Asian Glass - Aug-Sept 2015 Edition

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August/September 2015

OFFICIAL M AGAZIN E:

5 1 0 2 T P E S 6 1 4 1 I, A DU B

Inside: Maghreb: High rise fever?

Iran in focus, part 1 Ultrathin glass revolutions Solar controlled glass

PLUS!

news, views, analysis and much, much more!

Visit us at GlassBuild September 16 -18, 2015 Atlanta Booth 3153

»

Quality and reliability have the highest priority at Benteler.

This affects every task and every project. That is the only way to meet the expectations of our customers.

Eugen Michaelis, Assembly

GLASS PROCESSING IS OUR PASSION ARCHITECTURAL AUTOMOTIVE SOLAR DISPLAY Benteler Mechanical Engineering – Glass Processing Machinery More than 60 years of experiences More than 3500 successfully installed machines In 55 different countries From a 2 m machine up to a 150 m line For glass thicknesses from 0,5 mm up to 90 mm From standard to customized solution Your partner for every task!

Benteler offers washing, drilling, grinding machines, CNC processing centers, handling systems, machinery for solar module production and for mirror production, as well as laminating lines. As standard machine or customized production line.

Please find more information under: www.benteler-glass.com Benteler Maschinenbau GmbH · Germany · www.benteler-glass.com · +49 521 542 0 · glass-processing@benteler.com

N

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At home in the world of glass

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201506

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HEGLA • Industriestr. 21 • D-37688 Beverungen • E-Mail: info@hegla.de 201506_anz_rapidline_210x297_bleed_5mm_gb_v4_gti.indd 1

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Trust in knowledge, not coincidence.

Do you know which glass sheet or unit is where and why at a given time? The more transparent processes are, the more precise the available information will be. LiSEC‘s monitoring tools enable seamless production traceability from the jumbo sheet to your finished glass product. This data allows you to steer your production by avoiding bottlenecks. Our extension of the production controls provides you an up-to-the-minute overview, allowing you to react in real time to customers‘ needs (e.g. rush jobs) as well as to changes in machine availability.

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at Visit us America d l i u B s s Gla ber Septem 8 1 6 1 935 Booth 1

Contents: August/September 2015 GLASS PROCESSING UNIT FOR SALE Asian Glass is pleased to offer to the market a state of the art expanding glass processing unit with existing customers both internally within the local market, and also within the export market. The plant has been in operation for the past 12 years and has shown significant growth in that time. In full operation this factory is offered for sale as a live business. Built on a plot of 11,000 sq metre the actual workshop is has been expanded on 2 different occasions within the last 5 years to bring it to its current 2,000 sq metre size. Full details from amurphy@bowheadmedia.com

Regulars 8 Welcome

Greening the UAE.

14 Headline News Openings, closures and industry moves from across Asia.

22 Global View

Our eye on the international arena.

26 People and Places Movers and shakers, ups and downs.

24 Batch Raw material news and views.

32 Comment & Analysis Jakarta prepares for Glasstech 2015.

8

asianglass august/september 2015

See us…where?!

Gulf Glass

14-16 September Dubai, UAE

AFGM, Cebu, Phillippines & Glassbuild America, Atlanta We look forward to seeing our readers and advertisers at the show! www.asianglass.com

www.asianglass.com Features 36 The rising size of MENA

Yogender Malik examines how the construction boom across the Arab regions of North Africa has had a profound effect on glass consumption.

46 Iranian container glass

AG discusses how a difficult decade for Iran’s container glass and glass tableware makers could be about to give way to a bright, expansive future…

58 Sunny side-up

Rohan Gunasekera looks at why India’s solar glass industry is lagging behind despite the obvious growth of the sunpowered electricity supply sector…

66 Slim pickings

Since the earliest ultra thin glass products started being developed around a decade ago, it has not made that much of a mark yet. Amanda Saint finds out if this is all about to change…

30 “As with any other industries, both sectors have been affected by the economic slowdown, which only managed to grow at the level of 4.7% in the first quarter of the year”, see p.32 “Carbonates, which are primarily consumed via glass bottles still accounts for a considerable proportion of volume sales of soft drinks in Irans”, see p.46 “I see no business logic that will go against high quality at good costs and that is what we bring to the table.”, see p.90

66

Anaylsis 74 In Focus

As the industry gears up to implement the switch from PET to glass for medicines meant for certain patient categories, the debate on the merits and demerits of both materials continues.

Your favourite magazine is now available at the App Store… download today to see your first sample issue!

Asian Glass: now for mobiles, ipads and androids

78 Window

Analysis and insight into Brazilian output data.

82 Looking Forward

The digest of what’s in and what’s on for the next three months.

90 Refractory Zone

News from the raw material side of the refractory business. www.asianglass.com

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august/september 2015 asianglass

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Is this your own copy ? subscribe onlin e at www.asianglas s.com

Welcome

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CONTACT DETAILS

August/September 2015

EDITORIAL

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE:

t is always encouraging to hear of glass companies pushing the “green agenda”, and as the industry settles here in Dubai for the first Gulf Glass exhibition to be organized by DMG Middle East, following our five outings of the event, it is perhaps fitting that Emirates Float Glass is making the right sort of headlines.

Publishing Director Andy Skillen Email: askillen@asianglass.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 123 0196 Fax: + 44 (0) 207 183 7196

DUBAI, 14-16 SEPT 2015

Inside:

Maghreb: High rise

fever?

Iran in focus, part 1 Ultrathin glass revo lutions Solar controlled glass

EFG, a subsidiary of Dubai Investments PJSC and the PLUS! news, views, ana lysis and much, muc h more! first state-of-the-art integrated float glass facility in the UAE, has won the prestigious Emirates Appreciation for the Environment Award 2015, in recognition of its environmentally-safe production practices.

EFG has been recognized for achieving the lowest carbon footprint among factories across the region – the company’s carbon footprint level of 553 grams of carbon dioxide emission per kilogram of glass is among the best global ratings.

The Emirates Appreciation award, conferred under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is a bi-annual recognition by Zayed International Foundation for Environment, which promotes sustainable living and environmentally conscious initiatives in the UAE. The award is divided into five categories and EFG is being honoured for its environmentally-friendly initiatives in the Small and Medium industries category. A total of 120 nominations were received by the Awards Committee, out of which 79 made it to the next stage before the final winners were selected.

Ghassan Mashal, EFG General Manager, said: “The prestigious Emirates Appreciation Award for environment is a testimony of EFG’s contribution and commitment to sustainable development. Since its inception, EFG has adopted green initiatives in the production processes, which not only offer environmental benefits but has also lead to economic value, through decreased cost of waste disposal, and enhanced access to energy thus lowering the overall production costs.”

EFG is committed to its unique Carbon Management Programme since 2012, which covers all aspects of the company’s manufacturing unit, be it the use of chemicals, disposal of industrial waste and air pollution levels, thus maintaining its balanced efforts to achieve sustainable development and upholding responsibilities towards all stakeholders including the community.

The float glass produced by EFG contains between 59% and 67% regional raw material, which is in line with the international sustainability requirements. Additionally, EFG uses 6.2% post-consumer recycled materials for production.

The EFG facility, equipped with state-of-the-art machines from Europe, US and Japan, achieves 100% capacity utilization, the highest benchmark for efficiency levels worldwide. The hi-tech manufacturing unit currently holds a production capacity of 600 tonnes of clear molten glass per day and over 190,000 tonnes of glass products per year.

SINCE ITS INCEPTION, EFG HAS ADOPTED GREEN INITIATIVES IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESSES

Have a great show!

ADVERTISING AND DESIGN Advertising Sales Valerie Adamson Email: vadamson@asianglass.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 133 5273 Paul Russell Email: prussell@asianglass.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 638 0619 Production and design Tim Mitchell Email: tim@bowheadmedia.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 123 0839

RESEARCH Research Manager Alex Murphy Email: amurphy@bowheadmedia.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 123 0839

EXHIBITIONS AND CONFERENCES Contact the team on: Email: events@bowheadmedia.com Direct line: + 44 (0) 208 123 0839

Bowhead events OVERSEAS OFFICES China Professor Wen Lu and Wen Xin Email: 18980921123@163.com Tel: +86 28 8701 9077 Fax: +86 28 8701 9077 Bangladesh Jahir Ahmed jahir@asianglass.com India Yogender Singh Malik yogender@asianglass.com Sri Lanka Rohan Gunasekera rohan@asianglass.com

HEAD OFFICE Andy Skillen Publishing Director

Got a general enquiry? use enquiries@asianglass.com 10

asianglass august/september 2015

Bowhead Media Ltd, Communications House 26 York Street, London W1U 6PZ United Kingdom Asian Glass (ISSN: 1475-6501), is published by Bowhead Media Ltd, registered in the UK no: 6127651

www.asianglass.com

STARA GLASS S.p.A. The Hydra Group developed basing its efforts on the long experience of STARA GLASS, which started with the demolition of glass furnaces and recovery of refractory scraps in the early 1950s. Since the 1980s, it has been offering complete service to glass manufacturers. The constant progress of the group has allowed new agency agreements to be formed with the most important manufacturers of refractory materials, mechanical plants and electronic control instruments.

Stara Glass offers: - Design; - Engineering; - Turnkey supply of glass melting furnaces (regenerative, recuperative, hybrid, oxy-fuel, day tanks) for all kind of glass (container, rolled pattern glass, tableware, sodium silicate, opal and borosilicate glass, etc); - Repair jobs: Demolition, reconstruction, hot repair; - Supply of all refractory materials, equipment, combustion systems, recuperators, steel structure, process control, cooling liquid and gas fluid systems; - Technical assistance; - Heat balance calculation on operating furnaces; - Technical due diligence; - Endoscopies - Advanced systems for NOx containment - Research and Development in glass industry

P.zza Rossetti 3 A/1 - 16129 Genova - Italy Tel: +39 - 010 – 576391 Fax: +39 - 010 - 564763 staraglass@hydragroup.it

www.staraglass.com

ADVERTISER FEATURE

A trend to high flexible forehearth systems HORN Glass Industries AG – a leading manufacturer of glass melting furnaces worldwide for the container and float glass industry – reports about experience with the GCS301 forehearth system in the container glass industry.

At the beverage and spirit packaging sector glass bottles strongly compete with plastic packaging resp. PET bottles. The biggest advantage of PET bottles is their weight. The worldwide glass industry tries to stay competitive by producing lightweight bottles as an alternative to PET bottles. The production of such bottles requires a fully understood forming process (NNPB) at very high machine speeds. In order to obtain uniform wall thickness when the container is formed, the viscosity of the liquid gob has to be as homogenous as possible.

This target is attained by only minimal temperature variations of the glass gob. At the end of the forehearth, before the glass enters the spout bowl, thermal homogeneity is measured and calculated by various – customer specific – formulas. The so called K-Factor is required to be beyond 98% over the entire production profile and different glass colours.

A second trend – caused by ´just in time´ production, of course in turn caused by the aim to save storage costs – shows that the plants which are going to be rebuilt or green fielded, have enhanced requirements on forehearth performance regarding pull ranges. So the trend shows that nominal minimum and maximum loads spread.

This is accompanied by a wider field in gob temperatures.

The new designed forehearth family ´GCS301´ is the answer of HORN Glass Industries to raised demands regarding forehearth flexibility and performance. Channel widths from 26” up to 54” are available.

Superstructure design Going back to basics, the GCS301 forehearth now works again with concave shaped cover blocks. There is a strict separation between the center part and the outer part of the forehearth. The volume above the colder glass at the boundary area of the channel block is concaved and also the inner part to guide direct cooling air only via the center. The working principle is complete with lateral aligned chimney´s and a central radiation opening. With these lateral and central openings the waste gas patterns can be distributed over the entire glass surface or guided only to the required areas (center or border) in each single section of the forehearth, except the equalizing zone which is flat roofed.

Insulation Reduced insulation layers lead to fast temperature changes, required for job changes. Contrary to the general belief that reduced insulation increases energy consumption, the glass industry

12

asianglass august/september 2015

experienced lower consumption, due to precise energy input where it is required.

Heating The colder glass in the outer sections of the forehearth channel requires energy input in order to balance the temperature difference between outside and inside. For this purpose the forehearth is equipped with the above mentioned cover blocks, to separate the left and right outer portion physically and to heat selectively. The central section of this cover blocked is deeper and thus closer to the glass surface than the outer section. This results in a slope of the cover block from the outside to the inside. Regular pencil burners fire along the entire forehearth length.

Heat transfer from the flame gases is affected by both convection and radiation. From the sloped cover block part the radiation of the flame gases is reflected towards the outer sections at the glass surface. And at the slope of the superstructure the waste gases move in geared turbulences.

So the heat is transmitted by convection from the flue gases to the glass surface in the colder outer section at an increased rate.

Cooling The GCS system works with different cooling systems in order to cool down the hotter glass in the forehearth centre. For this purpose, it uses radiation cooling, indirect and also direct superstructure cooling by means of cooling air.

While radiation cooling is used in each section of forehearth, indirect cooling is only used for short forehearths with considerable high tonnage output. At forehearths with frequent job changes and quick temperature adaptation the direct cooling can optionally be installed in the superstructure. The system enables to lead the direct cooling air via the center part or to spread over the entire surface by chimney adjustment, in the same way as waste gases can be guided. The afore-mentioned cooling systems are used in function of forehearth tonnage, inlet temperature and required gob temperature in various sizes and numbers. So each forehearth concept is adapted exactly to the specific requirements of the glass producer.

References HORN Glass Industries installed over 30 forehearth units of the type GCS301 for several customers in Europe and also abroad. All of them indicated satisfaction regarding control and function of the systems and also pointed out reduced energy consumption of about 25-30% compared to the previous HORN-systems. Moreover, a thermal homogeneity index beyond 99% is realized in several plants. This reflects at the end that the GCS301 forehearth is the ideal solution to comply with the high demand of the glass industry in terms of flexibility and performance.

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To ensure HORN compliant quality throughout the process, a comprehensive team of experts attends to every detail of the production plant, from raw material preparation up to the final cutting of the float glass.

HORN customers can rely on the know-how of a professional, transparent partner who not not only has many years of international experience but has a passion for float glass. For more information, visit www.hornglass.com

I N N O VAT I O N E N G I N E E R E D I N G E R M A N Y

C O N TA INER G LASS • COSM E T IC GLA S S • F I B R E GL AS S • F L AT GL AS S • F L O AT G L A S S LI G H TING • PH A R M ACE UTICAL GLASS • S O DI UM-S I L I C AT E GL AS S • TAB L E WAR E • T U B I N G

HEADLINE NEWS ASIA Glass LLC sets “aggressive” growth target UAE Glass LLC – the glass holding company of Dubai Investments PJSC [DI], has targeted aggressive growth across its five subsidiaries in 2015 and aims to boost its 30% market share in the coated glass sector across the GCC countries in line with escalating demand for glass products amidst rampant construction in the region.

Glass LLC, which generated combined revenues of over AED 180 million in 2014, has announced that sales for its Emicool Solite spectrally selective glass range from its subsidiary Emirates Glass LLC is expected to grow 200% by the end of 2015, riding on the market demand for the product offering optimum control over sunlight.

Similarly, Saudi American Glass [SAG], another Glass LLC subsidiary, is eyeing 20% sales surge during the year for its highperformance coated glass while Lumiglass Industries – which produces laminated safety glass – is targeting a 15% increase in sales in 2015, with Emirates Float Glass looking at an impressive growth, locally as well as exports.

Glass LLC’s joint venture Emirates Insolaire, specializing in the first-of-its-kind coloured solar

panels in the world, is targeting sales of over 50,000 square metres for solar panels and photovoltaic models in 2015 as regional governments are fast moving towards implementing green building regulations and sustainable construction concepts.

The international demand for flat glass is forecast to rise 7.1 per cent per year through 2016 to reach 9.2 billion square metres, as per industry reports. The global market value of fabricated flat glass is forecast to reach $90 billion in 2016, benefiting from the rapid growth of energyefficient products such as solar control panels, insulation and low E-glass.

Glass LLC subsidiaries also boast of strong order books for projects in GCC, which include 250,000 square metres of Solite coated glass for ‘Akoya by Damac’ Apartments and Villas, 80,000 square metres of E-Lite Blue glass for Dubai Design District, 40,000 square metres each for Viceroy Hotel in Dubai, Abdel Wahab Tower in Doha and Heart of Doha projects, 35,000 square metres for Worli Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, 25,000 square

metres for Warsan Development in Dubai, among others.

“The strong growth in the UAE and the region, where higher state spending is rejuvenating the construction industry, means that localised demand for glass is on an upward trend. As a leading company, the glass companies of Dubai Investments are aggressively aiming to expand their market share, thanks to their diversified product portfolio across the entire spectrum of the sector,” said Abdulaziz Bin Yagub Al Serkal, General Manager of Dubai Investments PJSC. “The UAE’s construction industry is expected to show sustainable growth in the next few years, and has experienced enormous investment in the real estate from public and private enterprises during the past few years. With Expo 2020 projects likely to take off over the next two years, we are on the verge of a major upswing,” said Al Serkal.

Glass LLC subsidiaries have also embarked on aggressively expanding their production capacities.

Emirates Glass is planning an operational restructuring to boost production of post-temperable coated

glass, while SAG is upgrading the production capacity to 1.4 million square metres of highperformance coated glass per annum.

Lumiglass is expanding its production capacity of bullet resistant glass by 50 per cent from 130 units to 260 units per month. On the other hand, EFG is running to its maximum production capacity of 600 tonnes of molten glass per day.

The plant has a capacity to produce about 200,000 tonnes of glass products per annum.

Glass LLC is also tapping into new exports markets in the coming months, to complement its existing presence across GCC and MENA region. The new markets include India, East Africa, South Africa, Turkey and other Asian countries.

Glass is an inherent part of the construction industry in the region, and with over $4.3 trillion forecast to be spent on construction in the MENA region in the current decade, there is huge demand for cut-to-size, sustainable, post-temperable coated glass products for both commercial and residential projects.

GOST removes quality issue problems Russia With the introduction of the new GOST glass enterprises in Russia, and in particular the Nizhny Novgorod region, the country’s flat glass industry is now claiming that it can produce colorless glass sheets for export.

“The new GOST 111-2014 Flat glass colorless technical conditions that are to be compulsory in Russia from April 1, 2016 is already having an effect on improving quality at AGC Bor Glassworks, one of the ten leading Russian enterprises

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for the production of glass” say the authorities.

According to Rosstandart, the new standard replaces the previous Standard 1112001 Flat glass and applies to colorless flat glass designed for the glazing of translucent structures and fabrication of construction products, technical and household purposes windows, mirrors, tempered and laminated glass. The same standards will be monitored by production of a new Product Sheet - glass with high light

asianglass august/september 2015

transmittance (or extra clear glass).

The new standard is believed to be in line with increased demands from overseas markets, particularly Europe.

According to JSC "AGC Bor Glassworks, “Our polished glass will match world standards and we believe that with the introduction of a new standard of quality the country can reach an entirely new level and become one of the leading exporters of flat glass in the world.”

According to statistics, the

production of float glass in Russia in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 4% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Asian Glass: now for mobiles, ipads and androids

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SGD takes Cogent stake Metro Performance Glass

opens $21.5m Auckland factory

India

New Zealand SGD Group S.A.S. has become Cogent Glass Limited’s majority shareholder, India-based manufacturer of Type I molded and tubular glass vials for the pharmaceutical industry.

Cogent’s acquisition represents a major opportunity for SGD pharmaceutical division and will consolidate its leadership position in this sector. The acquisition will enable SGD to enter into the tubular conversion market and benefit from the fast-growing Indian pharmaceutical market.

In the coming months, our efforts will be focused on implementing, processes and an organization in the Indian plant, suitable not only for local requirements but also for international standards About SGD Group French SGD Group is the global leader in glass packaging

for perfumery, cosmetics and pharmacy. The group, who conducts its business operations through an approach based on quality, innovation and sustainability, produces more than 3 billion flasks each year. SGD has developed a glass know-know for more than a century in France and now operates 11 production sites and 10 commercial hubs throughout France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil, China and United States. The group has more than 4500 employees around the world with around 2000 in France. SGD generated a revenue of 574 million euros in 2014.

