Price increases on tinted and coated float glass products go into effect this month, with primary float manufacturers looking to pass on increased operational costs. A number of leading glassmakers, i…
Price increases on tinted and coated float glass products go into effect this month, with primary float manufacturers looking to pass on increased operational costs. A number of leading glassmakers, including Pilkington North America; PPG Industries; and Guardian Industries Corp.; recently announced price increases, due to growing material, transportation and labour costs. Scott Follett, director, marketing and new product development, Performance Glazings, PPG, announced the following increase in pricing, effective 7 June: o 7% increase on all Vistacool and Solarcool coated glasses; o 11% increase on Atlantica, Azuria, Caribia, Graylite, Graylite II, Optigray, Pacifica, Solarblue, Solarbronze, Solargray and Solexia glasses. “We have continued to aggressively pursue cost-reduction initiatives focused on counteracting inflationary market conditions. Despite these efforts … PPG has experienced significant increases in the cost of raw materials associated with the production of our glass substrate products, as well as labour, healthcare and transportation-related costs. As a result, we find it necessary to increase pricing on our primary glass products,” Follett said. Pilkington North America vice president, marketing and sales, Stephen Weidner, announced in a letter to clients dated 19 May, that the company would raise prices on the following tinted float products, effective 15 June: o Uncoated Grey, Bronze, Blue-Green and Green float products up 8%; o Uncoated Arctic Blue and EverGreen float products up 4%. “Although we have been very diligent in improving our efficiencies and reducing excess overheads, Pilkington has been experiencing increases in raw material and transport costs,” Weidner said in the letter. “Thus, we need to increase pricing to justify continued capital investments in order to meet the future needs of the market.” Guardian Industries has also put into act a price increase, as reported in a letter to clients, effective 14 June: 11% increase for CrystalGray, PrivaGuard (Dark Gray), SMG II (Dark Green), Green, Bronze and Gray. “Guardian has worked diligently to increase the efficiency of our manufacturing and administrative processes in an effort to offset the increased costs,” Powell said in the letter. “We have made great strides in becoming a more efficient supplier, but find increases in our costs are outpacing our ability to improve our process efficiencies.” The effect has begun, with Vitro America; Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope; and Wholesale Glass Distributors; also raising prices. The price increase is a reflection of our industry, which is very depressed right now,” said Ralph Chet Day, president, Wholesale Glass Distributors, in an interview. “It“s a necessary evil, from the float level to our level. It“s basic economy; it“s supply and demand and everybody wants a share of the pie. We are quoting jobs that are much cheaper than a year ago. The price increase will make things better for all us fabricators. And our customers understand.