Alistair Houghton meets PHILL MILLWARD, managing director of CGI International

THE secret of CGI International’s success is impossible to see – but, as a glass manufacturer, that’s precisely the point.

Haydock-based CGI, led by managing director Phill Millward, makes fire-resistant glass that is sold around the globe and been used in some of the world’s most high-profile building projects.

The key to many of its products, says Millward, is the “interlayer” polymer that its workers carefully inject between sheets of flat glass to create its specialist products, which can be up to two inches thick while remaining as crystal clear as the thinnest pane.

As architects and designers become ever more demanding, CGI needs to keep expanding its product range and pushing the limits of its technology.

And, taking visitors round CGI’s purpose-built plant, the ever-enthusiastic Millward loves pointing out the company’s new research laboratory where chemist Dr Vince Crook is charged with further improving the performance of its Pyroguard range.

Dr Crook’s recruitment is part of a £200,000 investment in R&D that Millward believes will help the company to continue to thrive, despite the slowdown in the construction market.

He said: Š“We’ve got a good product, but we believe the demands of the market are getting greater and greater. They want bigger sizes of glass, or to test it for different applications. The demand for more applications is always there.

Š“What we’ve done is brought in an R&D guy who specialises in fire-retardant polymers.

“Glass will continue to prove a popular design feature of modern buildings as it harnesses natural light and allows for the combination of old and new architecture.

“Constantly investing in R&D enables CGI to effectively meet burgeoning market demand and the evolving and ambitious plans of architects.”

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.

ŠMillward said: “He was the guy who saw the opportunity that could take the product further. The product needed some new developments.”

ŠCGI performed ahead of Dunedin’s expectations, with the newly-developed Pyroguard range becoming a market leader throughout Europe. Š

ŠThe company moved premises twice in those 10 years to keep pace with expansion, eventually moving to its current purpose-built home in 2002.

In 2004 – the year Millward joined CGI – Dunedin launched a £35m recapitalisation of the business.

And, in April, Millward became managing director after another refinancing package from Dunedin, with whom he says CGI has a “very strong” relationship. The St Helens area is already synonymous with glass – and CGI, which employs 55 people, buys its “raw material” flat glass from rival Pilkington, as well as from other leading glassmakers such as Saint Gobain.

ŠAs a company whose products are used in the construction trade, Millward and his team at CGI could be affected by the ongoing economic downturn that has seen the brakes put on many building projects.

ŠBut he is confident that, as much of CGI’s work involves refurbishing or converting existing buildings, the company will be able to ride out any slowdown in new-build work.

Š“At the moment, we haven’t felt the full force of the downturn in building,” he said. “There’s a bit of anticipation it may hit us. We’re weathering the storm at the moment, but time will tell.”

The company’s strong export performance also helps insure it against the UK market slowdown.

ŠCGI sells glass throughout Europe and exports as far afield as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Š“We sell wherever we can go,” said Millward. Š“If we think there’s an opportunity there, we’ll go and visit. We’ve got a good base of customers in different markets. Ireland has been going very well. Š

“I’ve just come back from Sweden, and the market there is quite buoyant.

“We’re taking a look farther afield. ŠWe’ve seen opportunities in the Czech Republic and Romania recently.”

Millward’s priority for the immediate future of his business is to keep growing into those new markets.

“I’m not trying to take over the world,” he said, “but want to be able to get more market share in lots of European and Eastern European countries.

Š“We also want to extend our work. We’ve also been doing some fact-finding in the Dubai and Middle Eastern market, and then probably farther afield – even to Australia.”

alistairhoughton