Hanoi, Vietnam”•Pioneer Float Glass Manufacturing Inc. is expanding its product line by investing P100 million in coated glass production in the Philippines.
Pioneer Float Glass president and chief executive Paul Vincent Go said Tuesday the company managed to buy new machineries to produce a wide variety of coated glass either for industrial, institutional or residential use.
“Nobody else produces coated glass in the Philippines. Those who were importing said we don’t have the capability to bring the technology here. Now we do,” he said.
Go said the investment would bring value to an otherwise plain product, with the colors of the rainbow to choose from.
The company also aims to change the way people use glass. It said that while consumers used to have clear and tinted glasses, they now have the option to choose glass products they want for their homes and/or projects with different applications.
Go said the new product line was expected to provide more options to consumers in terms of features. He said the new product line is energy-efficient with solar-control capacity.
Pioneer’s under-utilized 550-metric-ton glass manufacturing facility has two integral parts, with the 250-MT portion catering to coated glass production and the other half catering to clear, flat glass.
“Right now we’ve only used not even half of our total capacity. We’re just about at the 40-percent utilization rate. There’s still more we can do with the untapped capacity we have,” Go said.
He said the country’s infrastructure and construction sector had been steadily growing with the implementation of the “Build, Build, Build” program.
Go said with the continuous growth of the sector, there was an opportunity for Pioneer to become a stable player in the coated glass segment.
“It is in this coated glass segment where our competitors have an edge over us. With the new machines we have, we hope to compete head on even if we have to bring down the price of our goods,” Go said.