Case Studies
Issue No. 3 - December/ 2001/january
Pilkington Decorated Glass
Glass Business
The fight against global warming has created a multi—million dollar export market — and a new future — for a South Australian manufacturer of decorated glass.
From a manufacturing site in the suburb of Beverley, Pilkington Decorated Glass (Seraphic) will this year export 180 containers of low—iron glass worth more than $7 million to Japan as components of solar panels for Japanese homes.
Government subsidies are driving the demand for this specialist glass, as the Japanese seek to generate more energy from sunlight as part of their commitment to the 1997 Kyoto Agreement.
Japan’s green transformation is powering a remarkable recovery by Pilkington’s Adelaide operation, threatened by the Australian whitegoods industry’s consolidation during the past 10 years.
“The whitegoods industry in Australia had traditionally been our major source of revenue and when that was taken away we were forced to explore new markets and opportunities," says Pilkington General Manager, Leigh Twining.
Electrolux — soon to become Pilkington’s near neighbour — is Australia’s only remaining whitegoods manufacturer. Relations between the two firms are good, but Electrolux alone would not be enough to support Pilkington’s operations at full scale. When the whitegoods industry began to consolidate in the late 1990s, Pilkington saw the writing on the wall.
“We were not in deep trouble, but we could see that if we stuck w...