In 2014, the group started a process of separating its perfumery and pharmaceutical businesses in order to create two global leaders in each activity.

Pharma glass industry still lags China Despite years of development and competition, the Chinese pharmaceutical glass business market still finds itself as having a relatively low level of manufacturing concentration, even though increased competition amongst some leading companies has started to emerge in some market segments, especially in prefilled syringe market.

Presently, there are only five companies that have obtained assemblages for prefilled syringes in China, namely foreign-funded BD and Gerresheimer and domestic Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer, Shandong Zibo Minkang Pharmaceutical Packing Co., Ltd. and Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass Co., Ltd.

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By virtue of first-mover advantage and developed marketing network, Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer sold about 85.85 million prefilled syringes in 2014, accounting for more than 50% of the market in China, followed by foreign brands such as BD and Gerresheimer with market share of about 25%, and Zibo Minkang Pharmaceutical and Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass (the remaining). In addition, Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer still plans to implement the 50-million prefilled syringes project, which is expected to further raise the company's share in prefilled system market. Clearly, this is an industry with a long way to go…

Prime Minister John Key has officially opened Metro Performance Glass' new $21.5 million factory in Auckland.

The factory at the Highbrook Business Park consolidates Metroglass' five Auckland sites into one 26,000 square metre site, an area bigger than two and a half rugby fields, and doubles the company's production capacity.

The plant, which runs 24 hours, five days a week, has been operational since January.

Key said in Auckland alone there was a lot of future demand for glass with construction of SkyCity's international convention centre and hotel, a 52-storey tower in downtown Auckland, a five star hotel in the Viaduct and 13,000 new dwellings required every year.

The $40 billion Christchurch rebuild and general construction around the rest of New Zealand would also drive demand for glass, he said.

"You can rest assure that the factory here is going to be very busy for a long period of time," Key said.

"There is a huge demand curve for glass and for new construction."

Metroglass chairman Sir John Goulter said the facility was the most modern glass manufacturing facility in New Zealand and Australia.

"New Zealand housing markets, particularly those in Christchurch and Auckland, are experiencing a boom due to a shortage of houses and construction industry bottlenecks that make it difficult to respond to the high levels of demand," Goulter said.

In May the company blamed a missed sales target on constraints and delays facing the construction industry.

Metroglass chief executive Nigel Rigby said the facility was one of the most technically-advanced and efficient glass production

plants in the world.

The factory would allow the company to compete against imported products, Rigby said.

"In the context of New Zealand manufacturing, this is a rare and privileged position to occupy," he said.

It was completed on time and within budget, he said.

The factory could manufacture high specification glass and some of the largest flat glass products in the country. It could also produce customised orders.

Metroglass listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges last year.

Its shares floated at $1.75 but have slipped $1.65.

Metroglass produces glass for windows, doors, internal partitions, balustrades, showers, mirrors, furniture and splash backs.

The company employs 700 workers.

NEWS IN BRIEF HHH Tempering Resources Inc. has signed a U.S. and Canadian distributor agreement with Chinese glass tempering manufacturer NorthGlass. HHH will maintain and offer an “expanded product line” of NorthGlass furnaces, cutting tables, parts inventory, installation and technical support, according to HHH.“You can buy a tempering furnace from numerous manufacturers or agents, but HHH separates itself by offering full installation, technical support and service parts to keep operations running,” says Mike Synon, HHH Tempering Resources president. “We provide peace of mind and essential services for the most important machine a fabricator owns.”

august/september 2015 asianglass

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News

H.B. Fuller breaks ground on new facility Indonesia Future Manufacturing Capability to Support Profitable Growth in Southeast Asia - H.B. Fuller has announced that the company broke ground on its future manufacturing facility in Surabaya, Indonesia. This future facility will strengthen H.B. Fuller's network in the Asia Pacific region and will complement the products and technical service offered today by the company's manufacturing facilities in China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.

"This future manufacturing facility is an excellent example of how we will leverage our global reach and technical knowledge to empower local experts," says Jim Owens, H.B. Fuller president and chief executive officer.

"Today, we mark an important milestone in our commitment to deliver value to our customers in Asia, enhance our competitive position, and continue making investments in the capabilities necessary to support our longterm growth strategy."

The company anticipates

Vietnam production of hot melt and waterbased adhesives products to begin in the second quarter of 2016. This increased capacity in the region will enable the company to consistently meet local customers' requirements and grow significantly in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.

From this new site, H.B. Fuller will provide adhesive solutions to customers in the hygiene, packaging, woodworking, filter, product assembly, container labeling and other durable assembly industries.

For over 125 years, H.B. Fuller has been a leading global adhesives provider focusing on perfecting adhesives, sealants and other specialty chemical products to improve products and lives. With fiscal 2014 net revenue of $2.1 billion, H.B. Fuller's commitment to innovation brings together people, products and processes that answer and solve some of the world's biggest challenges.

Topaz moves for medical glass Russia It has been reported by the TASS news agency, that Vladikavkaz plant "Topaz" has plans to produce medical glass and glassware.

"The project envisages the production of a range of products from medical borosilicate glass ampoules, vials to cartridges" - a spokesman said.

He explained that currently the plant's management is considering options for cooperation with key suppliers of raw materials, as well as now deciding on the technical building specification. The plant will be equipped with a gas-electric regenerative furnaces in order to minimize emissions.

The project will create about 500 new jobs and, in addition, according to the Office, the annual payments to the federal budget could amount to 1.2 billion rubles, with a further 1.5 billion rubles to

16

Flat Glass Group aims for Vietnam expansion

the region and 53 million rubles to the municipality. The payback period is forecast to be 4.6 years.

According to Tass Ministry of Industry and Transport Policy of the Republic, the project is planned to produce annually 12.9 thousand tons of glass made of borosilicate glass. "This will replace similar imported products on the Russian market", - said the representative of the Ministry.

To implement the project requires funding in the form investkapitala investkredita or $ 5.5 billion. At the same time the spokesman said that there are preliminary agreements on the participation of foreign investors in the project, but the condition for participation is the provision of guarantees in the amount of 5 million euro.

asianglass august/september 2015

Flat Glass Group, a Zhejiangbased photovoltaic glass manufacturer, plans to set up production facilities in Vietnam.

It has filed an application to list in Hong Kong and intends to use the bulk of its IPO proceeds to finance its Vietnam expansion and other new projects.

Set up in 1998, the firm is the world's largest PV glass maker with an 18.9 percent share of the global market last year in terms of revenue, according to a report by consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Sales of PV glass made up 73.3 percent of total revenue last year, while the rest was contributed by sales of float glass, household glass and architectural glass.

Flat Glass Group sells PV glass to PV module makers across the world and it makes a 37 percent gross profit margin, the highest among its four major products.

The PV glass products it produces had been used in several iconic architectures, including the China Pavilion in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and the National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest" in Beijing.

While it focuses on the China market, where it generates more than 50 percent of its revenue, the company also sells glass products to Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. Revenue growth has been strong in past three years, due mainly to surging demand for PV glass in Asia.

Its annual maximum PV glass production capacity reached 835,850 tons in 2014, up 46.47 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, expenditures on research and development doubled from a ye

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ar earlier, reaching 129 million yuan as the company is keen to develop Low-E glass coating technology and to pursue a modification of PV glass.

Gearing ratio, or net debt to equity ratio, continued to shrink in the past three years to 54.3 percent last year, due mainly to a decrease in bank borrowings.

The solar glass industry is regarded as a sustainable business in the long run to the greater role clean energy will play worldwide due to global warming, according to Frost & Sullivan.

However, several anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations have been initiated in recent years by the European Commission, the United States and Canada against Chinese PV products makers.

Their actions have made it more difficult for Chinese firms to sell PV glass overseas.

NEWS IN BRIEF According to sources, by the 5th June, there were 342 float glass lines and 225 lines in operation in China with an operating rate of 65.7%. Meanwhile, the stock of float glass was 35.54m. cases (1,777kt).Since the beginning of this year, 9 new lines and 5 cold repair lines have been fired and 6 lines are in cold repair. Although the general situation is reducing capacity some companies with good performances are still planning to re-operate lines and put new lines in production,. For example, Hebei Changcheng are going to put two lines in operation, and Zhengda No.1 line, Xinyi Jiangmen No.4 line, Chongqing Yuhu No.1 line, Lilin Kibing No.1 line, Hubei Hongming No.2 line, Sichuan Weilisi line and Jinjing line may be in firing in coming months in order to catch the best sales months“ gold September and silver October�.

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News

SAGCO benefits from Heye expertise Saudi Arabia Heye International GmbH is working closely with the Middle East’s largest glass container producer to support continuous investment in its cold end quality control equipment. As part of this extensive investment, eight SmartLine inspection machines have been sold to Saudi Arabian Glass Co Ltd for its advanced glass manufacturing facility in Jeddah. SAGCO combines sound management expertise with the successful application of advanced glass forming technology, producing high quality glass packaging for local and international customers in the soft drinks, food and dairy sectors. The company commenced production in 1985 and features five furnaces serving 13 production lines, producing over 1000 tons of flint, green and amber glass every day.

A market leader in machine availability and reliability, Heye International’s HiSHIELD SmartLine inspection technology provides flexibility through high modularity. Equally suitable for high speed lines and large, non-

Russia round containers, many inspection modules are possible. SmartLine’s innovative inspection solutions can be configured in different ways, with up to six inspection stations available to check the following container attributes: Planity (flatness) and tightness, Finish diameters, container height, finish and shoulder checks, bottom and heel checks, body checks, wall thickness inspection (non-contact), defects on the finish surface (line over finish), ovality of the body, mould number reading (dot and digital codes), dark check inspection.

Featuring stable and proven software, the equipment delivers real-time control, based on the latest industry-PC standards.

Electronic components are regularly upgraded, with long-term availability of parts and tooling provided. Integrating the latest technology with robust electrics and electronic control systems, SmartLine combines reliable, flexible and innovative inspection solutions that guarantee a safe investment decision.

Saint Gobain strengthens team United Kingdom Saint-Gobain Glass UK has announced the appointment of James O’Donoghue as Regional Sales Manager for the South.

James is a well-known figure in the industry and brings with him many years of experience, most recently with Uniglass but also previously within SGG at Gibbs and Dandy Glass.

He will report to Head of Sales, Richard Wall, who said of the appointment: “It’s great to have James on the team. It’s especially good news for our customers who, we know, will appreciate the level of attention and support that he is already well known and respected for.”

James replied: “I am delighted to have joined the Saint Gobain team. I have always been very passionate about customer service, new and innovative products, continuous improvement and the glass business in general, so there is

18

Horn ensures successful start-up

certainly a good fit with SaintGobain Glass.”

Sales & Marketing Director, Andy Hyde, added: “James’ remit will be to continue to build strong relationships, with both existing and new customers and ensure customer satisfaction is continually improved. With James on board, I’m confident we have the right candidate to achieve that.”

NEWS IN BRIEF Qalaa Holdings, one of Egypt’s leading investment firms, announced Thursday it signed an initial agreement with some shareholders in Middle East Glass (MEG) to full acquire their stocks in the Misr Glass Manufacturing. Qalaa has a 15.18 percent indirect stake in Misr Glass Manufacturing.

asianglass august/september 2015

HORN Glass Industries AG is a leading manufacturer of glass melting furnaces worldwide for the container and float glass industry. Now this furnace building company has backed up its ambitions in the field of float glass with another successful start-up of a tin bath in Russia.

While the leading float glass manufacturers focus more and more on outsourcing their resources, HORN has expanded its own expertise and technical skills concerning float glass with in-house engineering, in-house manufacture and the installation and commissioning of tin baths.

The big components of the tin bath, such as the bath floor cooling system, the steel structure, the floor resp. roof casing, the complete automation, the media pipework and the dross box including the hood are planned and manufactured on site in Ploessberg. Moreover also the equipment, starting from the tweel, the venting, the entrance coolers and the graphite installations up to the exit coolers and the mobile and stationary linear motors are HORN´s scope of supply.

After the tin bath roof has been finished, the free space between the upper and lower part will be hermetically sealed by means of wall boxes and sealing compound. Thereupon the tin bath can be charged with a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen. Following this the readiness of the tin bath for

tempering including spout, dross box and equipment will be checked.

The controlled tempering of the tin bath will take several days, taking into account the tempering curve. During this period of time diverse parameters and values, e.g. temperatures and linear expansion, will be monitored and recorded scrupulously.

The tin bath is an extra component of a float glass plant which HORN manufactures in-house, in addition to the float glass furnace. HORN’s competence to supply entire float glass plants, from preparation of raw materials to packaging of the finished product, constitutes a considerable competitive advantage for its customers.

This is shown by successfully commissioned projects in Russia, Belarus, the Republic of Dagestan and Kyrgyzstan.

NEWS IN BRIEF Nippon Electric Glass seeks to boost its operating profit margin to 10% by the year ending December 2018, up from about 3% last year, President Motoharu Matsumoto told The Nikkei.

The Japanese manufacturer aims to achieve the target by expanding sales of glass fibers used in autoparts.

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ADVERTISER FEATURE

Merkle: a vision for now and tomorrow Merkle International – was formed by Pete Merkle in 1971, when one man had a vision to apply his furnace and refractory engineering knowledge to both the copper smelting and glass industries. As the company grew and expanded over the coming decade, however, increasingly the less cyclical nature of the glass industry, and the potential for considerably greater expansion given the upswing in glass manufacture globally, led the company to concentrate more and more of its efforts in that direction. From the mid-80s therefore, the company predominantly involved itself in the glass industry and it was not until 2000 that the company appreciated the full potential of its range of products, and began to intensify its strategy of diversification into additional markets. Merkle International currently supplies batch chargers, Strut-Air® suspended walls, tin bath roofs, Bay “0” Seals and Modu-Lok® interlocking covers and roofs to the glass industry.

Despite that, the process of diversification has served Merkle well, reducing its dependence on the glass sector and enabling it to invest increasingly in new products for that market as a result; “We’d say that around 50% of the business now comes exclusively from glass. The last couple of years has been a bit slower because of the general economic condition, but we’d say that going forward that parity between glass and our other markets will be restored. It’s testament to our abilities to ensure we have a wide ranging market appeal that we’ve been able to grow the non-glass business by ten-fold in the last decade, whilst still pioneering in our original, core sector” the company points out.

Of course, it is float glass in which Merkle has really made its name in the more recent past, with the Strut-Air system the original principal driver.

“When Pete first devised this suspended backwall format, it was highly innovative” says the company, “as it allowed the air to circulate through the structural steel itself, rather than require additional ducting and piping systems which did not permit the efficient distribution of the airflow” they add.

“We have now installed over 400 of these systems, with a sizeable majority across Asia accounting for large numbers.

Added to that, we started the addition of insulation to the system in around 1987, and would now say we’ve added insulation to around half of the systems we’ve installed.

Indeed, it’s rare now – purely on a cost and fuel-saving basis – for a company not to also opt for the insulation to run in tandem with the backwall, unless they purchase their fuel so ridiculously cheap, they simply didn’t need to make the saving!” the company adds.

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asianglass august/september 2015

"We have now installed over 400 of these systems, with a sizeable majority across Asia”

Underpinning Merkle’s continued success has been a quality-driven approach to sourcing.

By not constraining itself to an overt geographic, domestic bias, the company has been able to ensure it retains a cutting edge in an ever more competitive marketplace; “We’ve always – since the beginning – been determined to source quality; be it from Asia, the US, Europe or wherever” the company points out, “as we can’t afford to have any degree of failure from the supply chain”.

With quality of course, can come conundrums. If you want to maintain a high level of quality sourcing, then in difficult economic times pressure points can come to bear in terms of decreasing margins if a company finds itself cutting prices to compete. However, Merkle does not view it that way.

“We have always positioned ourselves as a value solution” the company says “yes, there is a capital cost, but the longevity of our proposal, our proven installation quality, our high level of adherence to the strictest manufacturing tolerances mean that, over the lifetime of the installation, the capital outlay is more than adequately written-down”.

“For example, we have products that deal with the likes of the aluminium sector, coke, incineration and fibreglass” say the company, “except that with the latter in particular, these projects tend to have a long lead time”. With a wry grin, a picture of a furnace rebuild is passed across the table that was undertaken 2014; “the original was constructed in 1972…so it’s been 42 years until the work needed to be undertaken again!

Let’s say the longevity there makes it a small volume business for us…in fact, we may never even see that rebuild again!”.

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ADVERTISER FEATURE

Standing out

It’s an impressive stance, and one that certainly puts Merkle at the front of the queue when it comes to sourcing from new glass projects – even in Asia; “there are always initial construction costs in new plants, and, yes, it can be that the management of new companies don’t always stick around long enough to see the benefit. However, our strategy has been very successful in demonstrating to new plant owners the need to build in appropriate budgets at the outset, rather than at a later date, as it is undoubtedly better to get it right at the beginning than incur greater costs later. .”

With installations in the hundreds, there is a clear vindication of this approach of course and as more companies become quality driven, and aspire to the leadership of major manufacturers in their country – the “I want to be like…..” approach, then the refit business could see a considerable growth spurt.

“Our only issue there” says the company, “is the technology being blatantly copied, and this is putting a degree of handbrake on the expansion of the repair side of the business” they add. “That said, we have had customers who have purchased from us in Asia, and then during a rebuild have attempted to source the same item locally, only to find it has been vastly inferior and this has driven them back to us once more. Quality will always win out in the end.

Our agents across the region continue to drive home the message, and although, periodically, we re-evaluate our approach of being a US-based, agent –driven company in the continent, right now, we are extremely happy with the successes we are having, particularly in Korea and China”.

Asia aside, Merkle has also been looking around the globe and remains open to market opportunities in all regions.

“With Europe and the USA being stable, we continue to look towards those areas where low per capita glass usage is the norm, such as the UAE, Russia and India for instance. In the case of the latter, that could be a great future market for us…depending on tariffs and labour costs of course. We have had some success there at the moment, and we definitely think we can get a degree of expansion there using that growing industrial network.”

So does Merkle see itself as an engineering driven, outsourcefocused innovator? A virtual Corporation perhaps, that is able to lead the market in terms of product design, or respond to the needs of the customer with a specific issue?

“This unique approach lets us go where the markets are driving us and where the availability of high level inputs is coming from.

We are here to offer solutions to needs; so rather than us, or our suppliers, formulate technology and developments from within some ivory tower, our aim is to be responsive to the engineering requirements and the solutions they call for from our customers.

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“With installations in the hundreds, there is a clear vindication of this approach"

For example, we had one customer that came to us who was only getting 6 months life from their refractories…. and now they get 5 years. That is a classic example of a bespoke, engineered solution responding to a specific need that keeps the customer coming back.”

“During 2014 we secured one project, for example, that was all based on the re-design of a company’s furnace. Without revealing too much detail, we were called in as they felt they had a problem with the life of their furnace roof. In our initial meetings, it was clear that they also had problems with the walls. As such, we spent a great deal of time re-designing their entire system– a process that had not a small degree of time-risk in for us. There were only a few months from contract receipt to delivery of materials.

Despite the challenges we secured the project , and delivered the solution, increasing the customer’s furnace longevity.It is that kind of responsive engineering that we feel gets Merkle a seat the industry’s top table: scaleable solutions that apply across the breadth of the industry, from a multinational right down to a first-timeproducer”.

Looking forward, it is not just bespoke solutions however that Merkle is looking at.

Recently, Merkle International redesigned their modular blanket batch charger, moving to a new “Gen 3” charger. Blanket chargers spread a blanket of batch across the entire furnace width. The modular chargers are a set of 6 to 8 chargers, working in unison to charge the batch. A spare charger is provided. When the plant wants to perform maintenance, the modular design allows the plant staff to quickly replace one charger with a spare unit. At first, it takes the plants around 12 minutes to swap the chargers. After a short time the time drops to 8 minutes or less.

When Merkle redesigned the chargers, they needed to keep the features that users covet, like the robust design and ease of operation. The goal of the redesign was to cut fabrication costs.

