Spectrum Glass, a leading supplier of art glass materials including its System 96 family of products that includes compatible sheet glass and cullet for furnaces, shocked the glass world on Wednesday, May 11th, with its announcement it has begun an appoximately two-month process of closing its operations. For four decades, the Woodinville, Washington, company has been a major supplier of materials for stained glass and fusing projects, and also offered a popular line of premelted cullet used by many studios to speed the time for charging furnaces while also offering compatibility with the company's extensive line of sheet glass. In its communication to customers, Spectrum cited the twin factors of overcapacity and a more complex regulatory climate for glass producers as the reasons for this decision. The announcement cited the dramatic sales decline that followed the economic recession in the late 2000s, and now estimates that the company is operating at only 40 percent of capacity. "Our consistently reduced levels of sales simply cannot cover the fixed costs required to operate a facility of our size," reads the official announcement posted on the company hompage.
In response to emailed questions about whether a sale is possible by the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet, Spectrum Glass CEO Craig Barker responded: “Many have asked whether we might sell our whole company, or if others will license and carry on with some of our product lines. Because of the market factors we have encountered in recent years, we do not think it is likely that a single buyer will continue Spectrum’s operations as they are now. However, now that we have completed the process of notifying our employees, customers and other key stakeholders, we will begin to explore opportunities to transition our product lines to other manufacturers. We will share updates if and when they are available.”
On Friday afternoon, Olympic Color Rods posted on Facebook that its extensive Spectrum inventory is "more than adequate in most locations and we are going to obtain Spectrum’s current inventory as well as their future production through their closure this summer." Olympic Color Rods referred specifically to Spectrum Nuggets cullet. "Rest assured that Olympic Color Rods is and will be taking action to ensure the production of these nuggets beyond Spectrum’s closure. We have just begun evaluating the options and speaking with other interested parties. We will keep the community posted as events unfold."
On Thursday, Uroboros in Portland, Oregon, which had been making some of Spectrum's colors until it temporarily stopped production because of new scruitiny about environmental controls while melting toxic metals to create certain hues, also posted on Facebook to reassure customers. On Thursday, they posted the following on their Facebook page: "we are building a plan to emerge from our current color suspension status with a long term emissions control agreement with environmental regulators. Under this agreement, once the appropriate equipment is in place, we anticipate being able to resume full production of our own colors, as well as begin to produce System 96 colors previously made by Spectrum as those run out. Meanwhile, we have or will soon have a secure supply of Spectrum made color needed for System 96 frit production – enough to last until at least the end of the year. At that time we expect to be able to replace these colors with the Uroboros made version."
What emerges from this fast-developing situation is unclear, though there are encouraging signs that specific product lines will continue to be produced by other companies after the Spectrum closure this summer. Stay tuned.