RGT Glass America is a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer of architectural glass and a premier supplier to glazing contractors, designers, and architects.
With over 75 years of experience in the glass industry, the Rodriguez family continues to build on decades of expertise, while thriving to meet the present and future demands of glass innovation.
“Because we are family, we treat our clients like family.”
Company History
1945 – 1950, Cuba
Rene Rodriguez Sr. begins his life in glass by accident. He stumbles upon a book that provides him the recipe to apply the silver onto glass and create mirrors. A young man in a prosperous 1940’s Cuba, Rodriguez Sr. quickly masters the recipe and begins selling glass products locally and regionally. He soon becomes the principal supplier of small mirrors for farmers throughout the countryside to use while shaving.
1950 – 1965, Cuba
Together with his wife Elá, the young couple opens their first glass shop called “La Nueva.” By importing glass from the United States and selling throughout the island nation, they build a thriving operation with scores of employees and delivery trucks. They would soon though be forced to emigrate to the due to the ill-fated results of the Cuban Revolution. It was during these formative years that they would develop the know-how and hands-on experience in the glass business that they would so diligently replicate in the United States.
1973 – 2005, Union City, NJ
Elá and Rene Sr. open up their second glass shop. This time it is in the United States and it is called “Rodriguez Glass Company.” Their son Rene Rodriguez Jr. joins and they focus on installing storefronts, repairing windows, and designing mirrored walls. By the 1990’s, they transition the company to focus on fabrication and begin investing in beveling and edging machines. They would go on to become leaders in the beveling and polishing markets of New Jersey and New York.
2005 – 2020, North Bergen, NJ
With the retirement of Elá and Rene Sr., Rene Rodriguez Jr. expands both the footprint and the business model to exclusively focus on fabrication. His sons, Alberto, Alejandro, and Emmanuel join the company, allowing the third generation to lay the groundwork for what RGT Glass America would become. They concentrate on the shower door business, investing in automatic cutting tables, edging machines, and CNC equipment. Soon enough, they purchase their first tempering furnace to streamline and control the entire fabrication process.
2020 – Present, Saddle Brook, NJ
Expanding to its current facility at nearly 40,000 square feet allows RGT Glass America to considerably increase its fabrication capabilities. They do so by investing in a fully automatic line for insulated glass, lamination furnace, extended cutting line, and bigger tempering furnace. Additionally, the increased storage capacity to stock a wide array of glass in varying thicknesses, colors, and textures, has played an integral part in expanding RGT’s market reach well into the foreseeable future.