Education

Imagine a world without glass!  How different our lives would be without it!  Our houses and offices would be dark, cars would be impractical and window shopping would not be possible.   Take a glimpse into the Group's technology..... adding value through innovation.

Pilkington technology is all around you, yet often unnoticed because of the perfection of transparency it brings to today's glass products. Most of the world's drivers are looking through float glass and most of the glass in the world's homes, offices, hotels, public and industrial buildings is float glass.

But glass is not just for looking through.  Pilkington is a high technology business. Its expertise in glass compositions and coatings is applied to the manufacture of products which keep heat in or out of buildings and transport. Its understanding of the physics of glass is applied to make products, many of complex shape, which are strong, durable and optically excellent. Advances in thin glass manufacture and in coatings are opening new opportunities in electronics.

Pilkington is a technology leader in glass. The Float Process, invented by Sir Alastair Pilkington  in 1959, is used throughout the world to produce high quality glass for buildings and vehicles.

Over the past fifty years Pilkington can claim to have been responsible for almost every major advance in glass technology. Pilkington innovations include:-

• Energy-saving products such as Pilkington K Glass™;
• Advanced bending processes for making car windscreens in complex shapes to fine tolerances;
• Pilkington Pyrostop™ advanced fire-resistant glass;
• Ez-Kool™ , Sundym™ and Galaxsee™ solar control glass for cars;
• Solar reflective automotive glazing;
• Pilkington Solar E™, clear solar control glass, preventing heat build-up in buildings; Pilkington Planar™ structural glazing system;
• The 3R™ clean air process for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions from glass furnaces; and now
• Pilkington Activ™ - the world's first self-cleaning glass

The NSG Group invested around USD 116 million in research and development in FY07.