Brilliant Interchange at the Cold End

With state of the art manufacturing facilities of more than 5 million square meters, Xinyi Glass manufactures products for application of today and tomorrow. Company has its headquarters in Hong Kong and 8 subsidiaries in China and Malaysia that employees 12,000 associates and is one of the biggest player in the international glass industry.

Their broad spectrum of products ranges from flat glass with various qualities for architectural glass, automotive glass, solar panels and thin glass for multimedia applications. Xinyi has relied on the competence of Grenzebach for over 15 years.

Local support for the Global Player

During this partnership, experts from Grenzebach have successfully implemented equipment and systems for 26 Xinyi production lines and executed 2 cold end repairs for 2 of these facilities. Grenzebach’s technological quality and robustness convinces the global player, and along with the local support from Grenzebach’s Jiashan location, Grenzebach ensures the highest availability for Xinyi facilities. "During the many years of collaboration on various equipments, a strong relationship based on trust was established. We very much appreciate to be able to support such an innovative world market player", says James Shang, head of sales department at the Grenzebach Jiashan location in China.

On Grenzebach equipments, thousands of tons of Xinyi glass are cut, handled and stacked every year. The Cold End is completely supplied by Grenzebach - with the cutting equipment, paper interleaving machine, stacking technology and equipment control system. One of the shining stars among the Grenzebach equipment at Xinyi is the Multi Gantry Stacker. This gantry is capable of stacking two smaller sheets, so-called LES single sheets, at the same time, along with sheets in jumbo format, which are handled in the tandem mode of the gantry. This is just one of the examples of the flexibility which Xinyi needs and appreciates at the cold end. At two of the Xinyi float glass lines, cold end repairs were executed after long periods of permanent operation. The cold end areas were thoroughly overhauled and modernized by the Grenzebach experts.

Strong partner for Malaysia

Xinyi Glass, founded in 1988, is a public company for many years already and operates seven production facilities in the five economically most significant regions of China. In order to be able to also serve overseas markets, two production lines were established in Malacca in Malaysia since 2015. "It was and is very interesting for us to support Xinyi on their way to new production facilities and further markets”, says James Shang. Expansion for Xinyi also means to constantly further develop the product range like for display glass for ultra-modern travel assistance systems. The basis for these innovations is a strong commitment to Research & Development; Xinyi also relies on solid cooperation with the universities of these regions. As Xinyi works with the complete life cycle of glass production, they also rely on the best possible automation and standardization to realize efficiency advantages.

Energy efficiency with highest availability

Xinyi pays particular attention to energy efficiency for the products and also for their production. Where possible, production buildings are equipped with roof-mounted photo-voltaic modules. Besides, Xinyi relies on heat recovery systems. “To pay attention to the highest possible productivity together with the highest availability of energy efficiency, belongs for us of course to the performance package over the complete life cycle of the equipment”, says Werner Rührer, responsible for the Asia sales at Grenzebach in Hamlar.

Twenty years of Grenzebach China

Of course there is an intensive exchange between the Grenzebach experts in Bavaria and China with respect to glass production technology. Grenzebach founded the first location in Shanghai in 1998. The Chinese manufacturing location Jiashan celebrates this year their tenth anniversary. In total, 250 experts from Grenzebach are employed in Jiashan and Shanghai.

Industrial sector meeting in Shanghai

More than 300 Grenzebach lines are in operation worldwide in the glass industry; a big number of them in Asia. Customers of the region very much appreciate that Grenzebach brings half a century of experience in production technology with them. An important location for the discussion with the Asian partners is the yearly China Glass Fair, which is taking place alternately in Bejing and Shanghai. Also during this year's industrial sector meeting, there were intensive discussions with the managing staff from Xinyi. Werner Rührer adds, “We are looking forward to seeing how Xinyi will expand on the Asian market and also on the world market. We are looking forward to contribute our know-how to your next steps."