A team of designers and engineers worked on the design and was able to reduce the fabrication costs significantly. A prototype unit was installed at a customer’s facility and run for several months. In the end, the next set of new chargers purchased was a set of Gen 3 chargers. Those chargers have been running for more than 1 year now.

From Pete Merkle’s original designs to the latest Gen 3 modular charger designs, Merkle remains committed to unique solutions, so much so, that they have recently adopted the slogan, “Where complex needs meet unique solutions.”

august/september 2015 asianglass

21

News

Global View

DFI signs new agreement Bright outlook for View SOUTH AFRICA DFI has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with a South African based company, EasyClean Group - DFI, global developer and exclusive licensor of patented hydrophobic nanotechnologies, announced today the company has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with a South African based company, EasyClean Group, according to Guillermo Seta, Corporate Vice President of DFI. This move marks a continued growth strategy in expanding DFI's global reach in the African region. The distribution agreement applies to residential and commercial architectural glass, online sales as well as automotive aftermarket, including transportation fleet, car dealer agencies and marine glass for yacht and cruise ships.

EasyClean Group was established in 2014 and was appointed as the exclusive importer and distributor of Diamon-Fusion International (DFI) products and solutions for Southern Africa. This makes EasyClean Group part of the world's largest surface restoration and

UNITED STATES protection companies on the globe.

"Partnering with DFI gives us a competitive advantage in the marketplace, allowing us to stand firm in providing the best quality coatings available today," shared Cobus Coetzee, Chief Executive Officer of EasyClean Group. "The award-winning DFI protective coatings product line offers unrivaled results, leading to satisfied customer service and we look forward to growing our business offerings in South Africa, while helping DFI expand its position as the leading coating manufacturer globally."

Guillermo Seta, Corporate Vice President of DFI, added: "This exclusive agreement with EasyClean Group represents a strategic gain in our expansion efforts worldwide in emerging markets for DFI. We strive to offer all our customers the best value in the market with the most advanced scalability to ensure every partner of DFI can grow and adapt the coating process under the most efficient and result-driven system for increasing profits and customer satisfaction".

BA Glass opts for Tiama POLAND BA GLASS POLAND SP. Z O.O has chosen TIAMA as one of its main suppliers for the renovation of its furnace n°1 in its SIERAKÓW Plant intended by September 2015.

Dedicated to premium articles, the four production lines will be newly equipped with 15 TIAMA’s technologies: MCAL4 sidewall inspection / MULTI4 top and bottom inspection / MX4 carousel inspection and Kompass orientator.

With a total of seven factories and 2.200 employees, 1.550 in the Iberia plants and 650 in the Polish plants, BA has an annual production over 5 thousand million containers in 11 colors. It has a daily production of more than 14

22

View, a company which specializes in creating something called dynamic glass, raised substantial new capital in August to fund its specialized windows that can change tint in response to weather conditions or smartphone commands.

The company announced a raise of $150 million in funding Thursday. Those participating in the round included NZ Super Fund, Corning Incorporated, Madrone Capital Partners and others.

The company has already raised nearly $500 million to date.

The team will be utilizing the new funding to “continue product development, advance the growth of our manufacturing capabilities, as well as accelerate our sales, distribution and marketing efforts,” according to View VP of Marketing Brett Murray.

View further described its product in a press release: View Dynamic Glass maximizes natural light and unobstructed views while reducing heat and glare.

Unlike traditional glass, View Dynamic Glass tints

automatically in response to outdoor conditions or from a mobile device, providing greater occupant comfort and energy savings without ever compromising the view.

“We have successfully developed and brought to market a new technology that enhances people’s lives,” Murray told media. “We’ve seen rapid adoption and desire for this product but the real gratification for us has been seeing and interacting with our happy customers.”

View specified in the release that its windows have already seen “more than 100 installations across North America with an additional 100 underway in various commercial markets such as corporate offices, healthcare, government, higher education, and hospitality.”

“The strong, positive reaction from our initial customers is driving increased market acceptance and this financing will help us expand our capabilities to meet the growing market demand,” View CEO Dr. Rao Mulpuri said in a press release.

LiSEC starts work on training centre AUSTRIA

million units - bottles and jars for customers operating in the Food & Beverage industries.

This combination of TIAMA’s inspection machines allows BA to achieve the highest control of special shapes, while orientating the containers with up-to-date software tools. BA also benefits from the TIAMA’s after-sales international network with a Polish local engineering attendance to ensure proximity, support and awareness of the Polish customers’ needs.

Beyond these abovementioned Cold-End capabilities, TIAMA also provides in its range, the HotEnd solutions and intelligent software tools dedicated to plant performance management.

asianglass august/september 2015

The first turf for the new service and training centre at the LiSEC production site Seitenstetten was turned on August 4th 2015.

The group of companies leading in the field of glass processing invests roughly 2.8 million Euros into the globally active service department. Planned is the construction of a 1.200m² large machine hall and a 950m² office wing. The future exhibition and training hall with state-of-the-art plants serves for presentation purposes as well as for the training of customers and the service technicians of all subsidiaries. „With its finger on the pulse of the time, the new service and training center which is equipped with the latest infrastructure meets the global requirements

of our customers”, explains Peter Rattinger – Head of the Service Department. The completion is planned until the end of 2015 in order to enable a complete use of the new service and training center already in January 2016.

Asian Glass: now for mobiles, ipads and androids

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01/04/14 10:22

News

Frigoglass to sell glass ops NIGERIA Following an extensive strategic review process, Frigoglass SAIC (“Frigoglass”) has revealed that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Glass Operations to GZI Mauritius Limited (“GZI”).

GZI is the holding company of GZ Industries Limited, the largest beverage can manufacturer in West Africa with manufacturing operations in Nigeria, which is now expanding into Kenya. GZI's shareholders led by Standard Chartered Private Equity have been pivotal in this transaction.

The operations being sold consist of all of Frigoglass’ glass container operations in Nigeria and Dubai as well as the complementary plastic crates and metal crowns businesses in Nigeria (“Glass Operations”).

Frigoglass also announces that it has reached an agreement to acquire the minority interest in its Frigoglass Jebel Ali business based in Dubai, which will also be part of this transaction. The Glass Operations management team and employees will also be transferred with the business on disposal. The business has 1,588 employees across both Nigeria and Dubai.

The net cash consideration to be received by Frigoglass for the disposal of the Glass Operations has been agreed to

be US$225 million ( 200 million at the current exchange rates).

This represents an enterprise value of US$403 million ( 358 million at the current exchange rates) for 100% of the Glass Operations. US$200 million of the consideration will be payable in cash on completion of the transaction with a further US$25 million cash being payable in two tranches over the following two years.

The transaction is subject to GZI's receipt of committed financing and other customary conditions and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2015. Substantially all of the gross proceeds, after deducting transaction related fees and expenses, received by Frigoglass will be applied towards debt reduction.

Harry David, Chairman of Frigoglass Board of Directors, commented: "After an extensive strategic review process, we are pleased to announce that we reached an agreement to sell the Glass business to GZI. The proceeds from the disposal will significantly delever our balance sheet and will allow us to focus on the full growth potential of our core global Cooler business.

We believe GZI and its leading shareholders, including Standard

Chartered Private Equity, are well placed to acquire and further grow a very successful glass business and they are the optimal partner to ensure continuity of quality and overall service support to our customers."

Torsten Tuerling, Chief Executive Officer of Frigoglass, commented: "The transaction is of paramount importance to Frigoglass. This move will substantially deleverage our balance sheet as well as allow us to focus on developing our cooler business into a new dimension.

We have identified promising opportunities for profitable, sustainable growth in our Cooler business, driven by Product Innovation, Service expansion, and focusing on capitalizing on our unique Footprint. Focusing our energy and investments on the core Cooler business will allow us to achieve unprecedented customer excitement and drive long-term shareholder value creation. " Motti Goldmintz, Chief Executive Officer of GZI, commented: "This transaction represents an important step for GZI towards achieving its longterm strategic ambition. Together with our strong aluminum can business, the acquisition of the Frigoglass glass, plastic crates

and bottle crowns businesses, allow us to provide our market leading beverage customers with a complete range of packaging solutions. We are excited about this landmark transaction, enabling us to capitalize on the strong long-term container glass growth opportunities, a critical building block for establishing a leading Pan-African packaging materials platform."

Frigoglass’ financial advisor on the strategic review of the range of options for the business and on the terms of this transaction was Citigroup Global Markets Limited. GZI’s financial advisor was Standard Chartered Bank.

Frigoglass is a strategic partner to beverage brands throughout the world. With a truly global footprint, Frigoglass is well established in the more mature European markets while it is evolving into an emerging markets champion. In its glass bottle business, it is focused on the markets of Africa and the Middle East, which are a prime spot of investments for our customers. We create value for our customers by building on our position as leading supplier of glass bottles and complementary packaging solutions in West Africa and the Middle East.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT : NEPTUN Srl The Bavelloni family, represented by Messrs. Dino Bavelloni, Franco Bavelloni and Sons, in response to some rumors in the market declares to have no financial stake in the newly established company called Bavelloni Spa, after the separation from the Glaston Group.

In spite of being satisfied with the fact that brand of the company it previously owned is still attractive on the glass market, the family confirms its involvement is limited only to the glass machinery manufacturing company Neptun Srl, whose major shareholders are Stefano

24

Bavelloni, Simona Bavelloni and Matteo Rolla, in addition to Mr Dino and Mr Franco Bavelloni.

The family also states the only

asianglass august/september 2015

connection running so far with that company concerns the lease between Glaston / Bavelloni Spa and the real estate company SIBI

Spa, relevant to the factories owned by the Bavelloni family; the contract will end on Sept.

6th, 2015.

www.asianglass.com

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Premium Conveyor Chain and Sprockets +44 (0) 1484 864733 sales@penninne.org www.pennine.org

News

Consol To Buy Kenya’s Central Glass Industries KENYA Kenya’s East African Breweries Limited (EABL) has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its glass subsidiary business, Central Glass Industries (CGI) to South Africa’s Consol Glass.

Consol’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Arnold said the deal was a further step in creating a panAfrican glass packaging company, adding to Consol’s existing manufacturing sites in South Africa and Nigeria.

He said: “This transaction is

a win-win for all parties including employees who will all be absorbed under the current terms and conditions of employment.”

EABL Group Managing Director Charles Ireland said the company decided to leave the glass business to focus on its core business.

He said: “We are pleased to be able to make this move as it will inject additional expertise into the business.”

He added EABL will remain

the primary customer for CGI products and will be able continue to access glass at competitive pricing. It will also be able to tap into the benefits of increased efficiencies at the glass plant and any future plans to expand glass manufacturing capacity.

Consol exports to more than 15 African countries. It was founded in the 1940s and is the largest glassmaker in Africa.

The company has four production sites, 11 furnaces

People and Places

Fenzi looks forward to GlassBuild America Italy Rosy expectations abound as the Group readies for its appointment with the American glass show, thanks to the market’s peak performance, confirmed by steady growth in the use of insulating glass in residential and commercial construction, and of the US building and construction market overall.

“The manufacturers of IG systems and glass processors in general recognize the advantages offered by Fenzi products and the Glass Alliance network – comments Dave Devenish, General Manager of Fenzi North America, the Group’s local headquarters – “Our sector is constantly changing, both in terms of production processes and in terms of the technical characteristics of insulating glass and Fenzi has always been at the forefront in offering its clients the solutions most suited to their needs. Which is exactly why we are confident that 2015 and the coming years will perform well”.

Indeed, the Group’s products are continuously evolving in response to the latest manufacturing trends called for by the American market, as Devenish confirms: “Most builders and glass processors work on a “Just in Time” basis and Fenzi is certainly among the few who manage to provide high quality, technologically advanced products very quickly, while still

26

and 29 production lines in South Africa and a furnace and two production lines in Nigeria. Its combined capacity is 900,000 tons or an equivalent 3½ billion glass bottles.

CGI was established in 1987 to produce glass containers in flint, amber and green to international standards.

The transition is expected to be concluded within two months. The sale is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.

Zippe sees VIBROTUBE®´s 1-year results as “stunning” Germany

staying competitive”.

This is especially true of the warm edge products constantly being refined to meet increasingly stringent energy requirements. The range of warm edge products marketed by the Glass Alliance – the international network in which Fenzi, Alu-Pro and Rolltech are partners – will therefore be front and center at GlassBuild America 2015.

The complete range of components for insulating glass offered by the Fenzi Group includes, among others: Poliver (solvent-free polyurethane sealant, for use in both single and dual seal units); Hotver 2000 (one-component hot-melt sealant), Thiover (two-part polysulphide sealant), Molver (molecular sieve), Butylver (PIB-based sealant for primary seal), and the range of Alu-Pro and Rolletch warm edge spacer profiles.

Daily tonnage

standard

VIBROTUBE®

t/24h

Temperature vault

271,4

288,8

°C

Temperature furnace bottom

1608

1586

°C

Specific heat

1143

1171

kcal/kg

Specific melting rate

912

856

t/m²d

Amount of gas

3,19

3,4

Nm³/H

ca. 1.400

ca. 1.400

0.2905

Sodium sulphate

ZIPPE´s new VIBROTUBE® batch charger has been in operation for more than 1 year now at a state-of the art container glass production facility with approx. 300 tpd in Germany, where it started in May 2014. Time enough to make a short resume about the energetic results. The new and innovative concept´s inherent characteristics are a complete sealing of the doghouse in comparison to existing chargers on the market, less wear, an improved batch distribution in the melting bath and

Dura Temp hires new manager Belgium Dura Temp Europe, based in Brugge, Belgium, would like to welcome Luc Lutters to its team.

Mr. Lutters has joined Dura Temp Europe as an Area Sales Manager (Technical Sales) to service the European region. Initially, he will provide support to glassmakers in

asianglass august/september 2015

France, Netherlands and Belgium.

Mr. Lutters joins the team with recent experience as a Sales Manager in the automatic door and transportation industries.

His technical knowledge and experience managing key client accounts will be valuable in

better adjustment possibilities.

The following graphs show the changes in temperatures and energy consumptions before the exchange of the machines (2 standard chargers “tray feeder-pusher type”) and after (2 VIBROTUBE®).1 “The results are stunning and have clearly outperformed our expectations. It was evident that we would expect improvements, but the magnitude of the energy savings due to the VIBROTUBE® was not predictable. For us these results and the high satisfaction of the customer show that we are on the right track with the VIBROTUBE®”, say company officials. building and expanding customer relationships in the glass industry. He holds degrees in Elecro-Mechanics and Industrial Engineering. Mr. Lutters is fluent in several languages including Dutch, French, English and German.

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AP CERBERITE_v2_105X297.indd 1

13/04/15 16:1

News

Batch

GHCL unveils ambitious expansion plans India // Soda Ash GHCL Ltd, a manufacturer of inorganic chemicals and textiles, plans to investment Rs 1050 crores over the next 2-3 years for expansion of soda ash and textile capacity. While the company will spend Rs 950 crores in a twophase soda ash expansion project at Sutrapada plant in Saurashtra (Gujarat), it will utilise Rs 100 crores in the next two years for expansion of its textile business.

Of the total Rs 2400 crores top line recorded by the company last year, inorganic chemicals contributed 60 percent and 40 percent was accounted for by textile business.

"We have expansion plans in soda ash and textile division in the next three years,” said R S

Jalan, managing director, GHCL Ltd, during a conference call on August 3, 2015.

In the first phase, GHCL Ltd, which at present has 8.5 lakh tonnes soda ash production capacity, will raise the soda ash capacity by 100,000 tonnes

by FY17 with an estimated investment of Rs 375 crores. In the next phase, which is likely to be completed by FY19, GHCL plans to invest Rs 575 crores to increase soda ash capacity by another 150,000 tonnes.

Soda ash (chemically known as sodium carbonate) is one of the commodity chemicals used most commonly in glass, detergents and food processing industries.

Tata Chemicals, GHCL and Nirma

are the major players in the Indian soda ash industry, along with two other small players - DCW and TAC. Imports also contribute around 23% of the total demand of soda ash which is primarily being catered for South and East of India. GHCL has about 24 percent market share in domestic soda ash industry, which has a capacity of around 3.1 million tonne (compared to global soda ash capacity of 67 million tonnes).

While capacity utilisation in soda ash industry is around 80 percent, GHCL claims to be working at an utilisation of 87 percent. “We have our own captive lignite mines and briquetting plant which gives us a major cost advantage. We produce dense soda ash which

is normally used for the glass industry and light soda ash which is normally used for the detergent.

Overall, we believe that the soda ash industry will grow at the rate of around 5 percent over the next 3 years,” said Jalan.

Meanwhile, for first quarter ended June 30, 2015 (on a stand-alone basis), GHCL's revenue has increased from Rs 562 crores last year to Rs 588 crores registering a growth of around 5 percent. In the inorganic chemical segment, revenue has grown from Rs 343 crores to Rs 347 crores during the quarter.

GHCL's textile segment has contributed with Rs 240 crores in the Q1 of FY2016 (compared to Rs 217 crores in Q1 FY15).

Prices weaken as demand falters China // Soda Ash China’s export prices for dense grade soda ash weakened in July as producers cut offers amid weak domestic demand, according to sources.

On 15 July, prices were assessed at $215-220/tonne FOB (free on board) China, down $5/tonne from the previous week, with lower discussions for July and August deliveries, according to ICIS data.

Export offers were quoted lower as demand from China’s domestic downstream flat glass sector was weak, reflecting sluggish real estate and construction activities, a local producer said.Offtakes in

southeast Asia declined ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the month-long fasting month of Ramadan, on 17 July.

Selling indications for dense grade soda ash were heard at around $220-225/tonne FOB China from producers based in Hebei and Jiangsu provinces.

A southeast Asia-based buyer was offered dense grade cargoes at below $220/tonne FOB China for cargoes from Shandong, whereas selective cargoes from Jiangsu were heard being offered at a lower level of $210-215/ tonne FOB China to Vietnam for July and August deliveries.

A stockist capped bids for the dense grade product at around $220/tonne CFR (cost and freight) SE (southeast) Asia but no deals transpired during the week ending 15 July. The buyer opted to carry over discussions to the following week, as end-users put off purchases ahead of the upcoming Eid Al Fitr holidays.

In northeast Asia, buying interest was constrained to September-delivery cargoes as demand from the downstream detergent sector is described as stable to soft, market sources said.

China’s export prices of the

light grade soda ash similarly edged lower to $210-215/tonne FOB China, down by $5/tonne at the high end of the range.

Offers from Jiangsu-, Shandongand Tianjin-based producers were mainly at $210-215/tonne FOB China.

Weak demand is expected to persist into August, with buyers taking a wait-and-see stance on the market, a Tianjin-based producer said.

Deals were heard concluded at around $210/tonne FOB China to Vietnam, or equivalent to a landed price of $215-220/tonne CFR Vietnam.

Ardagh achievements get official recognition United Kingdom // Cullet Ardagh Group, along with its glass recycling partner, has been recognised for their pioneering achievements at the prestigious National Recycling Awards 2015.

Ardagh & 'Reuse' received a "highly recommended" award for an innovative method of capturing of a significantly higher portion of flint (clear) cullet for remelting into new bottles and jars.

A panel of distinguished judges described the project as an

28

excellent example of cradle to cradle packaging, where a glass bottle or jar is collected on the doorstep or bottle bank, returned as high quality cullet to the glass manufacturer, and made into a new container without any loss of quality nor performance.

"Against strong competition from many projects and organisations throughout the UK we were highly delighted by this accolade, which recognises the

asianglass august/september 2015

contribution that our companies and the industry is making towards a more sustainable supply chain in the critically important food and drink industries," said Ardagh Group's Glass UK Head of Procurement, Adrian Davies.

Using advanced state of the art cullet colour separation technology, the partnership has increased the recycled content of glass packaging produced at Ardagh's Doncaster plant in

2014, with every individual glass bottle or jar having an average recycled content of 53 per cent during the final 6 months of 2014 against an average recycling rate of 26 per cent during the same period in 2013.

The project has also had a positive effect on customer relations through involvement with leading food and drink brands supplied from Ardagh's Doncaster plant.

www.asianglass.com

News

Power and strength are essential features in order to face the challenges of time.

Mappi International guarantees a product that is able to provide the highest performances...

