss says. “It needed to be on the outside so you didn’t have to lift the glass to remove it, which would stretch the urethane and potentially create leaks or squeeze the urethane out on the opposite side. The other drawback was that the tool had to be placed on the driver’s side and the installer had to set from the passenger side only. All the installers I knew set from the driver’s side, so I wanted my tool to be ambidextrous.”
Foss accounted for windshields that went deep under the hood by putting a sliding bar on his tool.
“It took about a year and a half to come up with all the elements to allow it to adapt to every hood and every windshield,” he says.
Not only did he succeed in making his own job more manageable, but Foss has also heard from many technicians, shop owners and managers about how the ProSet tool allows them to keep working longer than they thought they’d be able to.
“They tell me that the ProSet took a lot of strain and stress off their bodies,” Foss says. “I’ve even had a few owners and managers tell me it’s saved some of their employees’ jobs. They were struggling with leaks and warranty issues. The setting tool helped reduce errors, and they became much better installers.”
The PipeKnife Company acquired the marketing and production rights to the ProSet Setting Tool in the fall of 2024, but Foss remains active with the brand.
Gabriel Duran
2025 Ingenuity Award Winner
Becoming an auto glass technician was more than just a career change for Gabriel Duran, the Auto Glass Week™ 2025 Ingenuity Award winner. It was a fresh start.
Duran was the first official graduate from the Fix Network Apprenticeship Program (FNAP) for auto glass technicians and now works at Speedy Glass USA in Kennewick, Washington.
Duran caught the eye of the 2025 Auto Glass Technician Competition (AGTO) judges with his clever tool layout and a device that attached to the back hatch, locking it in place while he worked on the backlite. That Duran won the Ingenuity Award for this setup is not surprising. He has demonstrated ingenuity and innovation throughout his career.
Duran was homeless before he entered the FNAP. He and his pregnant girlfriend, now fiancée, were living on various friends’ couches when a local nonprofit connected him with the apprenticeship program. That, Duran says, was a blessing.
“It was rough,” he says. “I didn’t really have anything going for me at the time.”
Duran says he would never have been skilled in his craft enough to make the AGTO finals so soon in his career without instruction from his first manager/trainer.
“He taught me everything I know,” Duran says. “He taught me to follow procedures and stick to the guidelines.”
Duran’s first manager also gave him the door-locking tool and taught him the setup that impressed the AGTO judges. Duran’s manager saw him struggling to keep the trunk of a small car still as he worked and gave him the tool.
“I use that tool every time I get the chance,” Duran says. “It just makes my whole process a lot easier.”
Duran is grateful to have made the AGTO finals and won the Ingenuity Award, especially since he has only been in the industry for a few years. He plans to keep learning new things every day and compete again next year.
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