Coater, five years later: how the activity of Pilkington Glass Russia changed with the start of production of coated glass

In June 2014, a significant event took place at the Pilkington Glass Russia plant, as the coating began working. With the launch of the coater, the plant initiated the production of high-tech glass with a low-e coating: tempered and non-tempered versions of the Pilkington Optitherm® energy-saving and the multi-functional Pilkington Suncool® products.

The coating is applied by sputtering deposition on the glass produced on the float line. These products help create an optimal indoor climate, significantly reduce heating, air conditioning and artificial lighting costs, as well as ensuring an eco-friendly approach to glazing.

The Pilkington Suncool® Glass provides effective protection from the sun and allows you to implement architectural projects over large areas of glazing. "Over the past five years, the line has already undergone two major equipment upgrades, which have significantly increased the production capacity and product range," stated Dmitry Bernt, deputy head of the coatings department for R&D at Pilkington Glass Russia. He continued "nine new original products unique to the site were developed and put into production glass with thin-film coatings that meet the current requirements of local and foreign markets for resident glazing and large architectural projects. Phenomenologically, four new occurences were found in the growth of thin-film mechanisms deposited from a plasma magnetron discharge, which formed the basis of our patented technologies, which are now actively used in production and provide considerable additional consumer qualities of our products. All this made it possible to significantly increase the share of the company's exported products. In 2017, the line set a record for annual effective output among all Pilkington Glass plants worldwide."

The integration of the functional glass coating stage has had an impact on each of the company's departments. "The requirements for producing flat glass on the float line have changed. The prospect of using float glass as a substrate for thin-film deposition has led to additional requirements for surface structure features that were not previously in play, "commented Dmitry Bernt. The logistics department also faced changes in the storage and transportation conditions for new products. "If previously, an average of 6 items were placed in the finished product warehouse when dividing products by the thickness of glass, today there are more than 150 of them," Dmitry Bernt continued.

"The workload for all Pilkingon Glass Russia departments has not just doubled, but multiplied and the employees have displayed extreme professionalism, ensuring the seamless and effective integration of new processes for them."

The capacity of the line, which significantly depends on the combination of specific products (types of deposited coatings), at the time of launch of the coater was about 4 million square meters of glass per year. Depending on the specific type of glass, up to 15 functional layers were applied to it. Today, the coating can contain up to 20 layers, and the productivity of the coater has increased to 30-35 thousand square meters of the surface of the processed substrate per day. Currently, the nanocoating line is one of the most modern and productive in Russia. It allows not only to produce a wide range of coated glasses, but to also make quick transitions from one type of product to another.