... And this is not a tale.

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# 1035 august/september BOOTH 2015 asianglass

29

ADVERTISER FEATURE

Bystronic glass produces 1000th sealing robot

At the Bystronic glass Neuhausen-Hamberg location, there is a cause for great delight: The 1000th sealing robot, namely the high-performance “speed’sealer” was delivered a few days ago to a Chinese customer.

All employees are extremely proud, especially the group leader in the mechanical assembly department, Heinz Burghard, who previously worked on the production of the first sealing robot.

The first sealing robot was developed and built by the former company Lenhardt Maschinenbau GmbH (now today, Bystronic Lenhardt GmbH), back in 1981. As the first pilot machine evolved, it was initially trialled for 9 months before being sold on to the first customer, Bischoff based in Bretten (Germany). Then the first customers had pre-arranged to evaluate this new machine for themselves. “Our long-standing customer Flachglas Wernberg (Germany) gave us the initial design suggestion for the shape of the nozzle”, recalls Heinz Burghard.

Employees at Flachglas Wernberg proposed to the then managing director Karl Lenhardt, to develop a round nozzle rather than an immersion one. As it turned out, this was a decisive factor in significantly improving the quality of the sealing process. “The first worldwide sales of sealing robots subsequently followed” states Heinz Burghard.

Revolution through evolution For Karl Lenhardt and his enthusiastic team, the prints on the glass caused by chain conveyors that were used at that time, were a thorn in their side.

After numerous attempts to work with alternative conveying solutions the V-belt technology was introduced. Using this system, only the edges of the glass are positioned on the V-belt, therefore neither the glass surfaces nor the sealing material comes into contact with the belt. “At that time, I was dumbstruck at such a nonsensical design. However consequently, everybody grasped that this was the only way to achieve a perfect seal,” Heinz Burghard explains with a smile.

Precise dosing technology The following years saw many new developments and advancements, without which, today’s Bystronic glass top model, the speed’sealer, would not have become the best sealing robot in the market.

Bystronic glass Press Contact

Julia Huber PR / Online Communication Bystronic glass c/o Bystronic Lenhardt GmbH Karl-Lenhardt-Strasse 1-9 D-75242 Neuhausen-Hamberg Tel. +49 7234 601 120 Fax +49 7234 601 114 julia.huber@bystronic-glass.com www.bystronic-glass.com

30

asianglass august/september 2015

In 1998, to save long waits between the dosing of the sealing material and insulating glass unit to be sealed, the gear pump dosing system was launched. Here, the dispensing equipment is attached directly to the sealing head, which results in an exact sealing material dosage.

“We always wanted to be a step ahead have adjusted the sealer accordingly to meet the needs of the market at all times”, says Heinz Burghard. After the sealing robot was able to seal shaped insulating glass units, it was then presented at the glasstec tradeshow in 2000, equipped for the first time with conveyor belts for 4-sided stepped insulating glass units.

The market developed rapidly towards large glass facades and curtain walling, which were sealed with silicone. “We had to react quickly and developed a manual system for different sealing materials; however, this required greater input by the customer. The manual system therefore was soon replaced by an automatic material changing system”, Heinz Burghard comments.

“Furthermore our customers demanded more in the form a faster mixing system. That is why Bystronic glass went on to develop a dynamic mixing system with a significantly higher flow rate compared to previously known static mixing systems, which ultimately seal I.G. units much faster”.

Both systems were introduced for the first time at glasstec 2010 in the form of the speed’sealer.

“Bystronic glass are overjoyed regarding a major milestone in the company's history”

Today’s high-speed’sealer The speed’sealer is a high-speed sealing robot. A triple insulating glass unit can be sealed in two rounds without the need for nozzle exchange or downtime. The speed’sealer is highly accurate and immediately adapts to changes in joint depth. Its self-monitoring system always ensures a constant mixing ratio of both material components.

“The speed’sealer is one great machine. I can hardly imagine any future direction for sealing robot development. We have implemented and achieved so much. I am very proud that I was part of this story from the outset and even today, I still work on the assembly of the speed’sealer“, concludes Heinz Burghard.

Bystronic glass sales contact: E-Mail: sales@bystronic-glass.com For the contact details of Bystronic glass global representatives please visit www.bystronic-glass.com

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From basic requirements through to entire, customised installations Bystronic glass provides pioneering solutions – naturally, all in the highest quality.

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News Anaylsis

News

32

Jakarta prepares for Glasstech Asia 2015

T

he sourcing platform for innovative glass products & technologies that provides better perspectives on glass and green architecture trends to help trade professionals in their design decisions.

Glasstech Asia 2015, the 13th International exhibition that showcases Glass Products, Glass Manufacturing, Processing & Materials Exhibition, will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on November 19th – 21st, 2015, at Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran. The international level exhibit, organized by Singapore Glass Association (SGA) and Conference & Exhibition Management Services Pte Ltd (CEMS), and hosted by Indonesian Association of Sheet and Safety Glass (AKLP), will be featuring 300 exhibitors from 30 countries, over 8,000 square meters gross.

Glasstech Asia 2015 will also incorporate the 9th Specialised Hollow Glass Asia, a specialized international exhibition for the hollow glass manufacturing, machinery, equipment and glass products industry, 5th Specialised Glass Accessories Asia, an international exhibition for glass accessories and products, and international-scale conferences, the Asia Architectural Glass Conference 2015, the Green Building Seminar 2015 and the Glass Processing Conference 2015.

Edward Liu, PBM, Group Managing Director of CEMS said, “Glass is shaping the local design landscape, addressing stakeholders’ demand for aesthetics and green architecture. Glasstech Asia 2015 aims to connect global glass industry players to local architects, builders, contractors, developers, engineers, and facility managers, and showcase glass trends like self-cleaning glass products and insulated glazing glass, to help trade professionals in their design decisions.”

Edward added that for the Indonesian market and industry, Glasstech Asia 2015

asianglass august/september 2015

is expected to bring positive impact to Indonesian market as well as support to the Indonesian government in realizing the infrastructure development goals that will eventually drive aggressive investment and economic growth.

Amid a less than delightful economic condition, there is good news for the national glass industry due to the disbursement of the Revised State Budget of 2015, especially for infrastructure projects. With these projects are being executed, the automotive industry will be given an opportunity to boost sales, and this will eventually result in more demand for glass products.

“The prospect of the glass industry in Indonesia is influenced by the conditions of several industries, mainly property and automotive sectors. As with any other industries, both sectors have been affected by the economic slowdown, which only managed to grow at the level of 4.7% in the first quarter of the year, falling short of the initial government’s target of 5.7%1,” said Putra Narjadin, Chairman II, the Indonesian Association of Sheet and Safety Glass (Asosiasi Kaca Lembaran dan Pengaman (AKLP).

Putra added that the glass industry in Indonesia is dependent on the demand from the property and automotive sectors, which are the main markets for glass producers. Therefore, growth in the infrastructure sectors, particularly property and construction as well as automotive, will improve glass sales and vice versa.

At present, approximately 70%-80% of the national glass market is dominated by the property and construction sectors.

The remaining 20% is aimed at fulfilling the demand from the automotive industry. Meanwhile, in terms of market destination, the national glass industry also sells its products to other countries such as Southeast Asia, Japan, Middle

East and New Zealand, aside from supplying for the domestic market, with exports taking a 30%-40% portion from the total national production.2 Another possible catalyst for growth in the national glass market is BI’s policy to relax the LTV policy for mortgage.

For mortgage of a second house with maximum size of 70 square meters, BI has upped LTV, from 70% to 80% as stated in Bank of Indonesia’s Circular Letter No. 15/40/DKMP, 2013; therefore, clients will only need to provide an advance by 20% instead of 30%, as previously regulated. Meanwhile, for the mortgage of a third house and beyond, LTV has also been upped to 70% from 60%. For the purchase of row houses with a size of more than 70 meter squares, LTV has been upped to 80% (first house) and 70% (second house and beyond).3 A similar relaxation has also been given for motor vehicle credits, as now clients are only asked to provide an advance by 20% from the vehicle’s total price, instead of 25%-30% as previously regulated. This initiative is expected to improve public buying power with an aim to boost growth in the property and automotive markets, as this will impact the national glass industry.

“Aside from challenges such as the economic slowdown, which are also being experienced by other countries, Indonesia remains an attractive market for global glass producers. The national glass industry is currently dominating domestic production at the level of 700,000-800,000 tons per year. Imported sheet glass is only able to take up a market share of 5%, for specific sheet glass products that are not produced in Indonesia.4 We hope that Glasstech Asia 2015 will bring positive impact to Indonesian glass industry along with the rolling of aggressive infrastructure developments,” stated Putra Narjadin.

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ANALYSIS: Tall buildings

Build it big‌ high rise buildings in Maghreb Yogender Malik examines how the construction boom across the Arab regions of North Africa has had a profound effect on glass consumption.

H

ome to more than 85 million people, the ArabBerber region of North Africa, popularly known as the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) has attracted a lot of attention in last few years.

Though last three years of this period has also brought misery and bad press to the region, but slowly things are limping back to normal for the region and industries, including ours. Architectural glass industry, which is primarily driven by construction and high rise buildings, is looking ahead for a brighter period on the back of healthy demand as a lot of these buildings are entering into final stage of completion.

Growth in oil-importing Maghreb countries was broadly flat in 2014, while activity in oil-exporting countries of the region recovered slightly after contracting in 2013. Growth in construction sector ( and thereby in glass industry) is expected to pick up gradually. Risks from regional turmoil and from the volatile price of oil are considerable; political transitions and security challenges persist. Measures to address long-standing structural challenges have been repeatedly delayed and high unemployment remains a key challenge.

Of the four Maghreb countries, only Morocco has escaped political instability in recent years and, as such, remains the most dynamic and flourishing country in the region. Despite the wealth gained from its vast oil reserves, Algeria was under an official state of emergency for the 19 years preceeding 2011. By African standards, income inequality is low in Algeria and rapid urbanisation, especially in the north of the country, is providing strong opportunities for high rise constructions.

Tunisia started the Arab Spring movement in 2010 and continues to suffer its after-effects, though the country has enjoyed steady rises in income, expenditure and brisk construction activities on the back of strong economic growth and a young, consumption-hungry population. More recently, the Libyan Civil War and the Tunisian Revolution has halted the growth in construction and development of high rise buildings to some extent. Considering that these three ( Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) countries only emerged from their respective ashes two years ago, it is remarkable that there is any noticeable activity in the construction sector and glass industry at all — but there is.

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asianglass august/september 2015

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ANALYSIS: Tall buildings

Rise of the tower block

The development pipeline for prime grade property in major cities in Maghreb has been growing at an unrelenting pace recently. Across the major cities of the region, boards showcasing future skyscrapers with the background of a busy construction site are becoming typical. Earlier in June, construction started on Africa’s tallest building – a 540-metre-high skyscraper in Morocco. The 114-storey tower in Casablanca will be more than twice the height of the 223-metre Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, which has been the tallest building on the continent since its completion in 1973. It is expected to cost $1 billion (£637 million) to build and is due for completion in 2018.

Proximity to Europe ( At their closest point, at Straits of Gibraltar, the Maghreb and Europe are less than 15 kilometres apart ) , steady economic growth and popular tourist destinations has led to construction of a number of high rises in Maghreb countries in recent years. Considering the current under construction high rises and completed buildings, Maghreb countries excel many Asian countries in the number of these high rises on per capita basis.

THE DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE FOR PRIME GRADE PROPERTY IN MAJOR CITIES IN MAGHREB HAS BEEN GROWING AT AN UNRELENTING PACE

Algeria

Algeria is the second largest country in Africa, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean Basin. With one of the largest natural gas in the world and oil reserves, the country has made rapid progress in addition of high rise buildings in recent years. Benefiting from political stability, Algeria’s economy and its construction industry continues to perform satisfactorily in spite of current downturn in oil sector. Growth in construction industry and high rise buildings is driven by investment in commercial constructions.

Algeria’s economy has seen significant reforms in recent years.

Continuous improvements to the economy of Algeria have been made by the government, which has had a positive impact on infrastructure investment and high rise constructions. In last few years Algeria major infrastructure projects have been carried out as part of the five-year 201014 public investment programme (Programme d’investissements publics).

As a result of the programme construction sector grew by 8.5% in 2014 (up from 5.2% in 2013), which accounted for 9.6% of country’s GDP in the year.

Libya

Of the four Maghreb countries, we have considered for this article, Libya is the only country which is witnessing widespread political conflicts at the moment. The country, which is mostly desert and oil-rich is located on the southern shores of the Mediterranean is known for the 42-year rule of the mercurial Col Muammar Gaddafi. But even the harshest critics of Gaddafi will concede that his regime has led to widespread infrastructure and high rise constructions in the country.

Morocco

The Kingdom of Morocco is the most westerly of the Maghreb region. GDPper capita is $5.216 and the growth between 2011 and 2015 is 4,7 %.

With the Population 32.6 million (UN, 2012), Morocco is one of the biggest country in Africa.

Besides being a commercial hub of a large number of European companies, who have business interests in Africa, Morocco has a well developed tourist industry, which is focused on the country’s coast, culture, and history . The country attracted more than 11 million tourists in 2014.

Tourism is the second largest foreign exchange earner in Morocco after the phosphate industry. These two factors have led to addition of a large number of high rise buildings in recent years.

Till a couple of years back, Morocco has attracted a large volume of real estate investment in the holiday home sector due to its favorable qualities as a destination, namely its ideal climate, its rich culture and its proximity

38

asianglass august/september 2015

to major European capitals. However, the regional crisis has had a severe impact on the holiday home real estate market, due to the withdrawal of foreign private investors, who were responsible for the frenzy for second homes in Morocco.

General Secretary of the Moroccan Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics, Redouane Belarbi recently announced that 36 billion dirhams ( about 3.3 billion Euros) will be invested in the construction industry in the country in 2015. Moroccan authorities have also announced amended its public contracts in early 2014, which has brought good news to domestic glass industry and downstream processors as it stipulates mandatory reservation 20% of public procurement from Moroccan SMEs.

Tunisia

While Tunisia shares many characteristics with neighboring countries, some of its attributes are unique: a small territory, a relatively homogenous population, a relatively liberalized economy and a large and educated middle class. Tunisia is an upper-middle-income country, and prior to 2011 was considered one of the best performing non-oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of new high rise constructions.

Strong annual growth prior to 2011, however, masked inequalities that fed discontent. Wealth is concentrated in the capital and along the eastern coast, while the interior has long suffered from relative poverty and a lack of high rise constructions.

Political uncertainty, which prevailed in the country for last couple of years concluded in 2015 with a new government beginning a five-year term and taking the lead in meeting Tunisia’s economic challenges. After a short-lived rebound in 2012, political and social instability, as well as the difficult external environment, that characterized most of 20132014, had led to a slowdown of economic growth. Rebounding from the contraction of 1.9% of GDP in 2011, the economy grew by 3.6% in 2012, slowed down to 2.6% in 2013.

Glass benefits

High rise constructions provide one of the largest sub-segment of glass consumption in the architectural segment. Between commercial and residential high rises, the former accounts for more than 40 % of total architectural glass consumption, globally. This figure is slightly higher in developing countries.

Though, exact figures of glass usage and demand from high rise constructions are not available for Maghreb countries, but the estimated figures are between 44- 46 % of the total architectural glass consumption.

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ANALYSIS: Tall buildings

High Rise Buildings in Algeria Building

Location

Height

Operational Since

Bahia Center 1

Oran

161 meters

2008

Bahia Center 2

Oran

161 meters

2008

Bahia center 3

Oran

161 meters

2012

Bahia Center 4

Oran

161 meters

2014

Emir Abdelkader Mosque

Kasantina

107 meters

1994

Maqam Echahid

El Madina

100 meters

1982

Oran

77 meters

2011

Algeris

270 meters

Under Construction

Oran

200 mterers

Under Construction

Oran

120 meters

Under Construction

Algeris

75 meters

Under Construction

Shereton Oran Hotel Great Mosque of Algeris Sherazade Towers Belazzoug Towers Holiday Inn Hotel Tower

Emergence of a number of these high rises in Maghreb region has given a much needed boost to flat glass industry in the region. Though, the region didn’t have any significant float glass producer, until 2007, when Algerian company CEVITAL set up its subsidiary Mediterranean Float Glass ( MFG ), which currently accounts for a major share of flat glass market in these countries. Proximity to Europe and Egypt, which is a local glass manufacturing powerhouse are also major source of glass imports in the countries of this region. Steady growth of flat glass demand in the region has forced MFG to install another float glass line and another company to join the flat glass manufacturing.

Usage of value added glasses in these high rises has also spurred the development of downstream glass processing industry in all the countries of the region. A number of small and mid glass processors have emerged in each of the important cities of these countries.

Industry make-up

Float glass production capacities in the Maghreb region continues to be scarce. Other than Algeria, rest of the countries are still heavily dependent on import of glass, either in raw state of as finished products for use in buildings.

In three Maghreb countries ( Other than Algeria) countries, high energy price combined with low local demand for float glass are strong drawbacks for installing float glass plant. As an example, the local demand in Tunisia is around 35 percent of the production of a profitable float glass plant (for which the minimum output can be estimated at approximately 150,000 tons/year).

Large-scale modern glass manufacturing facilities require either developed domestic markets with large customer bases for their products or access to export markets. For a developing economies of Maghreb countries, float glass and processed glass sectors are fast developing to match growing demand from spate of high rise constructions in the region.

Processed Glass

Rapid increase in high rise constructions in the region has led to emergence of a number of mid and small glass processors in all the four countries of Maghreb region.

Whereas, Algerian glass processors are at an advantageous state due to availability of float glass in the country, other Maghreb based glass processors have to import basic glass for further processing.

Despite the number of glass processors in the region, many prestigious high rise have imported the vast amounts of float and value added glass needed for their projects from comparatively low cost producers such as

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asianglass august/september 2015

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ANALYSIS: Tall buildings

High Rise Buildings in Libya Building

Location

Height

Operational Since

JW Marriot Hotel

Tripoli

126 m

2011

Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel

Tripoli

100 m

2003

Nessco Building

Tripoli

93 m

2005

El Fateh Tower

Tripoli

93 m

2003

Radisson Blu Mahari

Tripoli

65 m

2001

Movenpick Hotel

Tripoli

65 m

2005

El Mehari Hotel

Tripoli

65 m

2001

Administrative Office Tower 5

Tripoli

65 m

1990

Tibesti Hotel

Benghzai

57 m

1989

Administartive Office Complex

Benghazi

54 m

1991

Algeris

75 meters

Under Construction

Holiday Inn Hotel Tower

Egypt and Turkey. Glass imports from European countries also takes place in significant numbers in these prestigious high rises.

Producer news focus Mediterranean Float Glass

Algeria based Mediterranean Float Glass ( MFG) is among the largest float glass producers in the region. A subsidiary of CEVITAL Group, MFG commenced commercial production of float glass in 2007 at Arbâa (30km south west of Algiers). Company’s 30 hectare state of the art plant has an installed capacity to produce 600 Tons of float glass per day. MFG claims to export 70 % of total output to other Maghreb countries and Europe. In order to facilitate the exports smoothly, MFG has established subsidiaries and logistic hubs in Italy, Spain and Tunisia.

In 2009, pursuing a strategy of diversifying its range, MFG invested in a laminating glass line. Which was followed by solar control and low e coated glass production lines equipped with the latest technologies in 2011. « L’Algérie de ce fait n’est plus importatrice mais exportatrice de verre », lit-on dans le communiqué de Cevital.

According to Ms. Louiza Amrioui, head of marketing department at Mediterranean Float Glass, “The company is in process of setting up a second production line of float glass with a capacity of 800 tons / day, which will be operational in September. From the start of the second line, we will also launch the production of colored glass in the mass, what we do not do today. This product is intended for domestic markets and for export.

We will also launch hard coated glass in due course.”

Regarding market share in different Maghreb countries, Amrioui says “ We have invested a lot in creating different units and the development of product categories. At its start in 2007, we captured almost all the Algerian market. We are also number one in the Tunisian market with a market share of over 95 %. Recently, we settled in Morocco with the goal of being dominant in this market. We are also targeting other markets in the region and want to become leaders in these markets as well.”

