Industry News

Bekaert reports successful glasstec 2006

November 10, 2006

Over 54.000 visitors gathered information on trends and innovations in the glass industry during the international glasstec exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany, from 24 to 28 October. According to the organizers exhibitors and visitors were enthused and the glass sector looks to the future with optimism - many new and exciting developments in solar thermal systems, photovoltaics and laser technology have been presented by manufacturers from mainly Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, US and China.

Amongst those Bekaert demonstrated its solutions in Rotatable Sputter Products for architectural & automotive glass, as well as its latest technology developments for display glass, which enable display coaters to take their coater efficiency to a new level. ‘Altogether we are pleased to see that the trend from flat towards rotatable solutions for glass sputtering is growing stronger’ explains Remy Rochard, General Manager Industrial Coatings at Bekaert. Glass coaters worldwide are growing towards upgrading their existing coaters to rotatable technology. The various application possibilities, the new rotatable sputter target materials and the development of an innovative sputter hardware, has boosted the rise of this breakthrough technology.

‘We were the very first in the market to offer rotatable solutions and are glad to see that many other suppliers are taking this direction now, which confirms our vision and technology leadership.’ Mr. Rochard states. ‘We continue to invest yearly a substantial amount of our total turnover in R&D and are experiencing the results of this through more efficient production, improved solutions and higher quality. At the same time we are also taking our customer support to a higher level as our business concerns mostly customized and integrated solutions.’

“We strive to offer our customers value-added and customized solutions through strong interpersonal relationships. That is why we are very pleased with the quality contacts we made at glasstec, including existing and new potential customers. It was encouraging to see the many opportunities and positive developments in our industry.’ concludes Mr Rochard.