Ghassan Mashal, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, told Emirates Business in an exclusive interview that the project, which is located in Abu Dhabi, is the first of its kind in the region for online-coated glass. quot;No one in this region is into online-coating production," he said."It was always imported from Europe and the US.
This is the first for this area, barring India. The biggest investment in glass is the float business. We chose Abu Dhabi since float furnaces need gas of which the emirate has an abundant supply."
The factory consists of two float glass production lines, Mashal added.
We invested about Dh750 million in Line 1, which has started production and has a capacity of 600 tonnes a day. We have also started building Line 2 with a similar investment of Dh750m and a similar production capacity of 600 tonnes a day. The difference in the second line is that it will use a different technology for coating. It is already under construction and will be commissioned by end-2010. When the second line is complete, our total production will stand at 1,200 tonnes," he said.
Emirates Float begins production
The Dh1.5 billion Emirates Float Glass (EFG), a subsidiary of Glass LLC, started production this month, according to a senior official.