Innovative visionaries Schott Glass

INNOVATIVE VISIONARIES

Schott Glass is a global leader in the development and manufacture of glass solutions for a broad range of consumer and industrial products. Philip Yorke looks at a world-class company that continues to set new standards in both functionality and innovative solutions.

The Schott Group is based in Mainz, Germany and has more than 130 years of expertise in the development of glass products and ceramic materials technology, offering a broad portfolio of high-quality products and intelligent solutions. The company has unrivalled experience in the design and manufacture of speciality glass and advanced ceramic-glass technology. The Schott Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing facilities and sales units in over 40 countries worldwide. It is very much a global business with 16 production facilities located in 12 countries across five continents.

Recently the company established two new state-of-the-art facilities in eastern Europe and has also expanded its operations in China and Brazil. However, Europe and North America remain Schott’s biggest markets, but it is Asia and China that is driving the company’s global growth. In 2014 the Group’s workforce of around 16,000 employees generated sales of more than €1.7 billion. Strong, sustainable foundations

The Schott Group is an innovative enabler for many global industries, including home appliances, pharmaceuticals, electronics, optics, automotive and the aviation industries. The group strives to play an important part in everyone’s life and is committed to innovation and sustainable growth and success. Schott’s parent company, Schott AG, is solely owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. As a Foundation company, Schott assumes special responsibility for its employees, society and the environment.

The Schott Group accepts the challenges involved in protecting the environment and actively contributes to solving the problems this poses. It aspires to be a model of environmental protection and sustainability and practices an open information policy towards its staff, its market partners, the official authorities and the general public. All products manufactured by Schott are designed to be safe, harmless to the user and able to be recycled or disposed of without placing

undue strain on the natural environment. The success of the company’s environmental management system is reviewed constantly and any deviations from targets are addressed.

Broad-based innovation

Functionality and innovation can be seen at the heart of every Schott project and in every one of its products. In the development of smart fibre optics for use in modern radiology, the company has expanded its product range in the area of medical technology to include new monolithic faceplates. The new RFG92 fibre optic faceplates fully meet the ‘Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) standards’ because they are manufactured without using the traditional lead additives. Areas of application include digital x-ray sensors that employ complementary metaloxide-semiconductors (CMOS) technology.

In the pharmaceutical industry Schott Glass is a brand leader and it continues to set new standards in functionality and sustainability. Recently Schott developed an entirely new system for ready-to-use pharmaceutical vials in close cooperation with filling line manufacturers to meet the process requirements of the pharmaceutical industry. Schott ‘AdaptQ™’ consists of a nest and tub configuration that allows as many as 100 vials to be securely fixed inside a holder, or nest, and delivered to the pharmaceutical company packaged in a sterile container. The patented nest design allows for direct filling, freeze-drying, weighing and closing inside the nest. At the same time, the glass containers are protected so that they do not come into contact with each other or the machine components.

In the area of ceramics, Schott has developed a unique, new class of dielectric materials for use in high-voltage capacitors called ‘Poweramic ™’. These advanced glass ceramics offer extremely high energy storage density and excellent dielectric properties even at high temperatures. The storage density is exceeding that of current capacitor solutions by a factor of up to ten. They allow for smaller and lighter capacitors with higher power density in high voltage applications. These types of components are used in excimer lasers for industrial and medical applications, for medical x-ray equipment, industrial high voltage supply systems and power grids for renewable energy.

Energy saving systems

The latest door systems from Schott Flat Glass make chilled products more appealing and according to the company save up to 60 per cent energy. Its new ‘Termofrost®’ glass door systems meet the needs of food retailers by enabling products to be displayed in an attractive manner inside the coolers and this significantly reduces electricity costs. The new ‘eco’ door-systems were launched at the Euroshop trade exhibition in Dusseldorf. The Schott ‘Termofrost® AGD3 offers a perfect view of food products thanks to its slim design and new technology.

The company also launched its latest sliding door system: the ‘Termofrost® SDS2. Both of these new systems can save up to 60 per cent energy compared with the standard open refrigeration cabinets currently in use.

With its self-closing condensation-free door systems, Schott helps the retail food industry to present foods in a more appealing way. The new door and frame systems from Schott consist of single, double or triple insulating glass and are ideally suited for refrigerated products up to +2C and for deep freeze products down to –25C. n

For further details of Schott Glass’s innovative products and services visit: www.schott.com