Auto Glass Week 2022 Heads to San Antonio as Industry Celebrates Return to Full Events

By late July 2022, Auto Glass Week—the industry's premier annual conference and skills competition—had completed its pre-registration period with strong attendance numbers, signaling that the trade event community was returning to form after the disruptions of the pandemic years. The 2022 event was slated for San Antonio, Texas, at the Henry B. González Convention Center in September.

The conference combined technical education, product exhibition, and the competitive demonstrations that had become a signature of Auto Glass Week. The Windshield Repair Competition (WRC) and Auto Glass Replacement competitions drew technicians from across North America who used the event to benchmark their skills against peers and demonstrate mastery of techniques under judged conditions.

On the exhibition floor, vendors brought calibration equipment that reflected the industry's dominant theme of the moment. Agile Truck and Auto Tools of Indiana was among the exhibitors showcasing ADAS calibration equipment lines including the Autel MA600 LDW, Standard Frame LDW, IA900 LDW and MA600 Core2. Carlex Glass and XYG North America showcased glass products including new model coverage and technology innovations.

CarCal Experts of Denver made its Auto Glass Week debut in 2022, unveiling its Easy Cal 1.0 portable calibration system. Representatives described performing 30 to 50 vehicle calibrations per day with the system in commercial use, and claimed the ability to achieve 12 calibrations per hour under optimal conditions—a production rate that, if accurate, would represent a significant throughput advantage for high-volume glass operations.

For technicians planning attendance in retrospect, the 2022 San Antonio event was a snapshot of an industry at a pivot point: calibration had graduated from specialty service to expected capability, and the conference programming reflected that shift with more ADAS-focused sessions than any prior year.

The San Antonio conference also served as a market research moment for vendors and shop owners alike. The products and services receiving the most attention on the show floor—calibration tools, OEM glass lines, documentation software—were leading indicators of where the industry's investment energy was concentrated. Shops that left San Antonio with a concrete list of investments to evaluate for the following twelve months typically outperformed those that attended without a structured evaluation agenda.