She further says “In the Maghreb and Africa, consumption of double glazing is minimal compared to the European market. However, in newer constructions, these products are becoming a norm.”

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asianglass august/september 2015

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ANALYSIS: Tall buildings

High Rise Buildings in Morocco Building

Location

Height

Operational Since

Rabat

139 m

2012

Casablanca Twin Center 1

Casablanca

115 m

1999

Casablanca Twin Center 2

Casablanca

115 m

1999

Finance Com Complex

Casablanca

199 m

Under construction ( 2016)

JW Marriott Hotel

Casablanca

167 m

Under Construction ( 2016)

La Tour Casa Nearshore

Casablanca

160 m

Under construction

Casa Finance City Tour

Casablanca

140 m

Under construction ( 2017)

Al Nour Tower

Casablanca

540 m

Proposed

Tour ANP Casablanca

Casablanca

100 m

Proposed

Maroc Telecom Headquarter

In 2014, MFG established a new, fully-automated window and IG plant in its home country for its wholly owned company Oxxo. The new Oxxo plant produces the entire product range of windows and IG and has set up its own extrusion plant.

Africaver

A subsidiary of state owned ENAVA Group, Africaver is a producer of pattered, solar and architectural glass producer in Algeria. Located at the industrial area of Ouled Salah (Taher, Jijel), the company is facing a significant drop in sales in last two years. With a production capacity of 15,000 tons of glass per year, the plant currently produces only around 8,000 t / year. In 2014 , Africaver acquired a 130 TPD batch plant from German company EME. The company is also in the process of modernizing its sodium silicate line.

Adrar

Algeria will see its third float glass plant in two years time from now.

The project of Algeria Adrar 500 tons per day float glass production line will be located in Adrar province ( Located in the south of Algeria) of the country. Chinese company CTIEC will construct this project for Algeria HAMEL Renewable Energy LLC including the whole set production line from mining to delivering of finished float glass products. Chinese company will be responsible for project design, equipment supply, civil construction, equipment installation, personnel training, commissioning and standard assessment service. CTIEC claims that this project will utilise the most advanced float glass process and device with various high-level indexes and relieve the short supply of float glass in the Maghreb countries.

Signing ceremony of Engineering, Procurement and Contract ( EPC) for the project of Algeria Adrar float glass production line was held in Beijing in mid April. President & board chairman of CTIEC and authorized representative of Algeria HAMEL Renewable Energy LLC signed this contact.

The project is expected to be commissioned in 26 months from now (September 2017).

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asianglass august/september 2015

High Rise Buildings in Tunisia Building

City

Height

Operational Since

Palais De Congress

Tunis

83 m

2001

Hotel Al Mourandi Africa

Tunis

79 m

1999

L’Africa Meridien Hotel

Tunis

75 m

2003

Hotel Des Congress Tunis 5

Tunis

54 m

2010

El Hana International Tunisia

Tunis

43 m

2013

Demand of Float and Value added glass (tons) 2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Algeria

78,000

75,000

73,000

72,000

68,000

Libya

44,000

43,000

42,000

46,000

47,000

Morocco

56,000

55,000

53,000

50,000

48,000

Tunisia

42,000

39,000

38,000

39,000

37,000

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ANALYSIS: Iran

Opportunity knocks Iran braces for a golden future

Yogender Malik discusses how a difficult decade for Iran’s container glass and glass tableware makers could be about to give way to a bright, expansive future…

T

he last ten years have been a struggle for many of the manufacturing industries in Iran. Glass industry, which is dependent on construction, food & beverage industry and pharmaceutical industry, has stagnated despite all the right ingredients for its healthy growth. However, A sizeable population, a highly trained and cheap workforce, availability of highest quality of raw materials for glass production and most importantly for highly energy intensive industry like ours, one of the cheapest energy/ fuel costs.

Two of Iran’s immediate neighbors, Iraq and Afghanistan have almost nil glass production and almost 90 % of the total glass demand is met via imports, in which imports from Iran forms a sizable proportion. Besides, these two countries almost all the neighboring countries in greater Middle East and North African region are heavily dependent on import of glass, thus providing an enviable opportunity to Iranian glass producers to exploit this unique advantage provided to them.

Despite, having one of the best set of advantages, the Iranian container glass industry has failed to exploit these advantages due to multiple reasons. While, non consumption of alcoholic beverages is single largest factor behind the low per capita container glass consumption in the domestic and wider regional market, other factors like economic sanctions, which have resulted in low economic growth in the domestic market have also played the spoilsport in last few years.

However, recent turns of events in Iranian political landscape points to a halcyon period for country’s glass industry. Successful commencement of nuclear negotiations in July and likely easing off of economic sanctions are expected to provide Iranian glass producers an opportunity of lifetime to meet the domestic and export market’s glass demand.

46

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ANALYSIS: Iran

Container overview

Catered by seven mid scale container glass producers, Iranian container glass industry had to face one of its most severe crises in last three years. Plummeting domestic demand due to country’s economic situation and declining exports due to international sanctions led most of the container glass producers to operate at very low capacity utilization levels.

While, fuel price hikes and demand for light weight glass container ( which necessitated capital expenditure) led to increase in overall production cost on the one hand, low demand and threat of alternative packaging materials put pressures on the prices of container glass on the other hand.

Demand Analysis

Almost zero consumption of alcoholic beverages has deprived Iranian container glass producers from the most sizable and lucrative subsegment of container glass consumption. In fact, even in the extended neighborhood, there is a minimal consumption of alcoholic beverages, thus depriving the domestic container glass producer of export opportunities in this sub-segment.

Food & Beverages

Accounting for about 65 % of total container glass consumption, Iranian container glass industry was adversely affected by the decline

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asianglass august/september 2015

in consumption from this sub-segment. Sudden decline in the value of the national currency and high inflation rates in 2012 and 2013 had a very negative impact on the container glass consumption due to decline in consumption of packaged food and beverages. However, in 2014 the consumption of packaged foods and drinks recovered slightly, giving container glass producers some respite after two consecutive years of stagnation.

Carbonates, which are primarily consumed via glass bottles still accounts for a considerable proportion of volume sales of soft drinks in Iran. This category is led by the two giant multinational brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi; their concentrates are imported and produced in subsidiaries under license. Apart from these, the rest of the soft drinks market is led by domestic manufacturers, such as Alifard Co, Takdaneh Co and Zamzam Beverage Company.

Pharma rising

Pharma segment accounts for about 28 % of total container glass consumed in Iran. Thankfully, for pharma container glass producers recent turns of events and economic slowdown didn’t have a severe impact on the production and consumption of container glass.

With ease of economic sanctions, the pharmaceutical industry in Iran is likely to register one of the most impressive growth rates giving container glass producers for the sub-segment many reasons to cheer.

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ANALYSIS: Iran

Leading container makers Company

Location

Installed Capacity

Hamadan Glass

Qazvin

300 TPD

Shishe Va Gaz ( Shoga)

Tehran

300 TPD

Razi Glass Group

Qazvin

170 TPD

Mofid Pharmaceutical Glass

Tehran

290 TPD

Mina Glass

Tehran

160 TPD

Crystal Iran

Abhar ( Qazvin)

90 TPD

Tehran

250 TPD

Daroo Shishe ( Sina Glass)

Container Glass Production and Consumption in Iran in Last Five Years (tonnes) 2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

Container Glass Production

287,000

282,000

302,000

313,000

304,000

Domestic Demand

245,000

248,000

256,000

254,000

247,000

Exports

54,0000

47,000

49,000

53,000

55,000

Sanction-busters

End of economic sanctions on Iran is expected to give a big boost to all the three sub- segments of Iranian glass industry. End of sanctions would mean a $15 billion boost in Iranian oil revenue, according to a World Bank report. The report said that lifting sanctions — which would give Iran access to frozen assets estimated at roughly $56 billion — would create a “windfall” that Iran could use to revive domestic industries such as auto and pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Additional help for Iran’s economy could come from foreign investment, which the World Bank predicted would climb to as much as $3.5 billion in a couple of years, double this year’s level. “With the lifting of sanctions, the government of Iran has the opportunity to put in place a policy framework that will enable the economy to make maximum use of this windfall and put the economy on a path of sustained economic growth,” the report said.

Iranian economy contracted at a rate of 6.8 percent in 2012 and 1.9 percent in 2013, but it rebounded in 2014 in part thanks to reforms undertaken by President Hassan Rouhani. Foreign direct investment has also plummeted and is likely to return only slowly. The bank’s report said foreign direct investment tumbled from $4 billion in 2010 to “a complete halt in 2012” and still amounts to less than $2 billion. After sanctions were tightened, automobile production fell to 700,000 cars from 1.6 million. Pharmaceutical exports worth $2.5 billion prior to 2012 have tumbled but could resume.

Prior to 2011, foreign direct investment to the Iranian economy averaged about $4 billion a year in the form of greenfield investment. But greenfield FDI inflows to Iran came to a complete halt with the tightening of sanctions in 2012, and only resumed slowly in 2015. The World Bank estimates that FDI inflows could range between about $3-3.2 billion in 2016 and 2017 respectively, if sanctions are lifted and economic growth rebounds to 5.5% in 2017. This is twice as much FDI inflows as in 2015 but one-third of the peak in 2003. India, China and Russia, which were the top 3 investors in the 2000s, are expected to be joined by the US and some European countries, particularly Italy, and the UAE.

The beneficiaries?

While all sectors could benefit from an opening up of the economy, the automotive and pharmaceutical industries are expected to get the maximum boost. As both these sectors are among largest consumers of glass, Iranian glass industry is likely to make great strides in coming years.

Iran’s car industry is one of the largest industrial sectors, accounting for more than 10% of GDP. After the tightening of sanctions in 2012, the production of cars declined sharply and reached 700,000 annually compared to 1.6 million prior to sanctions. When sanctions are lifted and international companies resume cooperation with Iran, the expectation is that automobile production will get a boost and reach somewhere close to its pre-sanctions level within the next two years. This is likely to get significant investment in automotive glass production in next two years.

Production in the pharmaceutical industries will also rise, as these firms will be able to import parts and machinery that have been subject to sanctions.

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asianglass august/september 2015

Major tableware glass companies Company Jahan Crystal Company Shoga

Company

Installed Capacity

Jahan Crystal Company

Crystal Ware

Shoga

90 TPD

Spideh Jam Toosh

6000 TPA

Bakhtiari Glass Industry

4000 TPA

Crystal Iran Company

6000 TPA

Lorestan Glass

30 TPD ( Ovenware)

Gamin Glass

Gamin Glass

45 TPD

Mahfam Jam

Mahfam Jam

70 TPD

Norit Azeh Glass Company

180 TPD

Kaveh Glass

52000 TPA

Spideh Jam Toosh Bakhtiari Glass Industry Crystal Iran Company Lorestan Glass

Norit Azeh Glass Company Kaveh Glass

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ANALYSIS: Iran

It is expected that pharmaceutical exports to Europe, which were worth $2.5 billion prior to 2012, will resume after sanctions are removed. Exports to Asia and Africa have not suffered a substantial decline as a result of sanctions, but even exports to these continents are expected to increase with the reduction of restrictions on sea cargo transportation and cargo insurance.

Foreign investment

German, Italian and US companies have indicated readiness to invest in Iran’s glass manufacturing industry, head of the Iranian Glass and Crystal Producers Association says. “ During visits by foreign delegations to Tehran recently in the wake of last month’s conclusion of nuclear negotiations, we have received various investment offers but everybody is looking forward for the western-led economic sanctions to be terminated,” according to Ahmad Amir-Ahmadi, head of Iranian Glassware Association.

“Iran’s glass manufacturing industry, like other industries, has caught the eye of many foreigners for investment after the nuclear accord but we have to wait and see what happens to the outcome of the negotiations,” he further says.

Ahmadi says tie-ups in the industry could involve transfer of technology and machinery and setting up of glass plants by foreign companies.

Razi Glass Group

Set up immediately after the conclusion of a decade long Iran- Iraq conflict, Razi Glass Group is a rapidly growing container glass producer in the country.

Composed of two container glass manufacturing units ( Razi Glass and Takestan Glass), Razi Glass Group meets container glass requirements of some of the largest pharma and food & beverage producers in the country.

Razi Glass Group’s management claims that using state of the art technologies at its glass plants has provided it an unparallel edge over other domestic and regional glass producers in terms of superior quality of products.

Besides, technological superiority, Razi Group claims that one of the lowest production cost on account of low energy/ fuel prices has enabled it to become one of the least cost container glass producers in the region.

Group’s first container glass plant, Razi Pharmaceuticals Glass commenced production in 1993 at Takestan Industrial park in Qazvin. The plant with an installed capacity of 50 TPD produces glass container for pharmaceutical industry. Takestan Glass, second container glass manufacturing unit of Razi Glass Group commenced commercial production of container glass in 2001.

Located in Qazvin, this plant has an installed capacity of 120 TPD of container glass for food & beverage industries. In 2002, realizing the growing need of moulds needed for glass production, Razi Group established Behin Pooyan Sanat,

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asianglass august/september 2015

which meets most of the group’s mould requirements. Besides, group’s demand Behin Sanat also meets mould needs of other Iranian container glass producers.

Mofid Pharmaceuticals Glass

Commencing production in 1994 as a non- profit organization, Mofid Pharmaceutical Glass has emerged one of the most technologically advanced and largest container glass producers in Iran. Set up as a small container glass manufacturing unit with a meager capacity of 50 TPD of pharma glass, Mofid Pharma Glass has gone to add 240 TPD of container glass production capacity in intervening years.

Mofid Pharma has undergone four major revamping exercises ( 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2012) and currently operates two furnaces, which feeds six production lines to produce container glass for pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries. Last expansion in 2012 saw Mofid Glass expanding its capacity of its older furnace to 90 TPD from earlier 70 TPD. For last few years, Mofid Pharma has made great strides in export markets of African countries, besides meeting the domestic glass demand.

Hamadan Glass Company

Public company, Hamadan Glass Company (PLC) was established in 1975 by a donor from Hamadan and in cooperation with the former Industrial Credit Bank (currently, Bank of Industry and Mines). The intention was to create employment in the deprived Hamadan Province and to satisfy the packaging requirements of food and beverage industries.

The plant is located on the 12th km of Hamadan-Tehran road. Hamadan Glass produces container glass for food and beverage industry. The company claims to hold a share of about 33% of domestic market. Hamadan Glass claims that about 20 % of its output is exported to Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Unit I of this plant includes a melting furnace with the capacity of 170 Tons and four production lines equipped with I.S. machines. The annual production of this plant is 40000 Tons. In 2004, modernization and upgrading was carried out ay this furnace to enable it to produce light weight glass bottles. Second plant of Hamadan Glass was established in 1999 with an installed capacity of 130 TPD with three production lines.

Shishe & Gaz Glass Company

Popularly known as Shoga, state controlled Shishe & Gaz Glass Manufacturing Company is the oldest container glass producer in Iran. Tracing its history to 1960, Shoga is based at Shamsabad industrial township of Tehran. Shoga caters to container glass demand of food, beverage, pharma and cosmetic sub segments of Iranian industry.

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ANALYSIS: Iran

Shoga commenced its production in 1960 with a 40 tons per day furnace, which at that time was considered a huge capacity.

Subsequently the installed capacity of this furnace was increased to 70 tons per day and later another furnace with a capacity of 90 tons per day was added by the company.

In a major revamping exercise in 2013, Shoga commenced operations of its new state of the art plant, which is capable to produce light weight glass bottles. With an installed capacity of 150 TPD, this plant was planned and executed keeping in consideration the growing popularity of light weight glass bottles in the domestic and regional markets.

Glass tableware

Iran has been successful in establishing one of the most vibrant tableware glass producing industries in the region. In addition to nine companies mentioned in the table there are about a dozen more, who are operating at a smaller scale. Most of the older and established companies have undergone capacity and product portfolio expansion in the last decade. However, sluggishness in domestic market in last few years has forced most of the producers to operate at low capacity utilization rates or look for export routes.

Kaveh Glass

Kaveh Glass, which is largest flat glass producer of Iran is also a major tableware glass producer in the country. Kaveh Glass Group’s subsidiaries Bolour Shisheh Kaveh and Shisheh Mazrouf Yazd Company are two tableware glass producers from the group. Bolour Shisheh Kaveh, which commenced operations in 2010 produces jugs and spinning articles in addition to big and medium-sized glassware.

In order to increase its share in domestic and international market , Kaveh Glass Co. has decided to increase the scale and scope of its tableware glass products. The company is in the process of expanding its installed capacity at Yazd glassware factory production from current 25000 tons per annum to 52,000 tons per annum. The expansion, which commenced in late 2013 will be completed later this year. This large scale plant has sourced glass technology from some of the best names in glass technology providers. This expansion will make Kaveh Glass largest producer of tableware glass in the wider Middle East region.

Kaveh, which currently exports about 25 % of its tableware production

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asianglass august/september 2015

is expected to raise the proportion of exports to about 40 % of its total production, once the new facility becomes operational.

Shoga

State controlled Shishe Va Gaz (Shoga), which is a prominent container glass producer in the country is also a leading glass tableware producer. Equipped with seven press machines, Shoga has an installed capacity to produce 90 TPD of tableware glass.

Norit Azeh Glass Company

In a span of eighteen years, from its modest beginning in 1997, when it started with a meager capacity of 30 TPD, Norit Azeh Glass Company has acquired the tag of one of the largest and high quality producers of tableware glass in Iran. In a few years after its inception Norit Azeh entered into a licensing agreement with leading Japanese tableware producer, SOGA Glass. Under the licensing arrangement, Norit Azeh started producing Japanese company’s design in Iran. Around the same time , Norit Azeh also established a logistics and distribution center near the new international airport of Tehran.

In one of its kind of expansion in the region, the company acquired a new state of the art 150 TPD furnace in 2004. Addition of the furnace enabled it to automatically produce a huge range of glass tableware for Iranian and export markets. Currently, the company claims that it exports about 30 % of the total output to about 25 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Mahfam Jam Company

Located at Tehran, Mahfam Jam Company is a midsized glass tableware producer. The company, which commenced commercial production of tableware glass in 1997 claims to have an installed capacity of 10000 TPA of opal glassware at its state of the art facility.

Mahafam Jam has been aggressively targeting exports market in the immediate neighborhood, as there is a demand supply mismatch of tableware glass production in the extended region. According to Ms. Nasrin Eftekhari , Exports manager at Mahfam Jam Company “ We are heavily focussed on exports of tableware glass from our facility in Iran. For domestic markets, company has set up its branch office or appointed agencies in large cities, and in regard to export, we have presented our products to Lebanon, Egypt, U. K., Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, South Africa, UAE, Algeria and other European countries.”

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57

ANALYSIS: Solar glass

Sunny side up solar controlled glass solutions for India Rohan Gunasekera looks at why India’s solar glass industry is lagging behind despite the obvious growth of the sun-powered electricity supply sector…

F

or a sun-soaked country whose new and enormous emphasis on solar power has got so much attention, Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is hardly mentioned in India’s energy policy or industry activity, if at all. Clearly, BIPV is still at an early stage in the subcontinent although its potential is obvious and huge.

The scale of India’s solar power expansion plans is staggering. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) has a new target of deploying 100GW of solar energy by 2022, a five-fold increase from the previous government’s target of just 20GW. The size and speed of the expansion envisaged certainly is ambitious.

But India’s energy requirements are big and urgent. Its existing power deficit is huge and has resulted in ‘load shedding’ or power cuts. It suffers from deadly heat waves, which regularly kills scores of people, tragedies avoided with widespread availability of air-conditioning. India’s also is trying to replace fossil-fuel based power generation – mainly coal – with solar power. Coal reserves are running out and need to be replaced with a more sustainable energy source for which solar is ideal. Doing so not only makes India more self-sufficient in energy but can reduce its fossil fuel import bill.

Fossil fuels currently account for 70% of India’s 268GW of power generation.

And more than most countries, any reduction in harmful emissions enables India contribute to meeting global emission reduction targets to prevent global warming.

