Brazil: Pilkington Aerospace develop special glass business

Until June the glass producer Pilkington Aerospace produced 300 windows per month, a figure it had to increase to 500 units per month. Pilkington is a certified supplier of Embraer and a partner in several projects being developed. Th eproduciton of glass windows required a US$500,000 investment in equipment for Pilkington that dedicated in April a new US$4mil plant at Sao Jose dos Campos Sao Paulo state. Embraer's orders account for 30% of Pilkington aerospace sales in Brazil, estimated at US53.5mil in 2002. Another business it pursues is armored glass, while it is also increasing exports to Latin America. Pilkington has a 20% share in the market of armored glass for the automotive industry and aims to enlarge its share to 50% of it.