Pilkington
| Pilkington Group Limited
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Public limited company |
| founding | 1826 |
| Seat | Lathom, United Kingdom |
| Website | www.pilkington.com |
Pilkington Group Limited is a UK company that has been manufacturing and processing glass since 1826. It was privately owned until 1970 and a public company until 2006. The shares were traded on the London Stock Exchange. After the takeover by Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG), the company was taken off the stock exchange.
history
The company achieved its breakthrough with the invention of the float glass process, in which the approx. 1000 ° C hot glass is passed over a tank filled with liquid tin . This made it possible for the first time to produce glass sheets with high-precision plane - parallel surfaces that have a flawless appearance without prior grinding and polishing. This was a revolutionary innovation compared to the previously common machine-drawn glass.
This invention was the beginning of a continuous growth. Today Pilkington employs 24,000 people worldwide and has a turnover of around £ 3 billion with its products . Half of the sales are generated with automotive and building glass.
In 1986, Pilkington acquired Libbey-Owens-Ford's glass division .
The company's headquarters are in St Helens in central England (between Manchester and Liverpool). Craig Naylor has been President & CEO of the company since July 2010 .
In March 2006 the board of directors of Pilkington plc recommended that shareholders accept a takeover offer made by the Japanese glass manufacturer NSG (Nippon Sheet Glass). On April 19, 2006, the shareholders approved this proposal at an extraordinary general meeting.
The German Pilkington subsidiaries concentrate on the production of float glass Optifloat (in the Gladbeck and Weiherhammer plants), refined semi-finished products and profiled glass Profilit (Bauglasindustrie GmbH, Schmelz) as well as the production of fire protection glass ( Pyrostop and Pyrodur ). The Pilkington Activ glass is an innovation . It has self-cleaning properties, which are caused by a special coating on the outside. In the automotive sector, Pilkington is one of the world's largest manufacturers, both for original equipment (OEM) and for spare parts supply (EGR).
The locations in Germany are: Gelsenkirchen , Gladbeck , Weiherhammer , Schmelz , Witten , Aken and Wesel as well as three sales offices in Neu-Isenburg (near Frankfurt ), Güglingen and Munich . Pilkington has been the mother of Flachglas AG since 1980 .
The Austrian headquarters of Pilkington Austria GmbH (for Architectural Glass) is located in Bischofshofen , with further locations in Wundschuh , Brunn am Gebirge and Innsbruck . Delivery in Graz was discontinued and production in Eisenerz was finally closed in April 2012. Pilkington AGR Austria GmbH has another location in Moosbrunn for Automotive AGR, the automotive glass replacement parts business . (As of June 18, 2018)
In Switzerland, Pilkington was represented in Wikon , Thun and Münchenbuchsee . Mainly insulating glass was produced in Wikon and Thun and fire-resistant glass and all-glass systems were manufactured in Münchenbuchsee. In July 2009 the Swiss locations were taken over by the Bavarian Flachglas Wernberg GmbH.
Current company developments
In November 2007, the European Union, through EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, imposed a fine of 140 million euros on the company. Pilkington was involved in an international cartel with the Guardian from the United States, AGC from Japan and Saint Gobain from France, which had made illegal price fixing for building glass.
In November 2008, a new fine was imposed on the same glass cartel, this time expanded to include the Belgian company Soliver, due to price agreements, in this case in the automotive glass sector. The percentage of the fine set for Pilkington (total: 1.35 billion euros) amounts to 370 million euros.
On December 31, 2009, the former factory in Braunschweig was closed.
Weiherhammer flat glass factory
The plant in Weiherhammer is one of the largest flat glass plants in Germany with a daily production of 1,600 tons and a workforce of 560 people.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Los Angeles Times of March 11, 1986: [_http: //articles.latimes.com/1986-03-11/business/fi-3296_1_profitable-glass Libbey-Owens-Ford is selling its glass division. ]
- ↑ Johanna Birnbaum: Pilkington: Last disc sanded . Kleine Zeitung , March 15, 2012, archived from the original on April 17, 2012 . .
- ↑ Our Locations , pilkington.com, accessed June 18, 2018.
- ↑ glaswelt.de: flat glass Wernberg takes Pilkington Switzerland
- ↑ tagesschau.de : Half a billion euros fine for glass manufacturers , November 28, 2007
- ↑ Bayerische Staatszeitung: The Upper Palatinate is Future from November 18, 2011
