This looks like the first bit of major bad news for the glass area of our industry. Pilkington have announced that they are to shut one of it's three UK production lines in an effort to save on costs. Pilkington's Japanese owners, NSG, are looking to cut 3500 jobs worldwide. Pilkington employ 300o people in [...]
>Some very smart people in South Korea have produced a new type of 'smart glass', which has the potential be cheaper and be more reliable than the current market offering.How does it work? The glass is laced with a charge counterion polymer, which darkens in seconds when outside air temperatures become high - keeping the [...]
>I don't want to tempt fate here, but has everyone noticed that the steady stream of price increase letters from suppliers seems to have dried up a little?During the spring and early summer installation companies were inundated almost every week with letters from suppliers explaining how costs were going up. Glass suppliers were the worst [...]
>More good news has been released from Pilkington, with their announcement that they are to open a new energy-efficient coating facility at their current base in St Helens, worth £36 million. This new line will also create 50 brand new jobs.This is further good news, following the re-opening of their production plant in St Helens [...]
>Due to the recent Japanese Earthquake, Toray Fine Chemicals Company Ltd, producer of polysulphide polymer, has had to cease production for an unspecified period of time. The plant was damaged in the recent earthquake, and due to damage to most of Japan's nuclear reactors, power to everywhere north of Tokyo has had to be rationed [...]
>Pilkington have announced that they are to reopen one of their float lines in St Helens. This is intended to produce glass for the solar energy market.This is obvious good news for an area which was hit badly by the closure of St. Helens glass after over 30 years in business. Solar energy is fast [...]
>A job I have just recently finished pricing involved trying to produce some very intricate sealed units to fit into the stone work frames of an old chapel being converted into flats. I contacted both our suppliers for sealed units and at first both neither was keen to produce the designs I had sent to [...]
>I might do more of these types of posts to help highlight some of the better individual products that are around in our market.We have been using the Integral/Uni-Blind system for a few years now and have had great success with it. The beauty of these blinds is simple. They are fitted within the sealed [...]
>The UK economy was dealt a bit of a disaster blow this morning after it was revealed the economy shrunk a further -0.4% in the last quarter, meaning we remain in recession. It was widely expected for the UK to return to growth in the last quarter, but these negative results may dampen the mood [...]
>Well, as if we didn't need any more hindrance from Pilkington's massively unjustified price increases; there are now rumors that they are to shut down a number of plants across Europe. In doing so creating a shortage, and allowing them to artificially raise prices further. And remember, whatever Pilkington do, the rest copy. This came [...]
>Found this on the glass times website, unitised curtain walling at it's best if you ask me:Now sadly this isn't a UK project, it's actually been constructed in Doha, Qatar. But I challenge architects in this country to be a bit more creative and original. Though planning would probably put an immediate stop to anything [...]
>We all know how fast the energy efficiency of double glazed units is improving. But does anyone know the energy rating for a window that is triple glazed?This has only crossed my mind again recently as a customer of ours is requesting a triple glazed, diamond leaded window option, with the lead encapsulated, and wants [...]
>Replacement glass units are a great source of revenue for us as a company. Many companies don't want the work because they don't see the job as being worth it. Whether it be one sealed unit, eleven or twenty five, we take on all sizes of replacement jobs, and we make a great profit margin [...]
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