Saint-Gobain Glass India has exported the first consignment of float glass manufactured at its plant at Sriperumbudur in India.
The first shipment of about 20 containers, meant for West Asia, was fla…
Saint-Gobain Glass India has exported the first consignment of float glass manufactured at its plant at Sriperumbudur in India. The first shipment of about 20 containers, meant for West Asia, was flagged off by Tamil Nadu Industries Secretary, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, at a function at Chennai port. Saint-Gobain“s plant has a capacity of 650 tonnes per day to manufacture a range of clear, tinted and reflective glass. It went into commercial production in July and is at present working at about 500-tonnes-per-day capacity. The production is to be gradually stepped up. The yield – the quantity of production that can be sold – is 78%, according to Mr. B. Santhanam, managing director of Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd. Mr. Santhanam said the yield was a record compared to the time taken by similar float lines of other manufacturers in India. Saint-Gobain“s plant in the UK had achieved a yield of 88%, he added. Initially, the plant would manufacture only clear glass and would start producing tinted and reflective glasses once the line stabilized. The total investment in Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, France, was about Rs 525 crores. The debt equity ratio was 0.4:1, he said. Santhanam added that the Sriperumbudur plant, the first Saint-Gobain float line in Asia, would make glass for the automobile industry in September and for mirror-making in October. Company officials, in the meantime, said that Saint-Gobain had established a 300-strong dealer network in India and had even imported some float glass to “seed the market”. Glass meant for the automobile industry could be sold to Saint-Gobain“s subsidiary, Sekurit Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd at Pune, which would process the glass for automotive use. Float glass was used in various industries, including construction and automobile. The company had shipped in 1,500 containers of plant and machinery, and 20,000 tonnes of raw material. The Sriperumbudur plant had the same level of automation as any Saint-Gobain plant in the world. It had set up a Rs 20-crore beneficiation plant for the three vital raw materials – silica sand, dolomite and calcite – all of which were processed in-house.