Although BIPV are PV materials used in place of conventional building materials as an auxiliary source of power and integrates solar energy with that of building design, in India BIPV still means mainly rooftop solar panels. BIPV can be incorporated either during the construction of a new building or retrofitted to an old building, but its use in various parts of building envelops such as roofs, facades, and skylights, as in other countries, is yet to catch on in the subcontinent. There’s still lack of awareness of the usefulness of moving from inactive to active building façades and that incorporating solar panels from a building’s design stage is better than adding them later. This is not surprising, though, given that renewable energy sources have not yet reached mature integration into

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asianglass august/september 2015

existing or new buildings even i n advanced countries like Europe and interaction between PV makers and architects is still insufficient.

Another problem is that BIPV is less efficient than rooftop installations or those in solar power farms where the panels can be aligned to the sun or made to track its path across the sky to get the most amount of energy. BIPV on facades cannot do so.

Some firms that started making solar glass and PV makers that did BIPV projects are no longer doing so.

Specialty glass manufacturer Gujarat Borosil Ltd., which produces lowiron solar glass with a light transmission factor of 91.5%, is disappointed by the poor uptake of BIPV, along with PV panel and module manufacturers, but notes there’s much potential in the sector.

Pradeep Kheruka, vice chairman of Gujarat Borosil Ltd., believes one reason why BIPV has not

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ANALYSIS: Solar glass

p… taken off in India is because the focus now is on solar farms supplying to the grid. These are large projects of 50- 500 MW being set up in the desert or waste land that’s not arable, with lots of sunlight. So there’s not much scope for doing BIPV. “BIPV is extremely logical and definitely the way to go,” Kheruka told Asian Glass. “It makes no sense to first have an asbestos or steel roof and then put BIPV. Instead it’s better to have a BIPV roof from the outset, for instance a building façade covered with sunlight whose entire face can be coated with BIPV panels. But you need large projects and architects and users who want these things. In India not many have gone ahead with BIPV. We retain the capability of making and selling solar glass which can be incorporated into BIPV modules.”

Kheruka said Gujarat Borosil manufactures the most technically advanced solar glass with the lowest iron content and no antimony. “We make glass without antimony which is a very toxic poison that’s present in every solar glass in the world. Antimony pollutes the environment when used PV panels are discarded, crushed and thrown into a land fill. When it rains the land fill is inundated with water and the antimony leaches from the glass and poisons the ground water which in turn poisons vegetation and wildlife. This is a disaster. We’re the first company to make solar glass without antimony.

We’re fighting hard to open the eyes of the world to the dangers posed by antimony and to stop using antimony.”

Borosil’s rolled glass manufacturing facility is located in Bharuch, in the state of Gujarat, covering a total area of 4 million m² with a total investment of over US$10 million and equipment for glass batching, melting, forming and cutting sourced from West European companies. The company, which specializes in producing 3.2mm and 4mm low iron glass widely used in the solar industry, has the capacity of producing 13,000 square meters of glass (of 3.2 mm thickness) per day or more than 4.2 million m2/ year). That’s enough to help generate nearly 600 MW of solar power and the firm says can easily be ramped up if

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demand goes up. Its antimony free low iron solar glass is used for multi and mono crystalline solar photovoltaic modules.

As the only producer of solar glass in India it remains a dominant player with a natural advantage of offering a shorter lead time to module manufacturers. The company expects an increase in demand for solar glass although it says right now margins are slim due to dumping by China. Gujarat Borosil has been affected by tough competition from cheap Chinese imports and rising input costs.

Net profit fell to Indian Rs153 million in 2014-15 from Indian Rs829 million in 2013-14 after losses in the two previous years. The company found it difficult to pass on recent hikes in power and fuel cost on to buyers in higher prices of solar glass due to fierce competition from Chinese imports.

The company complains that while in the budget of July 2014, excise was removed on solar tempered glass, despite repeated promises by the Finance Minister in Parliament, excise/CVD continues to be levied on the inputs for solar glass. This means continuing with the inverted duty structure, where imports of solar glass are completely exempt from all kinds of duty, while domestically made solar glass suffers duty on its inputs.

Imposition of anti-dumping duty by European Union on imports of Chinese solar glass allowed prices there to normalize and helped promote exports of Gujarat Borosil glass to the European market.

Gujarat Borosil has been focusing mainly on the domestic market but says there has been a surge in cheap imports in India from China after the EU imposed Anti-Dumping Duty on import of solar glass from China. This has led to pressure on domestic prices and margins have eroded further. The matter has been taken up with Ministry for New and Renewable Energy to either impose at least a basic import duty to provide a level playing field to the domestic industry or include solar glass within the definition of domestic content in the projects being set up by the government with domestic content requirement (DCR).

Policy problems

Government policies to provide solar power at cheapest price and the methods like reverse bidding for power projects is putting heavy pressure on the domestic manufacturers of components and forcing them to abandon their expansion plans owing to very low return on investment. “While getting imports at low prices may temporary help the government meet its objective, the inferior quality will prove very costly in the longer term and is certainly working directly against the Make In India campaign of the Government of India,” Gujarat Borosil said. “Without any import duty on solar glass it is impossible to compete with China. In the anti-dumping hearings conducted by the EU, a dumping margin of 40% has been established against Chinese imports. This will ensure no growth in the domestic production. There are huge imports of modules and solar glass from China in view of overcapacity and lower international demand. This also reduces the demand for components as the ready modules are getting imported. This is hurting the solar glass industry even more than import of glass.”

august/september 2015 asianglass

59

ANALYSIS: Solar glass

Asahi India Glass Limited (AIS) has done some trials on BIPV but is not doing it commercially yet and instead offering the product from its Japanese principals. Rajat Kumar Koushik, Solar Glass Product Manager, believes BIPV has potential in the next few years and is now a growing segment albeit being a completely new product not only in India but all south Asian countries. “It is gradually getting attention owing to green energy regulations but unfortunately there is no manufacturing firm in India for BIPV,” he told Asian Glass.

Production and installation costs are seen to be still too high for rapid uptake by the general population. BIPV energy output is also less than roof top and other ground-mounted systems and BIPV on façades, walls, canopies and sky lights is not enough to meet the entire power needs of a building. Integration is another issue – integration between BIPV and grid systems. “You cannot get enough power from BIPV to run the entire building so you must chose both options,” Koushik said. “So somewhere you have to integrate both which is not easy to do. But BIPV does have potential and I believe within the next five years it will pick up.”

Solar sells or cells?

Moser Baer India started production at its upgraded solar cell manufacturing line in January 2015 and now has a capacity of about 200MW for both Indian power projects and also exports. According to financial results for the quarter ended March 2015, Moser Baer Solar did module sales of about 11.2MW in the Japanese and domestic market and systems services of 20MW. The company, which makes mostly thin film based PV modules, has not done many BIPV projects after one small facility of a few kilowatts was installed in Hyderabad in 2011, according to K N Subramaniam, CEO, Moser Baer Solar Limited. He feels this is because more development is needed in terms of specialised thin film coated on glass which generates power and also adds shading.

“BIPV is still very much in the nascent stage in India. Yes, we’re keen on this line of business but as of today we’re not doing much,” Subramaniam told Asian Glass. “I’m expecting that in the next round of major construction activity – the malls, housing and multi-story flats - definitely there will be opportunities coming for BIPV. We expect both residential and office space to go up substantially in the next 5-6 years. In new buildings, green certification will be pushed for and they will have to be self sustaining in electricity and use whatever sunlight falling on the building.” Subramaniam believes demand will go up if rules are imposed that encourage BIPV use in buildings of a certain size and there’s more awareness of the usefulness of ‘green buildings’.

Dr Vijay Kumar, Chief Technology Officer of Moser Baer Solar, said there have been only few initiatives where BIPV modules have been installed over the years. “In my view there has to be a marriage between architects and civil engineers and BIPV specialists,” he told Asian Glass. “Designing of new buildings has to accommodate the PV module in the building design itself – to take the fullest advantage of the technology, either on the façade or roof top. That mechanism seems not to be working because PV companies concentrate only on modules; they do not do civil engineering aspects of buildings. So it doesn’t take shape. There’s no common platform to do it jointly.”

Installing BIPV on existing buildings also has difficulties as cost does not support it, buildings might need rework which may not be possible and technically it may not be feasible, if say the façade can’t be changed. “So it is either technology prohibitive or cost prohibitive. Because of these reasons, over the years, BIPV has not been successful. But its potential remains great.”

There have been some arguments that BIPV is the way for India to go given difficulties in getting land for large solar farms. But Dr Kumar notes that while this is true, it is the big solar farm projects that can generate large amounts of stable power to feed the grid.

“Ultimately you must look at the electricity cost and whether or not it matches the requirement. In BIPV, electricity generated goes to individual

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asianglass august/september 2015

State Wise Projects Commissioned under Rooftop PV & Small Solar Power Generation Programme State

No. of Projects

Capacity (MW)

Andhra Pradesh

10

9.75

Chhattisgarh

2

4

Haryana

8

7.8

Jharkhand

8

16

Madhya Pradesh

3

5.25

Maharashtra

3

5

Odisha

7

7

Punjab

5

6

Rajasthan

12

12

Tamil Nadu

6

6

Uttarakhand

3

5

Uttar Pradesh

4

7

Total

71

90.8

A generation based incentive is being given to the utilities to cover the difference between the tariff determined by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and the base price of Rs.5.50 /kWh with 3% escalation per annum. IREDA has been designated as “Programme Administrator” by MNRE for administering the Generation Based Incentive Programme “Rooftop PV & Small Solar Power Generation Programme” (RPSSGP).

Module technology options used in the RPSSGP Scheme Technology

Number

Mono Crystalline

4

Poly Crystalline

33

Thin Film

30

Mixed

4

TOTAL

71

Module suppliers under “RPSSGP” Scheme Module Supplier

Capacity (MW)

Indigenous

52.82

International

37.98

Total

90.8

(Source - Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India)

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ANALYSIS: Solar glass

buildings. You can’t have big buildings generate mega watt hours of electricity. Buildings belong to individuals or companies. They can’t generate significant power. There’ll be too much of decentralised power. A building can generate maybe 50-100kw. But solar farms on large extents of land can generate large amounts of power which can also be distributed.”

Roof-top nirvana

Tata Power like other firms has done a few roof top projects and recently announced it was to scale up generation capacity to 18,000 MW by 2022 from 8,750 MW with 20-25% from clean and green sources, but for gridconnected power. US-based renewable energy major SunEdison announced a long-term power agreement with Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd to supply 180 MW solar power for the New Delhi area. The solar power plants for this project will be built in Madhya Pradesh.

Sunwatt Soltech Pvt. Ltd. (SSPL), part of Sunwatt France Group, set up a 3 MW PV Modules manufacturing facility at Kushaiguda in Hyderabad to supply both domestic and overseas customers. But like others it has done only a few rooftop projects. “Since the Government of India has a big target for solar power, the emphasis right now is to build large scale solar farms,” explained Anil Nair, CEO & MD of Sunwatt Group India.

“With this the focus on BIPV is reduced and added to that the cost of PV built into roofs/buildings is not being pushed by the architects even though there is a demand for green buildings.

“We are yet to see BIPV in good architectural buildings as in western countries - primarily due to lack of knowledge,” Nair told Asian Glass. “There is a shortage of choices available for a builder for BIPV. We have not done any major BIPV projects except a few roofs with conventional solar panels making roof out of solar panels. We do not have good product offerings for BIPV in India and hence our limited markets presence. We have stopped the manufacturing activity in India and now only offer EPC contracting. BIPV will see a boost in India once the regulatory mechanism comes to force for RPOs (Renewable Purchase Obligation) and green buildings.”

Solar thermal system manufacturer Emmvee Photovoltaic Power installed 300kWp photovoltaic systems at the expansion of its PV and toughened glass manufacturing plants in Bengaluru, India in 2012 but is no longer doing BIPV. “Earlier we were in BIPV business and we use to supply these modules to European countries,” D.V. Manjunatha, Managing Director, Emmvee Photovoltaic Power told Asian Glass. “Presently we are not in this business.”

India’s solar power plans catching headlines are largely large-scale solar farm projects. Although it is hard to find any mention of BIPV in India’s solar power policy, the ambitious targets announced do point to some opportunities available. The government budget in February which confirmed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s target of deploying 100GW of solar energy by 2022 splits it between 40GW of utility-scale projects, 40GW rooftop, and 20GW for an entrepreneurship scheme where unemployed youths and farmers get grants from the central government to help fund 20,000 projects of 1MW plants.

The 40GW of rooftop PV has been described as a “lofty goal” given that there are only 100MW of current installations. The government also recently reduced rooftop subsidies by half to 15%, from 30%, which the MNRE claimed offsets a recent lowering in price of panel components. But a net-metering policy is to be brought in by almost all Indian states. While commercial and industrial rooftop deployment is considered viable, the potential for residential rooftops is still not clear. Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) has announced plans to generate 400MW of rooftop solar energy in Delhi by 2022, mainly through commercial and industrial consumers in North and North West Delhi. TPDDL has said it is looking at commercial and industrial consumers because they are on a net tariff basis, which allows them to regain the cost of installing the solar panels.

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asianglass august/september 2015

Tentative State-wise break-up of Renewable Power target to be achieved by the year 2022 So that cumulative achievement is 1,75,000 MW State/UTs

Solar Power (MW)

Wind (MW)

SHP (MW)

Biomass Power (MW)

209

Delhi

2762

Haryana

4142

25

Himachal Pradesh

77

1500

Jammu & Kashmir

1155

150

Punjab

4772

Rajasthan

5762

50

244

Uttar Pradesh

10697

25

3499

Uttrakhand

900

700

197

Chandigarh

153 8600

2450

4149

8800

25

288

Nothern Region

31120

8600

Goa

358

Gujarat

8020

Chhattisgarh

1783

Madhya Pradesh

5675

6200

25

118

Maharashtra

11926

7600

50

2469

D. & N. Haveli

449

125

2875

Daman & Diu

25

199

Western Region

28410

22600

Andhra Pradesh

9834

8100

Telangana Karnataka

5697

Kerala

1870

Tamil Nadu

8884

Puducherry

543

2000 6200

1500

1420

100 11900

75

649

28200

246

Southern Region

26531

1675

2612

Bilhar

2493

25

244

Jharkhand

1995

10

Orissa

2377

West Bengal

5336

Sikkim

50

36

50

12237

135

Assam

663

25

Manipur

105

Meghalaya

161

50

Nagaland

61

15

Tripura

105

Arunachal Pradesh

39

Eastern Region

Mizoram NE Region

72

25 615

27

Lakshadweep

4

Other ( New States) All India

500

1205

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

600 99533

244

60000

120 5000

10000

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ANALYSIS: Solar glass

Solar growth

India’s total installed solar power capacity has now reached 4.1GW, and it is forecast to be among the top five countries for solar capacity this year, moving up from tenth place last year, according to consultancy firm Bridge to India.

The country has added on average 1GW extra capacity annually over the last three years and in the first four months of 2015 alone commissioned 1GW, with around 7.3GW under development. Bridge to India’s ‘India Solar handbook 2015’ says India could see almost 3GW additional capacity by the end of the year, a 250% growth on the previous year. India is on track to add more solar capacity than Germany, currently the biggest market, during 2015, making it one of the largest solar markets globally in the next three years.

According to Bridge to India, if the country reached its 100GW solar target within less than seven years, solar power would account for 10.5% of all energy consumed within the India, which is clearly an enormous proportion within a country holding more than one billion people.

Rapid urbanisation in India is expected to be a driving force for BIPV. With the population congregating on cities the only way such huge numbers can be housed efficiently will be to build up – in high-rise buildings where BIPV can be used.

The Indian government policy does offer some support. Although present policy hardly mentions BIPV, if at all, the emphasis on solar power is clear – and so are the tax and financial incentives offered to encourage use of solar power – loans and grants – by federal and state governments.

The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in July 2015 launched a loan scheme for grid connected rooftop solar projects offering loans with an interest rate between 9.9% and 10.75% with a repayment period of nine years. The minimum aggregate project capacity is to be 1MW, with the minimum sub-project capacity to be 20kW. And the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released specific state targets for rooftop solar. The government also plans to amend the Electricity Act 2003 to help reinforce the Renewable

64

asianglass august/september 2015

Purchase Obligation (RPO) that requires distribution companies to purchase a minimum percentage of their energy from renewable sources. There will be tough penalties for violations. The amendments would also enforce the Renewable Generation Obligation which says new thermal power stations must be set up with a certain percentage of their power coming from renewables.

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ANALYSIS: Ultrathin glass

Slim pickings The revolution in ultra thin glass Since the earliest ultra thin glass products started being developed around a decade ago, it has not made that much of a mark yet.

However, a slow-burning revolution is underway. It has applications in many industries and can deliver a myriad of benefits but what are the prospects looking like for this market in the immediate future and what innovations can we expect to see in the next 18 months? Amanda Saint finds out…

T

he demand for ultra thin glass has not boomed yet but it has been growing slowly and this growth is expected to accelerate as more product manufacturers, building designers and the transport sector come to understand the significant cost, weight and environmental savings it can deliver for them.

With many of the deadlines for businesses and governments to achieve significant environmental performance improvements looming, it seems that the time for ultra thin glass to start making some serious progress in the sectors it’s been identified as having potential in, of which there many, has come.

Much of the early demand for ultra thin glass was seen in the TFT-LCD (thinfilm-transistor liquid-crystal display) sector, which has been slowly warming up again after it slumped in 2011. It’s thought that it’s reaching a peak this year though and market analysts believe it will go into another decline from 2016 onwards. How long that one will last no-one is yet predicting.

But if the decline that is predicted does come to pass then the TFT-LCD vendors are expected to revert to the countermeasures they used after the original market decline in 2011, which saw Samsung exploring the OLED field and Sharp becoming a small and medium-sized panel vendor, producing mobile phone panels with 8.5-generation lines and vigorously developed IGZO

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asianglass august/september 2015

technology. Meanwhile, Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba set up a joint venture, Japan Display Inc. (aka JDI) to develop LTPS technology. Taiwanese vendors developed 4K HD technology while Chinese mainland vendors aggressively promoted the construction of new production lines at low costs. So, all potential markets that could be exploited for ultra thin glass manufacturers if the bottom does fall out of the TFT-LCD market again.

But the possibilities for ultra thin glass are huge and extend way beyond the TFT-LCD market. It’s expected to bring revolutions in product design to many sectors, including advanced optics, architecture, solar power, electronic packaging, lighting, aviation, automotive and mobile electronics. And that’s just the start of it: as the technology progresses more and more applications will be revealed. Box 1 has just a few examples of the potential applications for ultra thin glass, while more potential markets are looked at in detail in the Market Opportunities section below.

Market opportunities

The expected growth of the main markets for ultra thin glass means that over the next few years, production levels for individual manufacturers could likely ramp up by several million square meters a year for several years. The biggest sectors that are expected to drive this initial growth are mobile/wearable electronics, transport, solar cells and buildings.

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ANALYSIS: Ultrathin glass

To date, North America has been the largest market for ultra thin glass, followed by Europe then Asia Pacific. The U.S. and China are the largest consumers and are expected to dominate the market in the next six years, with North America forecast to maintain its top spot. Europe is expected to show marginal growth while the Asia Pacific region is predicted to witness the highest growth. The opportunities consumers in Asia offer for ultra thin glass manufacturers is not to be sniffed at: according to the National Bureau of Statistics China, the annual per capita disposable income of urban households in China increased by 50 per cent from USD 2,271 in 2008 to USD 3408 in 2012. In India the overall household income increased by 18 per cent from USD 1,366.2 billion in 2010 to USD 1,587.6 billion in 2013.

Potential applications for ultra thin glass Automobile windscreens:

chemically strengthened ultra thin glass has great scope for lowering the weight of automobiles so cutting the amount of fuel needed to power them. A research paper was published in April 2015 looking at how a laminated version of Corning’s Gorilla glass could potentially resolve the design challenge of lowering weight from windscreen glass while retaining the required strength needed for adequate protection.

