Christopher Barry

Director, Technical Services
Pilkington NA Inc.

Chris Barry worked on float glass production and fabrication with Pilkington Canada from 1966 to 1986. Since 1986 he has worked in Technical Services for Pilkington North America in Toledo, Ohio. He is an active member of ASTM, ASHRAE, IGMA, GANA and other glass associations. He presented papers on Thermal Stress and Visual Distortions in Glass at 1997 Glass Processing Days.
Chris Barry graduated from the University College Dublin, Ireland with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and then spent 2 years in England in control systems for Smiths Instruments Ltd. He then traveled through Euorpe, Asia and NE Africa for 2 years. In 1967 he joined Pilkington Glass, Canada, commissioned and developed cutting and wareroom technology for the first two float glass lines in Canada, and developed and designed advanced IG (Insulating Glass) constructions and assembly lines. In 1976 he became the General Manager of the GlassCrete Division of Pilkington Glass (glass fiber reinforeced cement); operated the pilot manufacturing plant, designing and producing glass fiber reinforced cement products. In 1981 Chris became the Technical Manager of the Canadian Glass Division. His main responsibilities were technical design, fabrication and installation assistance for architectural products with internal and external customers.

In 1986 Chris moved to Toledo, Ohio to be the Manager of Architectural Technical Services for Libbey-Owens-Ford as it was being acquired by Pilkington. His duties included literature preparation, design guides, standards and training programs, and general technical assistance in product design, installation and problem resolution. Chris is now the Director of Technical Services, Building Products, Pilkington North America Inc. Chris is an active member of IGMAC (now IGMA), ASTM and ASHRAE. He is a frequent presenter at trade shows and conferences such as Glass Week in the US, and Glass Performance Days, Finland.

He enjoys racing windsurfers, ocean sailing, tennis, literature and is now back at school studying astronomy and cosmology.