Taiwan Glass Ind. Co. is said to be considering allocating more production capacity for the manufacture of higher-price and-margin super-thin glass. According to the company, in fact, it has won order…
Taiwan Glass Ind. Co. is said to be considering allocating more production capacity for the manufacture of higher-price and-margin super-thin glass. According to the company, in fact, it has won orders for thin glass exceeding its existing production capacity by 50%. The company“s major product categories include flat glass, fiber glass, and glass for containers, tableware and kitchenware, and, in recent years, super-thin glass for high-tech devices. Before the earthquake in Japan on 11 March, Taiwan Glass“ orders for super-thin glass had exceeded the company“s total capacity by 30%, while capacity shortfall has now risen to about 50%. At present, the firm“s monthly capacity of super-thin glass is about 12 million tons. Taiwan Glass has therefore decided to stop production of some low-price and -margin products to make more capacity for super-thin glass. Taiwan Glass began constructing a new plant to produce super-thin glass products for especially touch-panel applications in the second half of 2010, which is scheduled to start mass production in the third quarter of 2012 with initial annual capacity of 35,000 tons of 0.5-1.1mm super-thin glass. Total investment in the new factory is about TWD 3 billion (USD 100 million), and the facility is expected to contribute an annual production value of about TWD 2 billion (USD 66.7 million).