Schott to build Europe's largest float plant for high-quality thin glass in Jena
Jena, 02.09.2002 - The Schott Group will invest 49 million euros in a new production facility for high-quality thin glass (TFT glass) for the display and electronics industry at its Schott Jenaer Glas GmbH site, where more than 70 new jobs will be created. The group is already a successful supplier of glass substrates for mobile phones, microelectronics and flexible displays. By adding TFT glass to its product range, the company is entering an expanding market in which it aim to attain a leading position.
"We are the only ones in Europe who can manufacture this glass and the second in the world who will be making the required type of glass using the float process", says Dr. Udo Ungeheuer, member of the Schott management board. By using the float process, it is possible to manufacture glass panels that are double the size of those produced by other processes. In the float process, the molten glass flows out of the melting furnace onto a bath of molten tin where it spreads out and is brought to the thickness required.
Display glasses, which can be as thin as 0.7 millimeters, have many applications - for example in notebook computers, PC monitors, flat TV screens, PDAs and mobile phones. "Our new glass is the lightest in its class and superior to the other glasses on the market in almost every respect", says Dr. Udo Ungeheuer. "It will also be possible to use it when liquid screens are replaced in the future by organic light emitting diode displays in individual areas of application".
Operations at the new Jena production facilities will commence in the summer of 2003. Dr. Reiner Mauch will be responsible for the new TFT Glass business unit.
With the construction of this, the largest float plant for alkali-free thin glass in Europe, Schott is once again demonstrating its commitment to its location in Jena. More than 250 million euros have been invested to date in Schott Jenaer Glas GmbH and Schott Lithotec AG. The Schott Group employs a total of more than 1000 people at its facilities in Thuringia.
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