The secret of firm’s global success is very clear to see

Jul 9 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

The secret of firm’s global success is very clear to see

Alistair Houghton meets PHILL MILLWARD, managing director of CGI International

CGI’s products evolved from wired glass designed to hold together for a period of time as a fire rages, and to offer protection from smoke and flames.

The firm’s Pyroguard and Fireswiss Foam interlayers – as well as being clear – also prevent heat from getting through. The thicker the glass, the more protection it offers.

From Hong Kong airport and the Houses of Parliament, to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and the Flying Scotsman, CGI’s glass is used around the world.

ŠSome 60% of CGI’s products are exported, and in 2004 it won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise to acknowledge its overseas success.

ŠSending glass sheets around the world may seem a risky business, but Millward says breakages are, in fact, uncommon.

ŠHe said: “There is a perception that it’s expensive to transport glass, but when you have 20 sheets a pack it’s very robust.”

Packaging is something Carlisle-born Millward knows all about, having spent his pre-CGI career in the industry.

He started at steel drum manufacturer Reeds, in Liverpool, and has since worked for businesses specialising in industrial adhesives and printed cartons.

He returned to the steel drum industry with Bradford’s T&D Packaging, spending several months in the south of England at other businesses owned by T&D’s chairman before joining CGI in 2004. CGI was originally known as Northern Wired before it was bought by conglomerate Colebrand, becoming Colebrand Glass. The company was a pioneer in the development of fire safety glass, developing new interlayers and coatings

ŠBut, in 1998, it underwent a £10m buyout by a team led by manager Tom Ritchie and backed by Dunedin Capital Partners. The business was renamed CGI, in a nod to the well-known Colebrand name, and Mr Ritchie became managing director.