3 September 1998: Recent press reports say that Japan“s Asahi Glass Co. is establishing an integrated automotive glass manufacturing capability in the US, supported by the recent completion of a loca…
3 September 1998: Recent press reports say that Japan“s Asahi Glass Co. is establishing an integrated automotive glass manufacturing capability in the US, supported by the recent completion of a local float glass factory by wholly-owned subsidiary AFG Industries Inc. The factory, located in Richmond, Kentucky, was reportedly built at a cost of over US$ 80 million. It is scheduled to start up in July, and its output will be supplied to the Kentucky factory of automotive glassmaker AP Technoglass Co. AP Technoglass sells its glass products to Japanese automakers producing cars in the US at plants in Ohio and Kentucky, as well as to local US carmakers. At present, the company is procuring partial supplies of float glass from AFG“s Canada factory. However, the firm is largely dependent upon local glassmakers, the report said. As the automobile industry reorganizes worldwide, automakers are increasingly moving to procure components of the same quality and cost on a global scale, it said. Asahi Glass is reportedly responding to this industry trend by reducing its existing structure of relying on other companies for float glass, and replacing it with an integrated structure affecting Asahi Glass group firms in the US. In the process, the company seeks to raise efficiency across the board in such areas as quality, cost and delivery.