As competing U.S. corporations view for the attention of
their customers at glasstec in different ways, there’s one thing on which most
agree: they are all feeling the heat from Chinese companies that make similar
products.
During the opening ceremony of the show, Zhang Fan, CEO
of the flat glass division of the China-based CSG Holdings, asked one of the
most pointed rhetorical questions for the week: “Where is China on glass
quality?,” he asked, “China has reached the same level of quality as the U.S.
and Europe,” Fan said.
Exhibitors weren’t so sure, and though most would talk
with us about the issue, none wanted to be identified publicly.
While one exhibitor opined the Chinese government, saying
it subsidizes stealing intellectual property, another explained the tactic.
“It’s a natural process for the Chinese to take things,”
he said. “If you don’t learn, you don’t grow.”
The general consensus among exhibitors was that although
some Chinese glass manufacturers may not always produce glass with the quality
levels U.S. customers demand, Chinese companies have advanced production
technology because float lines are newer and more efficient there.
“In equipment, China is 20 years advanced,” said one
exhibitor who has been through a number of plants.
“There are 400 float lines in the world, 350 of them are
in China,” says Jens Kayser, key account manager at ISRA Vision. The German
company provides surface quality inspection technology for float glass plants.
ISRA is seeing most of its new business come from China, according to Kayser.
“We help them improve [their glass]. We get rid of the
optical distortion and cosmetic defects,” he says.
Other companies have taken notice of the aggressive
quality advancements. Industry perception of Chinese manufacturing is changing.
“The Chinese are our competitors,” says Bill Flowers,
sales engineer at the Michigan-based New Hudson Corp. “Anyone would be silly
not to be concerned about them.”
Source: USGNN
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