As building regulations require more energy-efficient glass, Viridian Glass has stepped up its game. Purchasing Glaston’s COMFORT BOX IG manufacturing line enables its Woodville plant in Adelaide to meet burgeoning demands with visibly better quality and shorter lead times.
Viridian Glass, the largest glass processor in Australia, has 7 processing plants across the eastern seaboard with an equivalent number of regionally located sales centre branches. All of Viridian’s processing sites have the capability to produce high-performance (low-E) insulated glass units (IGUs).
Long history with Glaston
Viridian and Glaston have been working together for many years, although mostly with tempering lines. Today, Viridian Australia has 8 Glaston tempering lines at its different sites.
The company also has one original Bystronic, currently part of a Glaston TPS® line, the first IG line in the world, still running at the facility in Clayton.
Moving past limitations
With time and changes in requirements, however, the Woodville IG line was not capable of processing Low-E glass or performing the argon gas filling.
The decision to purchase the new line was made at the end of December 2023, and the line was delivered in July 2024.
New IGU line helps Adelaide shine
“Quality-wise, everyone is very happy with the IG units being produced on the new line. There’s excellent feedback coming from our customers,” said Tarun Bhatia, National Operational Excellence Manager at Viridian Glass. “The quality of the seal is great. Sometimes, the primary and secondary seals can leak onto the glass. It’s messy. But the quality from this line is outstanding.”
Star in Australia
Over the next five years, Viridian has plans to replace older equipment with new machinery to better match market requirements.
“Australia now requires a 7-Star energy rating for all new houses and buildings. That’s where double glazing comes into effect – especially double glazing with high-performance (low-E) energy-efficient glass. This is what our Woodville site was missing before. Now, they too can produce their own high-quality glass while reducing lead times to customers,” added Tarun.
“Today, our Woodville plant is producing the highest quality IG units in Australia,” he said. “They’re happy being the star.”