The Revolutionary Float Glass Process: Transforming the Cost Structures of Global Glass Production

In Pilkington, the process of research and development took seven years and made float glass available in the plate glass industry and in the sheet glass industry later as a ready-made product to achieve a new strategic position. The float glass brought in technological change and overcame the optical distortion in the sheet glass quality and the noisy process of production of plate glass.

Initially, sheet glass was cheap and was used extensively in the First World War. The plate glass was preferred by those who wanted a high-quality glass. Sheet glass was past the fire-finished barrier as shown in Figure 17 and has a much lower unit price, but plate glass production was more expensive and could not be fire finished and the process involved in producing high-quality glass drove up the unit price. These two industries thus targeted customers depending on their requirements. Many manufacturers started producing both types of class and when safe glass manufacturing came into play plate glass was used as it was more durable and thicker but involved a more strenuous production process. Pilkington then introduced twin grinding which lowered the cost of plate glass, and this drive up the unit price of plate glass and improved optical quality. Then he brought in float glass which was cheaper as it didn’t involve a grinding and polishing process and also eliminated optical distortion. This replaced the expensive plate glass and was used as a safety glass and the raw materials involved were no different from that of plate glass. This production process also involved less labor which meant lesser investment in the working capital. It overcame the stretching barrier and fire-finished barrier. Many manufacturers tried improving the quality of sheet glass by modifying the process, but it proved to be more labor-intensive. The new barrier of ribbon speed prevented the float glass from entering the laminated windscreen and sheet glass industry. New advancements caused due to automating the production process and eliminating grinding and polishing units helped flat glass to move beyond the process control barrier in ribbon speed that sheet glass had and reduced cost per unit even further. Large manufacturers of plate glass like St Gobain and BSN tried to work part of the fire-finished barrier but it was not possible with the grinding and polishing methods that could not let go of. In the sheet, glass industry manufacturers like PPG and Detag did not go beyond the stretching barrier. Thus, Pilkington was able to improve the processes twice in the flat glass industry and revolutionize it by introducing twin-grinding and then float glass.