Electric Drive Vehicle inverter applications:

ultra thin glass has been trialled in a Delphi and Argonne National Laboratory research project as a potential replacement for metal foils in the DC-link capacitors used to power electric vehicles. It has the potential to cut the size, weight, cost and environmental impact of the DC-link capacitators, which currently make up 40 per cent of the inverter’s overall volume.

Lithium-Ion secondary battery combined with a solar cell:

NEG, in collaboration with Iwate University, ULVAC, Inc., and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, has completed trials of the world’s thinnest lithium-ion secondary battery combined with a solar cell made using ultra thin glass substrates. It is expected to appear in the next generations of mobile electronic devices and IC cards.

Thinner LCD televisions:

the first LCD televisions featuring Corning’s new Iris glass (see more info in Who’s Doing What section) are due to hit the retailers shelves in 2015. This innovation is expected to routinely deliver TVs that are less than 10mm thick without compromising on viewing quality.

Ultra thin solar panels for smartphones:

French company SunPartner Technologies have produced a 0.5mm thick solar panel that Kyocera, a rugged phone manufacturer, have been trialling a on a modified version of the Torque phone. It’s still at early stages though and 10 minutes of sunlight can currently only provide enough charge for a two minute phone call.

Organic Light Emitting Diodes:

OLED lighting is environmentally friendly, mercury-free, and ideal as next-generation lighting. Owing to its outstanding thinness, lightness, low power consumption, and use as a surface light source, it has a wide range of potential applications in many industries. Using ultra thin glass sheets NEG has produced an OLED lighting panel just 100 µm thick, while LG Display is making great strides with OLED TV innovations.

Smart windows:

Corning’s Willow GlassTM, which was launched back in 2012, can be used in “smart windows” as electrically switchable glass or glazing that changes light transmission properties when voltage is applied, which has the potential to deliver significant savings on heating, cooling and lighting costs in homes, public buildings and commercial buildings.

Wearable electrics

With mobile and wearable electronics manufacturers looking to ultra thin glass to provide thickness reduction, weight savings and the ability to design curved products, the opportunities in this sector are significant. The display market is expected to dominate the demand for ultra thin glass up until 2020 owing to the development of the next generation of gadgets, while the demand for ultra thin glass displays for cell phones and tablets is also going to remain strong, particularly in India and China.

Across all global markets, the increasing demand for consumer electronics paired with advancement in the display technology is expected to deliver growth for smartphones, laptops, and tablets. See Figure 1 for the growth of global smartphone installations from 2008 to 2017.

According to a mobile phone forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide smartphone shipments reached a total of nearly 1.3 billion units in 2014, representing an increase of 26.3% over 2013. For 2015, IDC expects 1.4 billion smartphones to be shipped worldwide delivering a 12.2% year-overyear growth rate.

Additionally, increasing demand for slimmer, lighter versions and scratch-resistant displays across the entire mobile electronics product range is expected to drive growth for the ultra thin glass market to some extent.

As economies in India, China and Brazil continue to develop and the number of consumers with disposable income grows, it’s expected that they will drive demand for better quality smartphones, smart watches, cell phones and other digital products.

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asianglass august/september 2015

Forecast smartphones installed base worldwide in 2017 (in millions) Year

Installed base in millions

2008

237

2009

304

2010

431

2011

687

2012

1031

2013

1457

2014

1850

2015

2222

2016

2562

2017

2890

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ANALYSIS: Ultrathin glass

The relatively new market for smart watches saw considerable growth from 2012 to 2013 and the number of global smart watch shipments is forecast to grow by a huge 511 per cent from 4.6 million units in 2014 to 28.1 million in 2015. The vast majority of this growth will go in Apple’s direction with the iconic brand expected to have 55 per cent of the market by the end of this year.

The tablet market is still growing and by 2018 the number of tablet users worldwide is expected to grow by 57 per cent compared to 2014’s figures, when 900 million people used a tablet at least once a month – equivalent to 20 per cent of the world’s population. See Figure 2 for global tablet forecasts.

An estimated 286 million unit shipments of tablets will be distributed worldwide in 2018 with the Asia Pacific region predicted to overtake North America and Europe as the largest market for tablets, with 108.6 million units expected to be shipped in the region in 2018. In comparison, 107.8 million units are projected to be shipped in Europe and 78.3 million units in North America.

Transport potential

Transportation in all its forms needs lighter weight vehicles to cut fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions so the potential for ultra thin glass to provide the solutions this industry needs is high. From windows to light fittings, designing new planes, cars, trucks, ships, trains and buses with ultra thin glass incorporated can help the transport sector save money and weight while also improving environmental performance. There is also scope for retrofit projects to provide growth opportunities.

The automotive sector is forecast to continue growling slowly from now up to 2019 (See Figure 3 for details on total global assembly numbers) providing great opportunities for ultra thin glass to help manufactures achieve a number of their strategic goals.

The Solar PV Market

There has been a resurgence of investor interest in the solar energy market in recent years and the rising demand of renewal energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) cells, solar panels, and E-glass is providing excellent new growth opportunities for ultra thin glass manufacturers.

PV is now becoming a mainstream electricity provider across the world and increasingly being seen as the ideal solution for giving many consumer electronics products the ability to generate power independently of the grid.

In Europe electricity demand is stagnating but globally PV growth will continue to be driven by local and global energy demand. The fastest PV growth is expected to continue in China and South-East Asia, with Latin

Number of tablet users worldwide from 2013 to 2018 (in billions) Year

Tablet users in billions

2013

0.7

2014

0.91

2015

1.06

2016

1.2

2017

1.32

2018

1.43

Forecast for global total assembly in the automotive sector from 2010 to 2019 Year

Number of vehicles produced

2010

70,925,891

2011

75,318,666

2012

81,150,017

2013

86,684,060

2014

90,814,912

2015

93,501,535

2016

99,000,000

2017

102,000,000

2018

105,000,000

2019

106,000,000

Activities and innovations from the main ultra thin glass manufacturers Company Asahi Glass Company

In 2014, AGC increased its production capacity for ultra thin glass by 50 per cent by building a dedicated production facility at the Rayong Plant of AGC Flat Glass in Thailand. The company’s Research Centre is currently looking at the development of existing technologies for large-sized glass substrates to make them compatible with OLED, TAOS and other newly developed technologies. Lightjoule, AGC’s ultra-lightweight solar panel recently won an award in recognition of the dramatic weight-saving achieved by its Leoflex™ product, a thin and strong chemically strengthened specialty glass. Using Leoflex as the cover glass, the weight of Lightjoule has been reduced by nearly 50% compared to conventional solar panels.

Corning

The latest ultra thin glass innovation from Corning is Iris Glass, which it launched at CES 2015 in January. This substrate can significantly reduce the thickness of LCD TVs, making them as thin as a smartphone. Display technologies are the company’s strength and it saw a 69 per cent growth in sales in Q4 2014 over Q4 2013 in this product sector. It’s also making inroads into the automotive sector with its Gorilla Glass automotive laminates, which weigh 30% less than conventional soda-lime windshields.

LG Display

LG Display is currently the only panel maker that can mass produce OLED TV panels and it recently announced plans to partner with unnamed Chinese and Japanese firms in a bid to make OLED display televisions more mainstream. Market forecasts expect penetration to grow to 9 per cent for OLED TVs in 2016 and for the value of the global OLED display market to reach USD 16 billion by 2020. It has also signed a new OLED Technology License Agreement and Supplemental Material Purchase Agreement with Universal Display Technologies that runs until 2022.

Nippon Electric Glass

NEG’s new Dinorex product captured a 10 per cent market share of the mobile display market in 2014 and its aiming to grow that to 20 per cent this year. The company’s first plant in China for melting and forming glass for LCDs is scheduled to start operations in 2015.

70

asianglass august/september 2015

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ANALYSIS: Ultrathin glass

America, the MENA countries and India following. See Figure 4 for global PV installation growth forecasts.

Forecast new worldwide installations of solar PV capacity from 2013 to 2017 (in gigawatts) Year

Ultra thin Glass Innovations

The innovations in the ultra thin glass market are coming in its application and also in the manufacturing processes that produce it. Although the volumes currently being produced are relatively low, this is expected to ramp up considerably, and we can expect to see it on more and more products, vehicles and buildings in the coming years. One of the more exciting areas where it can be applied is architecture and research published in 2013 showed that it can be used to deliver the design elements in contemporary architectural practices where there is a huge interest in curved surfaces.

Who’s Doing What?

The major companies operating in the global ultra thin glass market and driving innovations forward are Corning Inc., Nippon Electric Glass Co. Ltd, Asahi Glass Co. Ltd., Schott AG, Abrisa Technologies, Tokyo Electron, Dupont Display, Universal Display Corporation, Materion Corporation, Kent Displays, Inc., LG Display Co. Ltd., Sony Corporation and LiSEC Group. See Table 1 for details of some of these companies’ activities and innovations.

French company Sunpartner is also making some big progress with its product development and is confident that ultra thin glass substrates will allow it to push through the introduction of its WYSIPS CrystalTM and WYSIPS GlassTM into new domains of applications such as: ultra slim smart phones, curved electronic wearables (smart watches, smart phones, tablets), smart windows and smart solar protection devices for transportation (automotive, aircrafts, boats, trains, trams, buses) and smart windows for buildings. It’s likely that these new products will be launched to the market within the next two years.

Market challenges

As always, new opportunities come tend to come with new issues that have to be overcome and the rising cost of raw materials and lack of proper logistic supply chain management in developing countries are posing significant challenges for the global flat glass market. Industrial salt prices and soda ash prices are seeing the biggest price increases. Additionally, cheaper Chinese imports to many of the world’s markets, especially in segments such as solar glass, have led to the

72

asianglass august/september 2015

Tablet users in billions

2013

38

2014

43.5

2015

44

2016

46

2017

50

softening of end-product prices.

The potential for stiffer regulations is always on the horizon and the Product Environmental Footprint pilot studies that the European Commission are currently undertaking mean that a new set of rules is likely to be introduced soon around the lifecycle environmental impact of products. The PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) will mean more stringent controls on the materials used in the manufacturing process of many products, as well as the impact they have during use, and there is a specific study group currently developing the guidelines for photovoltaic electricity generation.

The future?

While the market forecasts and predictions that analysts make don’t always come to fruition, it seems that the future is looking bright indeed for the ultra thin glass sector. Glass is always going to be a major component in electronics, transport and buildings and as the world increasingly seeks to manage dwindling resources more effectively and improve emissions performance, a product that can deliver savings in the amount of raw material needed to manufacture it, the weight of the products its used in and the amount of fuel needed to transport it to manufacturing plants, is definitely going to have a rosy future.

As the technology develops and it starts to become clearer exactly how ultra thin glass can be used in so many different applications to help multiple industrial sectors achieve strategic goals around profit, environmental performance and customer satisfaction, as with all innovations it’s likely that even more applications will reveal themselves. So the slow burning revolution in ultra thin glass is likely to become an explosive one in the not too distant future.

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In focus

Anaylsis: Refractories

74

CONSTANT EVOLUTION the lessons of refractories past‌ In the latest of his series of exclusive foci for Asian Glass, P.Carlo Ratto discusses how the techniques and issues faced previously in refractory manufacture should be heeded in order to push forward with future development.

Glass and refractories, more than in other industrial segments, have been strictly connected all along a story that evolved in about six millennia. Refractory materials were used, in fact, well before the very concept of materials resistant to high temperature, abrasion and chemical aggression was developed. With the advent of shaped glass, and particularly container glasses (bottles) developed pouring glass around sand molds more than three millennia ago and then through blowing technology about two millennia ago, it was necessary to have available a decent amount of molten glass and, of course, some kind of container with acceptable stability and resistance to alkaline corrosion at the glass fusion temperature.

While samples of ancient manufactured glass items have survived several tenth of centuries, we have little evidence of the old refractories used in their manufacture, since the very nature of these materials is that to be consumed and destroyed by the utilization process; we know that very likely quartzites and clays must have been the main raw materials, compatibly with the glass fusion temperatures that were surely much lower than in modern processes, the alkali content much higher, the forming process viscosity possibly higher and the level of smelting/fining generally incomplete.

So called refractories, empirically selected from naturally occurring materials, almost exclusively belonging to the Al2O3-SiO2 range of composition have been utilized for millennia, but without developing any appreciable scientific understanding until modern times.

Glasses composition did only slowly evolve with the availability of better heating systems (wood to coal and later on to oil and gas), changes of alkali sources, higher fusion temperatures and better glass fining, but glass quality was still limited, beside the utilization of poor raw materials, by the nature and purity of the refractories in contact.

It seems amazing but, before observing a significant development of glass and refractory we must get to the industrial development of the 1800s and, before coming to a scientific understanding of the refractory very nature, we’ll have to wait for another century.

Within the 24h condensed historical perspective of glass and refractory materials, we are indeed talking about the very last few minutes!

During 1800s both the glass and refractory craftsmanship turns progressively to industry and basis are laid to make the major progresses that will eventually deploy in the twentieth century; it is in fact during 1800s that better combustion systems, larger and better furnaces (up to the continuous regenerative Siemens furnace), new raw materials (e.g. soda Solvay) became progressively available.

asianglass august/september 2015

P.Carlo Ratto

Meanwhile in the area of refractories, the initial utilization of alternative raw materials like magnesite and chromite, new firing system (tunnel furnaces), new forming technologies (dry pressing) came online together with the initial scientific concept of refractory. At the end of nineteenth century, though, glasses were still produced in furnaces lined with silico-alumina refractory blocks, the glass quality was something very different to what we are used to see now and flat glass still was very expensive, a small and difficult to produce item, manufactured utilizing technologies descending from container blown glass.

It is during 1900s that, in rapid sequence, a large number of technological innovations were introduced regarding containers with (at the beginning of century) the automatic blowing machine, precursor of the modern I.S. press-blow and blow-blow, while all the evolution of the modern flat glass, directly produced in form of a progressively larger belt, stays within the first half of the twentieth century, ultimately leading to the float process in 1959. The second part of the century was devoted to a progressive improvement of glass quality, energy optimization, improvement of furnaces design, extension of campaign life and reduction of the environmental impact of the glass manufacturing processes. Major milestones have been the development of the oxyfuel platform, the evolution of several chemistries of extra-thin glasses for FPD, optical fibers and several more specialties that made possible the development of technology devices, now at the basis of our communications age.

It is to make clear that nothing of this could have been

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Anaylsis: Refractories

possible without a parallel and synergic development of refractories.

Twentieth century, in fact, was the period that generated and developed all the scientific and technologic basis for not only produce progressively evolved and specialized refractories, but also to create a huge amount of know-how around the working mechanisms of refractory bodies, the way they interact with the molten materials in contact and the way they spoil in the working environment.

Milestones not millstones

“Something weird happened in the last couples of decades of twentieth century”

Some of the milestones in the refractory technology developed in the past age, of paramount importance for the glass segment, have been the “invention” of fused cast refractories around 1920 and the advent of isostatically pressed bodies around 1940 and the progressive application to larger blocks up to the size compatible for glass tank design.

Also the range of different refractory chemistry has been greatly expanded, parallelly to the improved understanding of natural and synthetic raw materials (periclase, chromite, chromag, corundum, zircon, zirconia, spinels, SiC, graphites and so forth). In the glass production, periclase, chromag, AZS have taken a great share in regenerators, while zircon, AZS, aluminas, HZFC, isopressed eskolait, AZSCr, Al-Cr have been determining a real revolution in the glass furnaces performance (specific pull), durability (campaign life), efficiency (higher temperatures) and in the glass quality, through reduced cession of defects and improved fining, not to mention the economical aspects.

As a most important feature of this booming, has been the explosive ramification of new and different types of glass, a lot of them serving the booming communication technologies (glass optical fibers, FPD devices of all kinds, new illumination systems...), but also in new areas like nuclear waste encapsulation, PV panels, safety and architectural components.

Beside this qualitative booming in glass range, the same has been necessarily happening for the refractory that not only supported but actually made it possible developing a pile of “new glasses”, most of them characterized by an exasperated demand of intrinsic glass quality. One bold example is the thin flat glass family for FPD, a chemically heterogeneous family of glasses mostly produced through two different processes technologies (modified float and “fusion” overfloat process), having in common an utmost glass quality demand and in most cases the utilization of electrical power as main or exclusive source of fusion energy.

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While HZFC (High Zirconia Fused Cast) refractories are compatible with an extralow defects cession, the same (in the initial design of these refractory specialty) have a major weak point in the low electrical resistivity, particularly when highly resistive aluminate glasses are being processed in all electrical smelters. As an answer to this issue, major refractorists have developed HR (high resistivity) versions of HZFC, with a compromise between increased electrical resistivity and other features of these special HR-HZFC bodies; to be noted that, as a consequence of variable glass chemistries and different smelting furnaces, a family of “tailor made” HRHZFCs have been developed. To achieve these results, a deep understanding of the conductive mechanisms within the refractory structure and the way(s) to alter the same has been necessarily developed. Similar reasoning can apply to the development of the oxyfuel technological platform.

All in all, we can say that, in the twentieth century the explosion and qualitative ramification of glass types, supported by newly developed and optimized glass technologies, have been made possible by a parallel and synergic development of new and optimized, tailored refractories, the relevant technologies and scientific understanding.

The massive amount of know-how so produced has made it necessary to develop a generation of glass and refractory technologists, specialized for the glass problems and opportunities; as a matter of facts, and because this happened not only in the glass world, the profile of the generic refractorist has disappeared (except in certain academic environments!) and refractory specialists for glass have become a kind apart to the point that, today, experts of glass contact and superstructure are generally not the experts of refractory for regenerators packages, foretelling a further fragmentation in the specific expertise.

But this glowing picture of an exciting renaissance in the world of glass and refractories is far from what we see nowadays. Something weird happened in the last couples of decades of twentieth century and up to now.

Financial pressures

Starting in the last couple of decades of the 1900s, an unprecedented global financial (and then economical) crisis has longly hit western world bringing several regions to recession, reducing consumes and eventually hitting China role of the global productive hub. This well known picture overlapped the advent of low-cost refractories for glass (particularly fused-cast specialty) now made available

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Anaylsis: Refractories

ELECTROGLASS to the western world under a fragmented structure of providers and a complex commercial configuration.

This new and turbulent scenario has determined a strong pauperization in the chain between raw materials, glass and refractories and a very competitive environment where diffused overcapacity and struggle to reduce costing has been and still is the frame in which companies deploy specific survival strategies.

In the area of glass and refractory, as a matter of facts, the few remaining resources dedicated to research and development, have been diverted from innovation to cost reduction and search of the best compromise between savings and quality. In several cases, it was accepted the concept that, in the end, better compromising a little bit the quality of a surviving company than shutting doors of the best quality manufacturer.

The traditional concept that quality always pays, at least in the area of commodities (that represent the larger volume), is not corresponding to the actual truth; for what it is major western producers of fused cast, in most cases, they had to delocalize activities accepting a certain degree of quality compromise in exchange of the capability to survive the harsh environment.

With few low-volume exceptions (e.g. the FPD glasses and relevant HR-HZFC refractories), the major traditional sectors of glass & refractories (container, float) have mostly exhausted the strong development impulse of the first half of twentieth century and this will last until next economical global strong cycle.

All along this three decades of anguish a large amount of technical, scientific competent staff has been expelled out of corporate services in both glass and refractory industries, in the panting effort to reduce fixed costs and focusing in the financial/ commercial aspects of the business. This well appreciable and understandable effort has clearly moved procurement focus away from technical/quality aspects and much closer to financial/ economical aspects, meanwhile privileging short term advantages against long term, tactics against strategies.

This process has moved so far that, in many cases, companies are losing some critical piece of know-how requested for handling certain aspects of the business. Within the glass industry, I refer to the furnace engineering department, glass problems (often related to glass-refractory interaction) resolution, process improvements; within the refractory range, the capability to develop really new products and provide solutions supporting next wave of glass innovations.

To cover certain needs, companies are now resorting to technical consultants when strictly necessary and, curiously, a whole generation of technical consultants are owning and preserving a kernel of know-how in the area of glass and refractories that has been expelled from suffering industry together with a generation of technicians.

