The first edition of the FIT show (Fabricator Installer Trade Show) took place in Telford, UK, 16-18 April this year. During the event, the NSG Group, manufacturer of Pilkington glass in the UK, launched a series of new products, which will be rolled out to customers over the next few months.
The NSG Group, manufacturer of Pilkington glass in the UK, launched a range of new products at the FIT show this year. From residential to commercial glazing solutions visitors were bought up to speed with the latest developments from one of the UK’s most trusted glass brands.
The new products included an improved ultra low-emissivity toughenable glass, Pilkington Activ™ with improved solar control, updated patterns for the Pilkington Oriel collection, Pilkington Anti-condensation Glass for both double- and triple-glazing applications, Pilkington Pyroclear® fire-resistant glass and improvements to the popular Pilkington Planar™ structural glazing range.
The industry also learnt how the new off-line coating facility at Cowley Hill provides the complete range of products needed for any architectural application in the UK. With world class on- and off-line capability as well as tints, low iron, rolled, silvered, painted and laminated glass all now produced in St Helens, together with the NSG Group’s technical centre minutes away and the company’s UK-wide downstream network, the opportunities for customer-led product developments are endless.
“There was a great energy surrounding this first FIT Show. Firstly because of the organization and marketing of the event, and secondly because of the ‘buy-in’ and engagement from the industry. It’s a long time since the last industry event, and everyone wanted the show to succeed,” explained Andy McDowell, UK Commercial Director. “In particular, we knew that the timing of the event would be perfect for us to introduce our first batch of new products planned for the new coater. The new Pilkington Oriel patterns formed the main feature with visitors saying how much they liked the revamped collection and in particular the on-line demonstration of Pilkington K Glass™ OW on surface 4 which can offer customers the performance of triple glazing in a double glazed unit went down a storm.”
“Attending a show which is purely targeted at our industry provides us with the ideal platform to talk to new and existing customers, and gain an insight into ‘what’s new’ in the industry first hand. In these challenging market conditions it is even more important that we do all we can to keep our customers up to date with the latest ideas in glazing and promote our capabilities face-to-face.”
An on-line coating on a Pilkington Optiwhite™ substrate, which works by keeping the temperature of the external glass surface warmer, effectively lowering the temperature required for dew to form. It is designed to delay and, in many cases, prevent the onset of external condensation on Insulating Glass Units (IGUs), which occurs as a result of highly-efficient thermally insulated glazing in both double and triple glazing. This will greatly improve homeowner satisfaction since it is a major downside if clients cannot see through their new energy-efficient windows all morning in the spring and autumn.
Off-line coated, low-E, toughenable only product. No annealed match available at the moment. The latest addition in the Pilkington Optitherm™ range is a superior 1.0 Ug product that is optimized for Ug value applications (not suitable for WER Existing products in the range include: Pilkington Optitherm™ S3 and Pilkington Optitherm™ S3 Pro T (1.1 Ug value) and is very neutral in appearance, (similar to Pilkington K Glass™ S). It must be manufactured in an IGU.
Original Pilkington Activ™ coating on a bronze substrate to meet customer requests for a range of aesthetics and performance figures.
A dual coated product. On-line Pilkington Activ™ Blue is coated on the other side with an off-line Pilkington SunShade™ coating as currently used on our Pilkington Activ™ Neutral. To reflect the addition to the range the glass manufacturer decided to bring in the Pilkington SunShade™ name used in our European businesses since this emphasises the improved solar control performance over Pilkington Activ™ Blue where the solar control comes only from the body tint.
Pilkington Pyroclear® is an advanced toughened fire-resistant glass for use as a basic integrity barrier. It is based on a new technology development which Pilkington has perfecting and crafting for several years, built on an in-depth understanding of the behaviour of glass in fire, including new knowledge of the detail that influences probability of glass failure.
Pilkington Planar™, the world’s leading structural glass system, now gives even more scope to bring design vision to life – with the launch of Pilkington Planar™ Crystal Connect™. The system now marks the beginning of the transfer of adhesive technology from the curtain wall to point fixed glazing systems. The transparent silicone structural adhesive Dow Corning® TSSA which is incorporated into the Pilkington Planar™ Crystal Connect™ system is underpinned by over 40 years of experience by Dow Corning in this field. With their respective expertise in the design and manufacture of point fixed glazing solutions and the creation of high strength, durable silicone based adhesives, Pilkington Architectural and Dow Corning were uniquely placed to join forces to create this new product, which provides specifiers and architects with a new option in point fixed structural glazing.
The current Oriel range has been rationalized and some new designs introduced. The two most popular designs from the current range (Laurel and Canterbury) will be maintained, and six new, more modern designs will be introduced on either a Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear or Pilkington Optifloat™ Opal base substrate. Pilkington Optifloat™ Opal will also be added as part of the range making a total of nine patterns in all within the range.
The use of Pilkington K Glass™ OW as a Surface 4 coating enables triple-glazing performance from a double-glazed unit through the use of Pilkington K Glass™ OW with any other product from the low-emissivity glass range. The ultimate performance is achieved using Pilkington Optitherm™ S1 on surface 2 counting from the outside in, with Ug as low as 0.9.
The new products unveiled at FIT will be rolled out to customers over the next few months.