Clearview National September 2015 - Issue 166 | Page 76
glass&sealedunits
SunGuard®
production
comes to
the UK
»»Guardian Industries’ Glass
Group in Europe, a leading manufacturer
of high-quality commercial, residential,
interior and automotive glass products, has
invested more than £3 million to upgrade
the production line at its Goole plant in East
Yorkshire. By completing the upgrade of its
magnetron glass sputter coater, the facility
now is able to make all of the more advanced
coatings for its popular Guardian SunGuard®
SuperNeutral® (SN) product series at the UK
plant.
“Manufacturing SunGuard glass in the
UK allows a much greater level of flexibility
for Guardian and its customers,” said Pablo
Isasmendi, Plant Manager, Guardian Glass
UK. “To ensure we provide the same level
of quality SunGuard products produced by
our sister plants in continental Europe, we
have also installed a sample-size toughening
furnace that allows us to inspect the quality
of the tempered product during every
production run.”
An essential part of the upgrade was
the addition of a Temporary Protective
Film (TPF) applicator. “The TPF is used
on all SunGuard SN products to protect
the coating before and during processing,
helping to secure higher yields through
manufacturing” explained Isasmendi. “The
new TPF applicator is the most advanced
to date within the Guardian group and has
the capacity to cover all glass sizes up to and
including “jumbo”. It also offers additional
benefits, with a 4mm overhang at the leading
and trailing edge helping to ensure wrinklefree TPF application.”
“The coater was built and designed
with this upgrade in mind,” said Eduardo
Moraga, Coater Manager, Guardian Glass
UK. “Seven additional compartments were
included in the original design, which have
now been equipped to accommodate the
76 » SE P 2015 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
Pablo Isasmendi, Plant Manager, Guardian Glass UK: “Manufacturing SunGuard glass in
the UK allows a much greater level of flexibility for Guardian and its customers.”
(Photo Guardian Industries Corp., GRDPR004)
‘Featuring double silver coatings, the SunGuard product
line offers a greater level of selectivity, meaning the
glass allows more natural light to pass through while
also improving its heat-reflection properties’
added cathodes and target materials required
to manufacture our SunGuard SN product
series.”
Featuring double silver coatings, the
SunGuard product line offers a greater level
of selectivity, meaning the glass allows more
natural light to pass through while also
improving its heat-reflection properties.
Gordon Dickson, managing director
of Ravensby Glass Co. Ltd. in Dundee,
Scotland, has been using the glass coming
off Guardian’s new coater and is very happy
with the quality.
“Ravensby Glass had been using imported
Guardian SunGuard products in the UK
for many years, and we made the switch to
using SunGuard glass from the new Goole
coater without issue. It offers the same high
quality as the products from other Guardian
facilities. Eighteen months ago, we installed
a new Glaston FC 500 tempering furnace,
as part of a £6M investment in a new
manufacturing facility exclusively geared to
supplying the commercial glazing market
throughout the UK. Ravensby has processed
the full range of SunGuard products through
our new facility and in particular our new
furnace, with excellent results,” says Gordon
Dickson. “Indeed, we have produced these
products to such a standard of flatness
and very little roller wave, that customers
have enquired as to whether the glass was
tempered, such was the level of distortion
on the glass. This has led to us supplying
4mm SunGuard SN 70/37 glass for various
contracts in particular high-end residential,
providing excellent U and g values, which
previously were only available in 6mm
thickness. We are very happy to continue
using SunGuard glass on specified contracts
in all thicknesses.”
For more information on Guardian glass
innovation, visit www.guardianglass.co.uk