It may sound quizzical, but in this wave of dark decades, consultants are taking care of a know-how core as it was indeed in many monasteries in the European Middle Ages when information was handed down via classical culture, through the work of copying ancient works, with the difference that now this bunch of valuable professional knowledge is not going to be written in manuals and is waiting to be transferred to the next generation of technicians that, eventually, will be requested to support the next renaissance.

Training activities will be needed, in the short term future, to hand down knowledge before it gets lost. Since, eventually, it will be natural starting a new cycle; that day technical competence will again be considered a value, not anymore a mere cost aggravation.

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13/08/2015 15:54

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Window on

USA

Leading float glass export destinations (2014, sq metres)

Leading float glass import sources (2014, sq metres)

Leading cullet export destinations (2014, Kg)

Leading cullet import sources (2014, Kg)

Other Asia

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www.asianglass.com

Leading cast/rolled glass export destinations (2014, sq metres)

Leading cast/rolled glass import sources (2014, sq metres)

Leading container glass export destinations (1) (2014, Kg)

Leading container glass export destinations (2) (2014, Kg)

Leading container glass import sources (1) (2014, Kg)

Leading container glass import sources (2) (2014, Kg)

Other Asia

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august/september 2015 asianglass

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ADVERTISER FEATURE

Leading the Future with Endeavors over the Decade LandGlass Introduces CycloneTM Series Glass Tempering Furnaces

As various coated glasses, especially the online and offline low-E glass, are being used more and more extensively in the building industry, JetConvectionTM series tempering furnaces introduced by LandGlass in 2004 had won high reputation in the domestic and foreign markets and heralded as efficient equipment in tempering high end glass products by glass processing companies. After 10 years, LandGlass introduced a brand new series of forced convection tempering furnace, i.e. CycloneTM series, which achieved significant improvement in furnace performance including the four main features, outstanding product quality, increased production efficiency, energy saving and consumption reduction, intelligent operation and control.

I Outstanding product quality 1.1 CycloneTM series tempering furnace employs elliptical structure design and CycloneTM convection heating system, which greatly improves the homogeneity of glass heating.

1.2 In terms of the design of quenching section, the newly developed GeniousCoolTM technology has been employed in CycloneTM series tempering furnaces to further prevent the occurrence of optical distortion.

1.3 To eliminate the defect of edge kink of tempered glass is very difficult and one of the most severe challenges in the field of design and manufacture of glass tempering furnace throughout the world. By Adopting StraightEdgeTM technology to CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace, the defect of edge kink at the end of tempered glass has basically been eliminated and the quality of tempered glass can be improved significantly.

Taking 6mm clear float glass for example, the waviness within 300mm from the edge of tempered glass is ≤0.09mm.

1.4 The new generation of isoThermTM technology for CycloneTM series tempering furnaces features shorter heating time and higher heating efficiency and is able to effectively eliminate the hot spots on tempered glass and significantly improving the purity of the tempered glass.

1.5 LandGlass CycloneTM series tempering furnace greatly reduces the phenomenon of stress marks on tempered glass and has strong technical advantages in the application for high end processed glasses such as multilayer IG glass and multi-layer laminated glass. Taking the 6mm thick clear glass for example, the tempered glass is observed from a certain angle under natural light conditions., and air marks are found when 4 sheets of tempered glasses processed by normal tempering furnace are stacked; while air marks are observed only when 6~8 sheets of tempered glasses processed by LandGlass CycloneTM series tempering furnace.

1.6 LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace has superior performance in terms of tempered glass quality. Taking the 5mm thick clear glass for example, the tempered glass has superior flatness and optimal quality and can be used for mirror glass directly.

II Greatly improved production efficiency 2.1 The new generation CycloneTM convection technology and GeniousCoolTM technology incorporated in LandGlass Cyclone series glass tempering furnace can achieve random placement of glass sheets of varying sizes and shapes during the

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processing, which improves glass loading rate effectively.

2.2 The new generation CycloneTM convection technology and GeniousCoolTM technology incorporated in LandGlass Cyclone series glass tempering furnace can achieve rapid shift between glass sheets of different thickness and types during operation, which improves productivity effectively.

2.3 Compared with common convection furnaces, the CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace can significantly increase production of tempered glass (loads/hour) by for example, around 30% for clear glass, and around 40% for Low-E glass. Taking the 5mm thick clear glass for example, the hourly output, expressed in number of loads, is 16-17 for common convection furnace while 20-21 for LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace.

Taking the 5mm double-silver Low-E (E=0.04) glass for example, the hourly output, expressed in number of loads, is 12-13 for common convection furnace while 17-18 for LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace.

III Better energy saving performance 3.1 In addition to the smaller surface area of the elliptical structure itself and smaller heat radiating area, LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace is constructed with advanced composite thermal insulation material and supported by LandGlass’s unique ThermoLockTM technology, which can effectively isolate the heat transfer from furnace wall and significantly reduce the heat loss.

3.2 EnergySaveTM technology can sense the state of glass sheets online and adjust the time of high pressure quenching and low pressure cooling and power output of the blower in an intelligent way to achieve optimal control of cooling profiles.

3.3 Compared with common convection furnace, LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace is able to reduce the energy consumption by more than 10%.

IV More intelligent operation and control 4.1 LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace is configured with eAdaptTM System and eVisionTM technology which integrate the setting of processing parameters, identification of glass parameters online, process monitoring and automatic adjustment/control functions. The control accuracy and operability of the furnace have been improved significantly and the digitalized production of tempering furnace has been achieved successfully.

The number of operatives can be reduced and the dependence on the technical skill levels of operatives has been lowered greatly.

4.2 eAdaptTM System of LandGlass CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace has function of online man-machine interaction and is able to promptly and correctly transfer the processing parameters and information on furnace condition to the designated responsible person and managers in real time, which greatly improves the speed of emergency responses to the tempering furnace.

4.3 eAdaptTM system on CycloneTM series glass tempering furnace also has production management and emergency handling functions such as remote operation and control, which ensures the stability and safety during the production and operation of the whole tempering furnace.

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Your favourite magazine is now available at the App Store… download today to see your first sample issue!

Asian Glass: now for mobiles, ipads and androids

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ADVERTISER ADVERTISERFEATURE FEATURE

Intermac: revolutionizing work centres

PC-based machine control

One of the most important innovations introduced with the current range of Intermac work centres, is the machine management through commercial PC, with a Windows operative system that, besides offering high computing speed and multi-task programming, also enables an intuitive approach for the operator.

Among the numerous advantages deriving from the use of a PC, the following should be highlighted: • familiar and highly intuitive work environment; • possibility of multi-task working, using

different applications simultaneously, while

the machine works offering the same level

of reliability; • total connectivity with networks and data

storage systems.

Maintenance costs are extremely reduced, because the hardware components are reduced to the minimum.

Moreover, the connectivity enables the use of Intermac’s teleservice, with the possibility of carrying out long distance diagnosis and software updates and changes, with subsequent cost reduction and an increase in efficiency.

Master Product Family

The new Master line of work centres from Intermac is probably the widest range of this type of solution that is currently available on the market.

The modular concept and the high number of optional devices and upgrades make it a totally customizable system that allows every customer to receive his own tailor-made machine, to exactly match the level of technology, the budget and the overall dimensions that he needs.

Master 23 is the entry level machine of the range. Targeted on small companies who want to access the world of NC machinery, this centre allows to acquire the same technological level of top of the series machines with a reduced investment even in a context where space constraints could be a problem. Master 23 is ideal even as second machine for a larger company that needs to boost up its productivity.

Master 30–33–43 are the most successful and widespread models of the family. Already installed in countless workshops all over the world, these machines have stood the test of time and dominated the market for many years. Whenever you are looking for a reliable tool or for optimum finishing quality, these machines are the right answer. The

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possibility to add an optional infinite rotating axis, further expands the versatility of these CNC’s, making it possible to carry out tasks such as grooving, cup wheel edge grinding, and lateral incisions, as well as saw wheel cutting on shaped edges.

Master 34 is a model specifically thought for the execution of engravings, incisions and surface writings allowing to reproduce the most complex patterns with the greatest ease and highest quality.

Master 35 – 45 are the flagship products of the line when it comes to hi-tech operating heads. These machines are poly-functional centres, that are able to carry out the most complex work programs thanks to a operating head, which is extremely compact and rigid, with five axes, infinite C axis, and A axis with +90° -90°. These machines can easily execute operations such as drilling, milling, grinding of peripheral polished edges and cup wheel grinding, cutting, use of flat and convex saw disk, and incisions. More complex processes such as lateral incisions on straight and shaped edges or variable angle bevelling can also be carried out, always guaranteeing excellent finishing quality.

Master 53-55-63-65 have been developed to satisfy the needs of the building industry and the requests of architects for larger glass surfaces, they offer the same features of the others machines but coupled with large work tables thought for structural and architectural glasses.

Master work cells and Master special machines. Intermac can boast a significant number of work centre applications in fully automated work cells where the production flow is fed by anthropomorphic robots, bridge loaders, tilting tables or where the machines are equipped with belts for handling the glass sheets to be processed and conveying the semi-finished products towards the washing machine.

INTERMAC. - Intermac is the division of the Biesse Group produces and distributes machines and systems for companies operating in the transformation of flat glass and, more generally, in the field of furniture, construction and automotive.

Through a vast distribution network, consisting of branches, dealers and agents, Intermac guarantees attentive and personalized customer service that goes from presales consultancy to after-sales service and spare parts.

Intermac carries out its production activities mainly at its factories in Pesaro, Lugo and Guangzhou (China) and in total has about 30,000 square meters of production area in which they are used more than 300 employees.

Intermac Asia is established to serve the Asian market with an office, showroom and warehouse in Malaysia as the principal hub in the region. The location is strategic for effective and efficient business handshakes in Asia.

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MACHINERY FOR THE GLASS INDUSTRY WALTEC Maschinen GmbH is one of the largest glass machine manufacturers in the world and supplies its machinery to glass processing companies in more than 100 countries around the world. The product range includes automatic, electronically controlled feeder, pressing and spinning machines, press and blow machines, blow machines, blow-blow machines, twintable machines, handling systems as well as firepolishing machines for the glass industry.

linear motor-driven feeder, the first high-speed press line, the first servo-electric hydraulic pump in the glass industry, the first fully servo-electrically driven press and blow machine as well as pioneering technologies for production lines for high-quality stemware products in the blow-blow process. With modern machinery and experienced staff, the systems are manufactured inhouse, made in Germany. The in-house software department always guarantees state-of-the-art-technology.

Customers of WALTEC are glassworks that produce tableware glass, but also technical products such as washing machine glass panels, cold light reflectors, glass insulators, glass blocks and so on. The company, which is based in Wilhelmsthal, offers its customers not only the design and construction of machinery and equipment, but also the implementation of turnkey projects and glass factories. Distribution is worldwide; there are sales representatives in China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Turkey and the USA. In its nearly 115-year history, the company has supplied more than 500 glass processing lines. The main innovations of WALTEC are the first servo-driven feeder with ball gathering spindle, the first direct drive for press tables, the first burner tracking system, the first

Waltec Maschinen GmbH Kronacher StraĂ&#x;e 2a 96352 Wilhelmsthal / Steinberg Germany

Phone +49 9260 9901-0 Fax +49 9260 9901-99 E-Mail info@waltec.de

www.waltec.de

22nd – 23rd September 2015 Expo Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico

Where the container glass industry meets to do business Bringing together international experts, glass container manufacturers and businesses that use glass containers to discover the latest innovations which include energy efficiency, quality control, packaging, logistics and decorative possibilities.

This is your invitation to attend REGISTRATION IS FREE OF CHARGE RSVP now at www.glassmanevents.com/latam/register

 @glassmanevents  Join the Glassman Events group Official media partner:

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Meet us on stand C03

Organised By:

VITRUM 2015.

IN THE FUTURE OF GLASS, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

New ideas produce new technologies and out of these new technologies come other, even more cutting-edge and meaningful, ideas. One more reason why participating in Vitrum 2015 once again will make the difference for everyone involved in this industry. Every two years at Vitrum, the prospects for the future come into view with clean lines and clear focus, making it possible for companies, products and strategies to fully realize their potential. The setting this year will be especially thrilling, with Milan brimming with energy and life right at the height of the World Expo. An amazing, unforgettable Vitrum, one you really don’t want to miss. Because, in the future of glass, anything is possible.

International trade show for machinery, equipment and systems for flat and hollow glass, glass and finished products for the industry.

19th Show

Segreteria Generale Via Petitti, 16 - 20149 Milano Italy Tel. +39-02.33006099 Fax +39-02.33005630 www.vitrum-milano.it e-mail: vitrum@vitrum-milano.it

fieramilano 6-9 OCTOBER 2015

19 - 21 November 2015 | Jakarta, IndonesIa www.glasstechasIa.com.sg

GLASSTECH ASIA IS BACK IN 2015 TO PRESENT ITS 13TH EDITION IN JAKARTA, INDONESIA! Incorporating Hollow Glass Asia 2015 and Glass Accessories Asia 2015, the GLASSTECH ASIA series is the must-attend trade event that provides regional industry players with deep insights into the glass industry.

A platform for global industry players to gather and explore the future of glass manufacturing, processing, product and materials sectors, GLASSTECH ASIA 2015 will continue to create new opportunities for industry players across the globe to step forth and tap into the rapidly growing Southeast Asian market.

EXHIBIT TODAY!

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Explore new opportunities

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Stay informed

EVENT PROJECTIONS

8,000SQM

GROSS EXHIBITION AREA

300

EXHIBITORS FROM 30 COUNTRIES

5,000

TRADE VISITORS

2014 Statistics: 5,000sqm gross exhibition area 138 exhibitors from 18 countries 3,420 trade visitors from 33 countries

CONTACT US

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

SALES & SPONSORSHIP GA@cems.com.sg MEDIA & ADVERTISING GA_publicity@cems.com.sg

E: info@cems.com.sg T: +65 6278 8666 F: +65 6278 4077 1 Maritime Square, #09-43 HarbourFront Centre, Singapore 099253

Level 41, Emirates Towers, P.O. Box 31303, Dubai, U.A.E. Tel: +971 (0)4 3199196 Fax: +971 3303365 WE ARE GLASS(0)4 PEOPLE Email: mail@glasslines.com Glass Lines is a registered company in Dubai-UAE, working in the fields of consulting and supply of the machineries & equipment for the Glass Industry with more than 25 years experience.

HEYE SPEEDLINE IS-MACHINES Glass Lines group of companies are: EME … …………………Germany SORG …………………...Germany HEYE GLASS ………….Germany OLIVOTTO-ANTAS……….. Italy CNUD …………………...Belgium EMMETTI SIPAC …………..Italy SGS ………………………...China BELREF …………………Belgium VGT-DYKO…………….Germany

………………………...Batch Plant …………….Furnace & Forehearth ………….Container Forming Lines …………Tableware Forming Lines ……Annealing & Decorating Lehrs …………………...Packaging Lines …………...Fused Cast Refractories ……. Ceramic Bonded Refractories ..Feeder & Expandable Refractories

HIGH SPEED AT HIGH QUALITY FOR MANY YEARS TO COME High safety and high usability to protect staff and equipment Clear interfaces for fast installation and exchange of parts Clean design to fulfil HACCP requirements Flexibility through modular design Same core – same variables

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NIKOLAUS SORG EME MASCHINENFABRIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH FEUERUNGSBAU SORG KE NIKOLAUS SORG EME MASCHINENFABRIK INTERNATIONAL GmbH FEUERUNGSBAU GmbH & Co KG CLASEN GmbH UND SERVICE GmbH SERVICE GmbH & Co KG RZ_HEY_HiP_Speedline_A4_AsianGlass.indd CLASEN GmbH UND SERVICE GmbH 1 15.09.14 09:54

CNUD-EFCO INTERNATIONAL

Nikolaus Sorg GmbH & Co. KGGmbH | Stoltestraße 23| |Stoltestraße 97816 Lohr 23 am| Main /Germany Phone: +49 (0)|9352 507+49 0 | (0) E-Mail: www Nikolaus Sorg & Co. KG 97816 Lohr am |Main /Germany Phone: 9352nsorg@sorg.de 507 0 | E-Mail: |nsorg

www.cnudefco.com

Anaylsis

Refractory Zone Asian Glass talks to Sushil Agarwal, Director at Special Ceramics Pvt. Ltd,India, about his views on the industry in India, and the outlook for his company as the year progresses.

AG: What is the capacity of your existing factory, and what is the production plan for the rest of 2015 and on into 2016?

SA: The current capacity is 12000 tonnes per annum. The current mix of lower end refractory to higher end refractory stands at 50:50 by volume. The plan for the next 2 years is to maintain the tonnage while upgrading completely to the higher quality end of the spectrum. With a new gas fired kiln in place we plan to achieve this shift faster.

AG: What are the principal products being manufactured at your current factory?

SA: We make refractory for the Glass furnace tank, regenerator, port, forehearth and feeders including expendables. The quality range includes Alumino silicate, Zircon, Mullite, Zircon-Mullite, Alumina Chrome, Fused Silica, Insulation refractories and Monolithics.

AG: Feeder Expendables is a niche segment. Where do you find yourself placed here?

SA: Feeder Expendables have been our forte. We make expendables for forehearths producing 3TPD to 220TPD of glass. For long life requirements, our Chrome inserted expendables are well placed. Last year, we have introduced full chrome and fused silica range of expendables and they have been garnering very positive response from the market. We plan to continue developing this range in the years to come. Our plan to focus on high performance refractory will be spearheaded by Expendables.

AG: With more companies putting new factories into China and the Asian region in general,how do you react to new companies entering the market from outside?

SA: We have been here for a while now and have carved a niche for ourselves in the refractory industry and our exports have been growing at a healthy rate of 30%. The Market is driven by High quality and cost competitiveness and as long as we are delivering on both ends I have strong confidence that we will only rise from strength to strength.

AG: The change in leadership in India has been seen as many as probusiness/industry; how do you feel the economic outlook has changed since his appointment?

SA: With the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on turning India into a manufacturing hub, Indian industry and its investors and stakeholders have definitely gained in confidence. Decisions like removal & relaxation of foreign equity caps and delicensing in several areas will bring in a welcome respite to Indian manufacturers.It is a unique and timely opportunity to make India truly Global.

AG: How are you present in international markets?

SA: We export to 24 countries currently with exports being 40% of our turnover and exports are growing at a healthy rate of 28%. We are currently represented by our Agents in various markets. Most of our agents double up as our stockists as well.

AG: What do you see as top challenges for you in entering the western markets? How do you plan to tackle them?

SA: The quality of our refractories including feeder expendables is at Par with the best in the world. Our customer base has been on a steady rise in European, CIS and African Markets over last 5 years. We enjoy cost advantages

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Sushil Agarwal, Director at Special Ceramics Pvt. Ltd,India

over our western counterparts. The way I look at it, there are no challenges, only opportunities. We have developed a solid foundation for ourselves in the home turf and have spread wings. What we are working on is strengthening of our systems and relationships. We also plan to explore and work in newer geographies like the Americas.

AG: Industry often states that Indian refractories are “cheap” – what is your response and how do you price yourselves accordingly to remain competitive in the market?

SA: I think a lot of that perception comes from lack of knowledge .I will say that we are not too bothered by this perception and our style of working is not tailored around it. I see no business logic that will go against high quality at good costs and that is what we bring to the table. Initial apprehension can easily be turned to complete customer satisfaction if we deliver what we promise and our growths in Exports have been a clear reflection of the same.

AG: What vision do you have for SCL? SA: SCL has come a long way in last 25 years. We see ourselves as one of the biggest players in the glass refractory market globally over the next 5 years. The idea is to not be static and not be driven by dogma and the plan is to keep on coming up with technical advancements in various areas. We are here to serve a niche market, our mission is to serve it well.

AG: Where do you see your most promising markets so far and what plans do you have for 2015 both geographically and for end use?

SA: We plan to continue our focus on Europe, CIS countries and Africa while also venturing out into newer territories like the American market. We have interesting tie ups lined up in these places and we look forward to take them forward this year .Year 2015 definitely looks promising. Industry wise we plan to continue our focus on Container glass and Speciality glass like Opal and Borosilicate as per our 3 years plan for 2014-17.

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In the next issue...

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 Features include

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