Coatings and e-Commerce-Glass Industry Growth Drivers for the 21st Century

Paolo Scaroni

Coated value-added glass products providing additional features for both the architectural and automotive sectors have already revolutionised the industry, building on the foundations of the Float process. Now another revolution, e-Commerce, is upon us. Both offer both challenges and opportunities for growth in the new century. The invention of the float process gave added impetus to coatings research and development. Increasingly large areas of glass in buildings and cars highlighted the need for added functionality to reduce energy gain and loss. Demand for high performance energy saving products and more "intelligent" glazings, combined with advances in coatings technology make this one of the exciting growth areas for the glass industry in the 21st Century. E-Commerce will drive radical and rapid change in the way our industry does business with customers and suppliers, and is also fundamental to growth. Paolo Scaroni, Group Chief Executive of acknowledged technology leader Pilkington plc- and a leading advocate of e-Commerce, charts progress to date on these two important drivers for growth, and provides some personal insights on future developments.

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