Asahi Glass : AGC to Increase Production Capacity of Solar Control Low-E Glass in Thailand

―Aiming to respond to the expanding need for energy efficient commercial buildings in Southeast Asia―

Tokyo, April 7, 2015-AGC (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.; Head Office: Tokyo; President & CEO: Takuya Shimamura) announces that it will increase its production capacity of solar control Low-E glass in Thailand by 50%. The investment will not only enhance the production efficiency of the facility, but also allow the production of higher-performance glass products. The production will begin at the Samut Prakan Plant of AGC Flat Glass Thailand Public Co., Ltd. (AFT) in the first quarter of 2016.
As the construction boom continues in Southeast Asia, improvement of energy efficiency has become one of key issues for large buildings against the backdrop of increasing fuel imports and power shortages in recent years while air conditioning is used to cool buildings throughout the year. As a solution, there is a rapidly growing demand for solar control Low-E glass which increases cooling efficiency and contributes to reducing energy use.
Under these circumstances, AGC has decided to increase the production capacity of solar control Low-E glass at AFT by 50% to ensure a sufficient supply of the products to meet the demand in the Southeast Asian region. Furthermore, the investment will enable AFT to manufacture double-silver-coated Low-E glass in addition to single-silver-coated Low-E glass. The double silver coating improves solar control performance while maintaining the level of visible light transmission, thereby enabling "bright windows with good heat shielding performance."
With the production capacity enhancement, AFT will become the first manufacturer in Southeast Asia that has an integrated manufacturing process, handling from manufacturing of float glass up to the double silver coating process. AFT will respond to the future demand increase and the need for Low-E glass with improved solar control performance, and contribute to the energy efficiency of buildings in the Southeast Asian region.
This investment will:

increase the production capacity of Low-E glass at AFT by 50% to respond to the product demand in the

Southeast Asian region;

improve the production efficiency of the facility;

enable production of glass products with superior solar control performance; and

enable an integrated manufacturing. This will be the first plant in Southeast Asia that can manufacture float glass and complete double silver coating process within the same premises.

AGC will continue to capture the expanding demand in the emerging countries and aim for increase in sales under the management policy AGC plus.

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