A US$ 15 million upgrade and melting tank rebuild is under way at the PPG Industries specialty glass plant in Perry, US, to enhance operations and production yields.
Glass production at the plant, wh…
A US$ 15 million upgrade and melting tank rebuild is under way at the PPG Industries specialty glass plant in Perry, US, to enhance operations and production yields. Glass production at the plant, which began operations in 1990, will be suspended for about two months while new ceramic refractory materials are installed in the melting tank, according to Richard Leggett, general manager, flat glass products. Leggett said the more than 175 employees of the plant, plus outside specialty contractors, are performing the work, which includes installation of new inspection and packing equipment. No lay-offs during the process are anticipated. Enhancements to the annealing lehr to increase process consistency and product yields will enable PPG to expand availability of its specialty glass es, he added. According to the company, its Perry facility employs advanced proprietary glass making technology that allows more flexibility than a traditional float glass plant to produce smaller quantities of a wide range of products with special compositions. Products produced at Perry include Starphire ultraclear glass for furniture and commercial applications; ultraclear Solarphire glass for solar panels; aquamarine Azurlite glass, Optigray 23 grey-tinted glass and coated Solarcool Azurlite glass for construction applications; Solextra, Solarblock and bronze automotive solar-control glasses, and GL-20 and GL-35 glasses for solar control and privacy in vehicles.