Viracon’s Chuck Wencl Receives Harry Miles Award at NGA Glass Conference: Milwaukee

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(l-r) Chuck Wencl receives award from Stanley Joehlin & Ren Bartoe | Photo: NGA

Date: 8 August 2024

Chuck Wencl, who has worked for 50 years as glass processing engineer at Viracon, was named the sixth recipient of the Harry Miles Award of Excellence during the NGA Glass Conference: Milwaukee.

The award started within the Glass Association of North America, which combined with the NGA in 2018. It is named after Harry Miles, who for decades drove advancements in flat glass processing technologies and was the first full time technical advisor for GANA. Miles received the first award in 2000, and since then it has been presented to just four individuals: Bob Brown (2002), Stanley Joehlin (2005), Bob Maltby (2009) and Ren Bartoe (2019).

Bartoe and Joehlin were on hand Aug. 6 during the NGA Glass Conference reception at the Milwaukee Art Museum to present the sixth Harry Miles Award of Excellence to Wencl “in recognition of individual contributions to the technical advancement of the association and of the glass and glazing industry,” says Bartoe, retired director, glass and industrial technologies worldwide, Vesuvius, and current principle of Ren Bartoe Consulting Services LLC.

“I have felt for last few years, Chuck was the best individual I knew who was entitled to the number six award,” says Joehlin of S.W. Joehlin Inc., formerly of Glasstech Inc. “I spent my entire career in tempering industry. … Chuck was always looking for a better way to do things. And I think that is, as often as he was right, probably one reason Viracon has been as successful as it has.”

“This is quite an honor,” says Wencl. “Stan, Ren, we’ve known each other for a lot of years. Bob Maltby is one of my greatest mentors. Bob Brown. It’s a real honor standing here, to be included among one of those guys.

During the ceremony, Wencl recognized the support and partnership of his wife, Jerrie Rose Wencl. “I have to admit, I couldn’t do this on my own,” he says. “I’m from that age of people that cares for people. If a machine goes down, it’s not just Viracon, it’s all those people’s lives that are affected, because if I wasn’t there to get it back up and running, that machine would be down, and they’d have to go home, and they couldn’t make a living either. [Jerrie] has understood that and has backed me the whole way.”