Family celebration at SCHOTT in Jena on the 20th birthday of its BOROFLOAT^® specialty glass

The company has marketed this glass successfully for 20 years. The borosilicate glass that is floated in Jena forms the basis for a wide range of products which SCHOTT also processes at the site: from interior oven doors to the internationally known PYRAN® S fire-resistant glass, RESISTAN® bullet-proof glass, and NEXTERION® substrates for use in the biosciences. Furthermore, SCHOTT also supplies its customers with BOROFLOAT® floated borosilicate glass in standard formats. Customers include glass processors in the optical, household appliance, and mechanical and plant engineering industries.

For 20 years, SCHOTT has been successfully selling its BOROFLOAT^® borosilicate glass. The company manufactures it with the help of the microfloat process at its founding site in Jena, Germany. Photo: SCHOTT.

“Manufacturing specialty glass in Jena has become an important pillar for the SCHOTT Group over the last 20 years. On behalf of the Board of Management, I would like to congratulate our more than 400 employees in this field for this outstanding achievement,” said Dr. Hans-Joachim Konz, a member of the Board of Management of SCHOTT AG, in his speech.

“All of us – float glass manufacturing, processing, quality management, development, application, logistics, sales, marketing, controlling, the personnel department, and management – have worked very hard to make BOROFLOAT® a success in recent years and to further refine our technological expertise. We have also invested a great deal of energy to make our specialty float glass a success in a wide variety of different versions and various applications. This is something we can all be very proud of,” added Kai Olbricht, Head of SCHOTT Technical Glass Solutions GmbH, at the celebration for employees. Only recently, SCHOTT set a new record by manufacturing its 3 millionth interior oven door.

Processing BOROFLOAT^® technical specialty glass into safety glass. Photo: SCHOTT.

SCHOTT manufactures specialty float glass in thicknesses ranging from 0.4 mm to 25.4 mm (1/64 inches to 1 inch) on its two microfloat lines. The maximum size of a glass pane is 2.4 m x 4.5 m (~93.6 inches x 175.5”). During floating, molten glass in the form of an endless ribbon swims on top of a bed of melted tin. This shaping process already gives it its extremely smooth surface.

Thanks to the various product characteristics of borosilicate glass, such as extremely high temperature stability, high mechanical strength, outstanding surface quality, and excellent optical characteristics, it is ideally suited for a wide variety of different applications that SCHOTT and its customers cover.

Hellma Optics from Jena, for example, manufactures optical components made of BOROFLOAT® that are used as rod lenses in laser inspection systems. “We know that we can depend on the consistently high product quality and technical services that SCHOTT provides. This explains why we have been working together successfully for 20 years,” said Sabine Bethge, Head of Sales at Hellma Optics.

“We are holding this party not only to celebrate our success over the last 20 years, but also to prepare ourselves for the future. We find ourselves in a strong position and will continue writing the success story of BOROFLOAT® specialty glass,” Olbricht explained.

Besides borosilicate glass, SCHOTT also manufactures alumino-silicate glass in Jena, in the form of a transparent glass-ceramic. In fact, SCHOTT is the only manufacturer in the world that is capable of manufacturing a glass-ceramic with the help of the float process. SCHOTT supplies this glass-ceramic, PYRAN® Platinum, for fire-resistant glass applications in the United States where there are special building code regulations. Xensation® Cover glass joined the alumino-silicate glass family as the youngest member three years ago. The world’s hardest cover glass is used in smartphones and tablet PCs.

 Family celebration at SCHOTT in Jena on the 20th birthday of its BOROFLOAT® specialty glass

For more information:

www.us.schott.com/borofloat/english/index.html

BOROFLOAT® is a registered trademark of SCHOTT AG.

About SCHOTT

SCHOTT is an international technology group with 130 years of experience in the areas of specialty glasses and materials and advanced technologies. SCHOTT ranks number one in the world with many of its products. Its core markets are the household appliance, pharmaceutical, electronics, optics and transportation industries. The company is strongly committed to contributing to its customers’ success and making SCHOTT an important part of people’s lives with high-quality products and intelligent solutions. SCHOTT is committed to managing its business in a sustainable manner and supporting its employees, society and the environment. The SCHOTT Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing and sales units in 35 countries. Its workforce of 15,400 employees generated worldwide sales of US$ 2.5 billion for the 2012/2013 fiscal year.