Centre focuses on automotive glazing

A Sabic Innovative Plastics product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 6, 2007

GE Plastics' new facility is aimed at helping customers around the world design, create, and process innovative auto glazing applications using GE's Lexan GLX polycarbonate (PC) resins.

GE Plastics has opened its first Automotive Glazing Center of Excellence in the Netherlands.

The new facility is aimed at helping customers around the world design, create, and process innovative auto glazing applications using GE's environmentally progressive Lexan GLX polycarbonate (PC) resins and other engineered materials.

As one of the company's Global Application Technology (GApT) centres, the Automotive Glazing Center of Excellence features equipment and technologies from Krauss Maffei and Summerer Technologies.

"We feel glazing offers one of the greatest growth opportunities for plastics in the automotive industry", said Rick Pontillo, General Manager Global Application Technology at GE Plastics.

"Therefore, GE Plastics has invested significant resources to support our customers in the creation of exceptional glazing applications".

"The new centre is located in Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands, in the heart of Europe, which has been the hub of Lexan polycarbonate automotive glazing to date".

"The new centre will support new customer developments, which are already active around the globe".

Among the key materials to be used at the centre, GE's Lexan GLX resin has been specifically developed for the demands of automotive glazing applications.

It offers exceptional optical quality, improved quality control for injection-compression moulding processes, tailored pigment systems for longer colour stability, and custom colours.

The Lexan resin not only reduces weight to help lower fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, but also has the potential to be recycled.

By adopting Lexan PC lightweight glazing, automotive companies can differentiate their vehicles with new design possibilities while addressing some of their key environmental challenges.

For example, if the side and rear glazing of all passenger vehicles on the road in Europe today were changed from glass to Lexan GLX glazing: Fuel savings would be about 2100 million litres per year (this is equivalent to roughly Eur 2.4 billion based on 2006 average fuel prices).

CO2 emission reductions would be around 5.2 million metric tons annually.

This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from Finland for one month.

A highlight of the new centre is a Krauss Maffei SpinForm swivel platen machine for two-component injection moulding.

The Krauss Maffei equipment, in combination with a Summerer Technologies tool, opens up new opportunities for creating auto glazing that integrates the glazing component with assembly fittings.

While integration enables cost-effective solutions, the significantly reduced weight of the part contributes to fuel efficiency and a lower centre of gravity for improved handling.

Summerer, a German mould maker, is another key ingredient to the success of this centre.

The tool of this supplier ensures the processing of high-quality multi-component parts on the Krauss-Maffei machine, which enables the coatability, good impact resistance and dimensional stability.

Exatec, a joint venture between GE Plastics and Bayer that offers proprietary coating technologies for auto glazing, is a further example of GE Plastics' investment in developing glazing technology that will enhance vehicle design and performance.

The centre was officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Heiner Markoff, President, GE Plastics, Europe who was joined by Dr Otto Urbanek, member of the Management Board, CTO, and COO for Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik; Franz Summerer, Managing Director for Summerer Technologies; and John Madej, CEO for Exatec.

The Automotive Glazing Center of Excellence is one of six specialised facilities within the Bergen op Zoom Global Application Technology Center, which was opened in 1978.

The mission of the Global Application Technology Center is to support the growth of GE's product portfolio through advanced application and process development, and dedicated customer support around the world.

The GApT invents, validates, and translates applications and processes.

A virtual laboratory connects with GE's application technology centres around the globe to share and translate knowledge worldwide.