CE Glass Production Capacity Expanded

CE Glass Plc. has expanded its thermal insulating glass production capacity at its plant in Szatymaz, on the outskirts of Szeged, SE Hungary, with EU support, and thanks to the development, the energy consumption per product and the reject rate have been reduced, the company informed MTI.

According to the statement, HUF 400 million of the HUF 815 million investment costs were covered by non-refundable EU subsidies.

Insulated glass structures, which have been in use since the 1970s and 1980s, have become two- or three-layered as technology has developed, with argon or krypton gas with poor heat transfer properties between the individual layers of glass to increase the thermal barrier properties of the system. Recent market needs and requirements, and subsequent architectural technologies, are pointing towards four- and five-layer glass structures, which offer even better performance due to the additional layers of glass and the air gaps between them.

The investment in CE Glass Plc. is the first in the country to enable the manufacturing of these products. A new laminating machine has been acquired, which operates with an innovative and energy-saving heating and convection process, shortening the previous four- to six-hour firing cycles to one to two hours. The energy consumption per product can be reduced by up to 50%.

A vertical CNC machining center has also been installed, which reduces the stress on the glass structure, virtually eliminating stress fracture. This not only reduces the scrap rate by 30-40%, but also significantly increases the lifetime of the products manufactured.

The project also involved the expansion of the company's production area.

The products manufactured with the new technology can be used as large safety glass in office buildings and entertainment facilities, reducing the energy needed to operate the buildings by 30-40%. Thanks to the higher light transmission of the glass surfaces, electricity consumption can also be significantly reduced.

Gusztáv Varga opened his picture framing and glazing workshop in Szeged in 1989 under the name Szilánk (‘Splinter’), continuing a tradition of more than a century. Over the years, the company has expanded its activities to include wholesale trade, glass processing, insulating glass production and glass machinery manufacturing, and has entered the international market. The new production and logistics center of CE Glass was inaugurated in Szatymaz in 2012.